OpenAI has overtaken Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s most valuable private company, with a valuation of $500 billion, after completing a major share sale for employees.
According to Bloomberg News, current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion worth of shares to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, the UAE’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price. The deal significantly boosted OpenAI’s valuation from the $300 billion level it reached earlier this year in a funding round led by SoftBank.
A source confirmed to Reuters on Thursday that OpenAI’s market value has officially hit $500 billion following the secondary share sale. The sharp increase reflects the global investment frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence, which is expected to transform industries and economies worldwide.
Led by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI is at the forefront of the AI race alongside companies like Nvidia, as tech giants pour trillions into building data centres and developing AI services.
Although the company has yet to turn a profit, it has secured multi-billion-dollar partnerships with firms such as Oracle and SK Hynix, further fuelling its expansion.
The new valuation puts OpenAI ahead of SpaceX, valued at around $400 billion, marking a pivotal moment as the AI leader holds talks with Microsoft over a possible shift to a more traditional profit-making structure.
Founded in 2015 as a non-profit with a mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, OpenAI is now preparing a structural transformation that would see the non-profit entity retain control over a new public-benefit corporation.
Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s largest private companies by valuation now stands as follows:
1. OpenAI (US) – $500 billion
2. SpaceX (US) – $400 billion
3. ByteDance (China) – $220 billion
4. Anthropic (US) – $183 billion
5. Ant Group (China) – $150 billion
6. Reliance Retail (India) – $100 billion
7. Databricks (US) – $100 billion
8. Shein (China) – $66 billion
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