OpenAI has completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company at a US$500 billion valuation, propelling the ChatGPT creator past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s largest start-up.
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Current and former OpenAI employees sold about US$6.6 billion of stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T Rowe Price, a person familiar with the transaction said.
That boosted San Francisco-based OpenAI’s price tag well past its previous US$300 billion level during a SoftBank-led financing round earlier this year.
The rapid rise underscores the investment frenzy surrounding the leaders of a technology with the potential to transform industries and economies.
Sam Altman’s OpenAI is one of several companies, including Nvidia, now leading a global push to build data centres and develop artificial intelligence services, an undertaking that is expected to cost trillions of dollars.
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Though it has yet to turn a profit, the US start-up is helping fuel that infrastructure boom by inking mega-sized deals with the likes of Oracle Corp and SK Hynix.
Representatives for Thrive Capital, Dragoneer, MGX and T Rowe Price did not immediately respond to requests for comment. OpenAI and SoftBank representatives declined to comment.