Current and former employees of OpenAI are in talks to sell roughly $6 billion worth of shares to investors, including SoftBank Group and Thrive Capital, according to a source familiar with the matter. The proposed secondary sale would value the ChatGPT maker at $500 billion—a significant jump from its current $300 billion valuation—reflecting OpenAI’s explosive growth in revenue and user adoption. The deal highlights fierce competition among AI firms to attract top talent and secure investor backing.
SoftBank, Thrive Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group—all existing OpenAI investors—are reportedly among the potential buyers. Discussions are still in early stages, and the final size of the share sale could shift, Bloomberg News reported. The move comes as SoftBank also leads OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round, signaling strong confidence in the company’s long-term prospects.
OpenAI’s financial performance has surged, with revenue doubling in the first seven months of 2025 to an annualized run rate of $12 billion. The Microsoft-backed company is on pace to hit $20 billion in revenue by year-end, driven by the runaway success of ChatGPT, which now boasts 700 million weekly active users—up from 400 million in February.
The staggering valuation underscores OpenAI’s dominance in the AI sector, even as rivals like Anthropic, xAI, and Google DeepMind ramp up competition. If the share sale proceeds, it would rank among the largest secondary transactions in tech history, further cementing OpenAI’s status as one of the world’s most valuable private companies. The deal could also provide early employees and investors with a major liquidity event while fueling OpenAI’s ambitions to expand its AI offerings.
