OpenAI’s $6.6B Secondary Share Sale Gives It Record $500B Startup Valuation, Topping SpaceX

OpenAI on Thursday completed a secondary share sale amounting to $6.6 billion, Bloomberg reported. The sale gives current and prior employees the ability to sell stock at a $500 billion valuation.

The transaction and resulting valuation also grant OpenAI the distinction of now being the world’s most valuable private, venture-backed company, surpassing SpaceX, which was reportedly valued at $400 billion after its own secondary share sale this summer.

According to CNBC, OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 billion in shares for sale, which was up from its original $6 billion target. But only about two-thirds of what it had authorized ultimately got sold.

Besides OpenAI and SpaceX, several other high-valued private companies have turned to secondary sales, which are often used to reward employees and as a retaining tool for companies not ready to go public.

In February, fintech giant Stripe announced a tender offer in which investors would buy shares from past and present employees at a valuation of $91.5 billion. Last December, Databricks raised $10 billion at a $62 billion valuation in a deal that included a secondary share sale aimed at providing liquidity for current and former employees. 

In April, OpenAI also made headlines for an investment of up to $40 billion from Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank in a deal that marked the largest startup financing ever and valued it at $300 billion.

Related reading:

Illustration: Dom Guzman