OpenAI Hits $500B Valuation

OpenAI has completed a monumental secondary share sale, catapulting its valuation to an eye-watering $500 billion.

This announcement now officially crowns OpenAI as the world’s most valuable private company, surpassing even Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The leap from OpenAI’s previous $300 billion valuation earlier this year demonstrates the power and appeal of AI.

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Revenue rules

Behind the headline sits a revenue engine running hot. OpenAI generated $4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025, a 16 percent jump over its entire 2024 haul. The company is projecting $10 billion in revenue for the full year 2025, with a big share expected from enterprise clients, not consumer subscriptions.

The secondary sale tells its own story. Current and former employees sold approximately $6.6 billion worth of shares, yet OpenAI had authorized over $10 billion in stock sales. Only two-thirds moved. Inside the company, that is being read as long-term conviction, not hesitation.

The tilt toward B2B revenue suggests OpenAI has found a monetization model that scales beyond chatbots. Ten months of compounding moves have already rewritten how private growth can look.

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What this means

OpenAI’s $500 billion valuation implies a 39.4x multiple on projected 2025 revenue. That puts it in rarefied company among dominant public tech names. It got there while operating at major losses, with $5 billion in losses projected for 2024.

The ripple effects are easy to spot. This marks OpenAI’s second major tender offer within a year, following a $1.5 billion sale led by SoftBank in November 2024. A playbook is forming, one where private companies create liquidity and bring in marquee investors without going public, which changes how they scale and how they keep talent.

Consider the retention math. A 0.01 percent stake now clocks in at $50 million. That turns stock grants into golden handcuffs.

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Tech bubble talk

Unsurprisingly, experts have warned of potential tech bubble risks, with rapid appreciation reminiscent of previous tech booms. The Netflix comparison lands hard: OpenAI is now worth roughly the same as Netflix, yet Netflix delivered $39 billion in revenues and nearly $10 billion in profits before tax while OpenAI was deep in the red, losing about $5 billion.

The strategy goes beyond P and L lines. OpenAI’s partnership with Samsung for critical supply agreements and a $500-billion data center project point to a grab for control over the AI infrastructure stack, not just the software layer.

Earlier this year, as markets swung around, regulatory bodies worldwide are establishing frameworks to guide responsible AI development, which makes OpenAI’s corporate choices matter even more in policy circles.

This $500 billion milestone is more than a price tag, it is the emergence of a new kind of corporate entity, one that sits at the junction of technology, infrastructure, and influence.