TOPLINE

OpenAI inked a deal with venture capital firm Thrive Capital that boosted its valuation to $80 billion or more, the New York Times reported, a nearly threefold increase in value from just nine months ago.

KEY FACTS

OpenAI will engage in an existing share sale under the “so-called tender offer” led by Thrive, the Times reported, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the deal, noting the deal would allow employees to cash out their shares in the artificial intelligence company.

The deal comes nearly 10 months after OpenAI closed a $300 million share sale, marking it at a valuation of about $27 billion.

An $80 billion valuation would rank the company as the No. 3 highest-valued tech startup in the world behind TikTok parent company ByteDance ($225 billion) and the Elon Musk-led SpaceX ($150 billion), according to CB Insights data cited by the Times.

Talks surrounding a new deal were reported last year, when a share sale that would have reportedly valued OpenAI at up to $90 billion was being discussed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

OpenAI and Thrive Capital didn’t immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.

KEY BACKGROUND

OpenAI was founded in 2015 and received several large investments from multiple tech companies and investors in and by the end of 2023. Microsoft has invested a total of $13 billion in OpenAI, though the tech giant has said it doesn’t own any portion of OpenAI and is instead “entitled to a share of profit distributions.” Last April, Thrive, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and K2 Global agreed to acquire new shares in OpenAI, bringing its valuation to around $27 billion. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who was ousted from the company last year and promptly brought back after internal uproar, has said the company has no intentions to go public in the near future.

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NEWS PEG

OpenAI on Thursday unveiled its newest product, Sora, which is able to generate videos from text prompts. The video service is not available to the public and it is unclear when it could be, as OpenAI said it is still going through “several important safety steps” to combat potential issues related to misinformation and bias.

FURTHER READING

OpenAI Completes Deal That Values the Company at $80 Billion (NYT)

OpenAI closes $300M share sale at $27B-29B valuation (TechCrunch)