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Current and former employees of OpenAI are in talks to sell nearly $6 billion worth of shares in the ChatGPT maker, in a secondary transaction that could value the company at $500 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.
The prospective deal, which involves investors SoftBank Group, Thrive Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group, would mark a sharp jump from OpenAI’s last valuation of about $300 billion. Bloomberg News first reported the development, noting that discussions remain in early stages and the size of the sale could still change.
All three firms are existing OpenAI backers. SoftBank has also been a leading player in OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round.
Fueled by its flagship ChatGPT product, OpenAI’s revenue doubled in the first seven months of 2025, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion and is on track to hit $20 billion by year-end, Reuters reported earlier this month.
The company, backed by Microsoft, now has about 700 million weekly active users, up from 400 million in February, highlighting its rapid growth in both consumer and enterprise adoption.
If finalized, the deal would represent one of the largest employee-led secondary sales in the tech sector, offering early staff and insiders a chance to cash out in the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence company.
The share sale follows a primary funding round earlier this year also led by Japan’s SoftBank, which is still working to complete its $22.5 billion portion of the raise.
Other participants in the raise include Blackstone, TPG, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, Andreessen Horowitz, Altimeter Capital, Coatue, D1 Capital, Thrive Capital, and Tiger Global.
With competition for AI talent intensifying, tech firms are offering hefty packages and equity opportunities. Meta has reportedly made a multi-billion-dollar offer to woo Scale AI’s young CEO Alexandr Wang to head a new AI division. Meanwhile, other private tech companies like ByteDance, Databricks, and Ramp have also turned to secondary sales to reset valuations and reward employees.
