OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reached a valuation of $500 billion, following a deal in which current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion worth of shares, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
This represents a bump-up from its current valuation of $300 billion, underscoring OpenAI's rapid gains in both users and revenue. Reuters reported details of the stock sale earlier in August.
As part of the deal, OpenAI employees sold shares to a consortium of investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi's MGX and T. Rowe Price, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The company had authorized sales of $10-billion-plus worth of stock on the secondary market, the source added.
Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer, MGX and T. Rowe Price did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
The share sale adds to SoftBank's earlier investment in OpenAI's $40 billion primary funding round.
The sale comes at a time when tech giants are competing aggressively for AI talent with lucrative compensation packages. Meta (META.O) is notably investing billions in Scale AI and poached its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new super intelligence unit.
