Big-name investors are lining up to buy OpenAI employees' shares, valuing the startup at $500 billion
Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
OpenAI employees are getting a chance to unload some $7 billion worth of shares in the secondary market, and a queue of big names have stepped up to the plate. According to an OpenAI source who spoke with Reuters, the recent sale pegs OpenAI’s valuation at $500 billion—making it the world’s most valuable startup.
A $500 billion valuation puts the maker of ChatGPT above even Elon Musk’s SpaceX, currently valued at about $400 billion, and Anthropic, currently valued under $200 billion.
The sale let both current and former OpenAI employees unload $6.6 billion worth of shares to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price $TROW.
The transaction is a secondary sale, meaning that OpenAI itself didn’t raise new money. Instead, it creates liquidity for employees—and by extension, a reason to keep working at OpenAI. Such liquidity opportunities are especially important at a time when rivals like Meta $META and Google $GOOGL are dangling eye-popping pay packages to lure away top researchers.
While secondary sales are common among startups of OpenAI’s size (and even much smaller ones), the fact that employees didn’t sell all the stock available likely signals confidence in the company’s longer-term prospects.
The $500 billion milestone reflects how central OpenAI has become to the AI boom it helped spark with ChatGPT’s launch in 2022. The company has since released GPT-5, inked massive deals with Oracle $ORCL, CoreWeave, Nvidia $NVDA, and others, and generated some $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, already outpacing all of 2024's take.
Though not yet profitable, OpenAI’s revenues come in large part from subscriptions to ChatGPT, with both individuals and businesses paying for access. Subscriptions begin at $20 for individual subscriptions and “team” subscriptions that begin at $30.
The new, larger valuation comes as OpenAI navigates a complicated and highly visible corporate transformation. Founded as a nonprofit, it’s negotiating with Microsoft $MSFT to restructure into a public benefit corporation, a shift that has triggered lawsuits and a bitter rift with Musk. It’s also led to continual rumors of a charged relationship with Microsoft.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
