OpenAI Becomes World’s Most Valuable Private Company
AI is the new hotbed of investment and valuation growth
Wall Street is witnessing one of the most meteoric ascents in startup history. OpenAI, once a nonprofit lab founded with lofty ambitions to steer artificial intelligence for the public good, has become the world’s most valuable privately held company.
A new deal valuing the firm at $500 billion has pushed it ahead of SpaceX, most recently pegged at around $400–425 billion, and cements OpenAI as the defining player in the AI revolution, reshaping the global technology industry.
The valuation was set through a secondary sale of employee shares totaling about $6.6 billion, according to people familiar with the agreement. The buyers included a heavyweight lineup of global investors: SoftBank, Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price, according to the sources.
The secondary sale is a mechanism startups often use to reward early employees and keep talent in-house. OpenAI had authorized up to $10 billion worth of employee stock sales, but insiders opted to sell less, $6.6 billion, a sign some remain confident in the company’s long-term prospects despite soaring valuations.
The $500 billion valuation represents a dramatic leap from just $300 billion in March, when SoftBank led a financing round, and from $157 billion in October 2024. In short, the company’s valuation has now more than tripled in 12 months, reflecting how the AI sector has become the new frontier that’s eclipsing even space exploration as the hotbed of investment and valuation growth.
