Current and former employees of OpenAI are preparing to sell nearly $6 billion worth of shares to investors, including SoftBank Group and Thrive Capital, according to a source familiar with the talks. The deal would value the ChatGPT maker at around $500 billion, up from $300 billion today.
Such a sharp increase showcases OpenAI’s rapid growth in both users and revenue. It also reflects the fierce competition among artificial intelligence companies for funding and talent.
SoftBank, Thrive, and Dragoneer Investment Group are already investors in OpenAI. None of the firms responded to requests for comment. Bloomberg News, which first reported the story, said talks are still in early stages, and the size of the sale could change.
The planned secondary share sale follows SoftBank’s role in leading OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round earlier this year.
OpenAI’s revenue has surged, fueled by the popularity of ChatGPT. The company doubled its revenue in the first seven months of 2025, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion. It is also projected to hit $20 billion by year-end, Reuters reported earlier in August.
Backed by Microsoft, OpenAI has seen explosive user growth. Weekly active users of ChatGPT have climbed to about 700 million, up from 400 million in February.
