By Obinna Uballa
OpenAI has completed a $6.6 billion secondary share sale, valuing the company at a staggering $500 billion, according to an insider familiar with the deal, CNBC reported on Thursday.
The transaction allowed current and former employees to sell shares, solidifying OpenAI’s position as the world’s most valuable private company, overtaking SpaceX’s $456 billion valuation.
Bloomberg first reported the deal’s closure. In August, CNBC noted OpenAI’s plan for a secondary sale at this valuation, with investors like Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price participating. Although OpenAI authorized up to $10.3 billion in share sales, up from an initial $6 billion target, only about two-thirds of the shares were sold.
Internally, the lower participation is seen as a sign of confidence in OpenAI’s future growth, with strong investor demand even at the $500 billion mark, a significant jump from its $300 billion valuation earlier this year. The offer, launched in early September, was available to employees holding shares for over two years, according reports.
This marks OpenAI’s second major tender offer in under a year, following a $1.5 billion deal with SoftBank in November.
Analysts say the sale reflects a broader trend among high-value startups like SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks, which use secondary sales to let employees cash out while remaining private, a tactic to retain talent amid fierce competition. Notably, Meta has been offering hefty nine-figure packages to lure top AI researchers.
The transaction underscores OpenAI’s dominance in the AI sector and its strategy to reward employees without pursuing an IP0.
