OpenAI is reportedly in preliminary discussions to conduct a secondary stock sale that would allow current and former employees to cash out shares, with the artificial intelligence giant eyeing a valuation close to $500 billion, according to individuals familiar with the matter.
According to Bloomberg, the proposed sale could involve shares worth several billion dollars, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the talks are private. Existing backers, including Thrive Capital, have expressed interest in acquiring employee-held equity, the people added.
OpenAI was valued at $300 billion during a $40 billion funding round:
Previously, OpenAI was valued at $300 billion during a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. More recently, the company secured $8.3 billion from a group of investors as part of the second phase of that round—an offering reportedly oversubscribed by a factor of five, one source noted.
The firm has made headlines for a wave of recent innovations, such as the debut of a new open-source framework, and is gearing up for the release of its next major language model, GPT-5.
Representatives for OpenAI declined to issue a statement, and Thrive Capital did not respond to inquiries.
ChatGPT is on track to reach 700 million weekly active users:
OpenAI announced Monday that ChatGPT is on track to reach 700 million weekly active users this week, a sharp rise from 500 million in March and a more than fourfold increase compared to the same period last year.
The milestone includes users across all versions of ChatGPT — Free, Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Team, and Edu. The company also revealed that daily messages exchanged on the platform have now crossed three billion, with usage growth gaining momentum. By contrast, year-over-year growth at this time last year stood at 2.5 times.
“People and teams are pushing boundaries every day — learning, building, and tackling more complex challenges,” said Nick Turley, ChatGPT’s VP of Product, while announcing the achievement.
