OpenAI just closed a $6.6 billion secondary share sale at a staggering $500 billion valuation, officially crowning it the world's most valuable private company. The deal lets current and former employees cash out while the AI giant stays private, signaling massive investor confidence even as competition for top talent reaches fever pitch across Silicon Valley.
OpenAI just made history in the private markets. The AI powerhouse closed a massive $6.6 billion secondary share sale at a $500 billion valuation, according to sources familiar with the transaction reported by CNBC. That's a 67% jump from its $300 billion valuation earlier this year and officially makes it the world's most valuable private company, leapfrogging SpaceX's $456 billion.
What's particularly telling is what didn't happen. OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 billion in shares for sale - bumped up from the original $6 billion target - but only about two-thirds actually changed hands. Inside the company, that's being viewed as a vote of confidence rather than a disappointment, suggesting employees and early investors still see major upside ahead.
The deal comes at a crucial moment for AI talent wars. Meta has been throwing around nine-figure compensation packages to poach top researchers, according to recent reports. By letting employees cash out some of their equity while staying private, OpenAI is playing a smart retention game.
The investor lineup reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley power players: Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi's MGX, and T. Rowe Price all participated. For context, this marks OpenAI's second major tender offer in less than a year, following a $1.5 billion deal with SoftBank last November.
The timing isn't coincidental. Competition in the AI space has reached a boiling point, with every major tech company racing to build or buy their way to artificial general intelligence. OpenAI's ChatGPT sparked this gold rush, but now Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are all pouring billions into their own AI initiatives.
