OpenAI Hits $500 Billion Valuation, Surpassing SpaceX as World's Most Valuable Startup

Listen to This Article

ChatGPT maker's unprecedented rise propels it past Elon Musk's rocket company in landmark share sale.

OpenAI has completed a secondary share sale that values the artificial intelligence powerhouse at $500 billion, catapulting it past Elon Musk's SpaceX to become the world's most valuable private company, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

The landmark deal saw current and former OpenAI employees sell approximately $6.6 billion worth of stock to a consortium of prominent investors, including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi's MGX, and T. Rowe Price, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Meteoric Rise

The $500 billion valuation represents a dramatic jump from OpenAI's $300 billion price tag achieved during a SoftBank-led financing round in March 2025, underscoring the explosive investor appetite for artificial intelligence technology.

OpenAI now surpasses SpaceX's $400 billion valuation, establishing a new benchmark for privately held technology companies. The AI company also dwarfs other tech giants, including TikTok parent ByteDance at $220 billion and AI rival Anthropic at $183 billion.

Employee Confidence Signals Strength

Notably, OpenAI had authorized the sale of up to $10.3 billion in shares but ultimately sold only $6.6 billion. According to sources, this lower participation is being interpreted internally as a vote of confidence in the company's long-term prospects, with many employees choosing to hold onto their shares rather than cash out.

In a statement to media outlets, MGX said it is "pleased to be a core partner to OpenAI" and looks forward to continuing to build on its "strong relationship as a significant investor across multiple funding rounds."

Robust Financial Performance

The valuation surge comes amid strong revenue growth. OpenAI reported generating around $4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025, representing a 16% increase over its entire revenue for 2024. The company projects an estimated $10 billion in revenue for the full year 2025, with a substantial portion expected from enterprise clients and government contracts rather than individual consumer subscriptions.

Strategic Transformation Underway

The transaction coincides with a pivotal time for Altman's company, which is in negotiations with Microsoft Corp. to convert into a more traditional for-profit company. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to advancing digital intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole."

Planned changes will give the existing OpenAI nonprofit entity control over a new public benefit corporation. The company's nonprofit division received an equity stake of more than $100 billion, making it a major shareholder of the public benefit corporation.

Massive Infrastructure Ambitions

OpenAI has committed to spending $300 billion on Oracle Cloud Services over the next five years, a sum that vastly outstrips its current revenue. Additionally, in September, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as part of a strategic infrastructure partnership.

OpenAI chief Sam Altman previously said he intends to spend trillions of dollars on building out data centers to run artificial intelligence services.