OpenAI Hits $500 Billion, Surpasses SpaceX as World’s Top Startup
ChatGPT powerhouse surges past rival in epic valuation battle.
OpenAI has skyrocketed to a staggering $500 billion valuation after finalizing a blockbuster share sale for employees, eclipsing Elon Musk's SpaceX and cementing its throne as the world's priciest startup. The deal, which saw current and former staff offload around $6.6 billion in stock to heavy-hitters like Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi's MGX, and T. Rowe Price, catapults the AI trailblazer far beyond its earlier $300 billion mark from a SoftBank-backed round this year.
This meteoric ascent captures the white-hot investor mania around AI pioneers poised to revolutionize everything from industries to entire economies. At the helm, CEO Sam Altman is steering OpenAI through a trillion-dollar infrastructure frenzy, forging massive partnerships with giants like Oracle and SK Hynix to power the data center explosion. Despite still chasing profitability, OpenAI's innovations are the lifeblood of this boom, drawing billions in bets on its world-altering potential.
The timing couldn't be more dramatic: This valuation leap arrives as OpenAI negotiates a seismic shift with Microsoft to morph from its 2015 nonprofit roots—dedicated to humanity-benefiting AI—into a hybrid for-profit model, with the original nonprofit retaining oversight of a new public benefit corporation. It's a move that's reignited old flames with co-founder Musk, who's slapped the company with a lawsuit, blasting its Microsoft ties since 2019 as a betrayal of their shared mission to mitigate AI's existential threats.
Also Read: OpenAI Projects $115 Billion Spending Through 2029
Amid a cutthroat war for AI brains, where Meta's dangling nine-figure paychecks to poach talent for its "superintelligence" squad, this secondary sale is a savvy retention play. By unlocking liquidity on employee shares—though it clocked in below the $10 billion cap—OpenAI rewards loyalty and signals ironclad faith in its future. Yet, the road ahead bristles with rivals like Google and Anthropic, prompting a flurry of launches: OpenAI's reasoning-mimicking open models, plus the powerhouse GPT-5 unveiled in August, all aimed at clawing back the lead in this hyper-competitive arena.
Also Read: India Targets $500 Billion Trade Growth with New Global Agreements
