After special $100 million bonuses and 'warning', OpenAI allows employees to sell $6 billion in stock to SoftBank, other investors

OpenAI , the creator of ChatGPT , is in talks for a major secondary share sale that would value the company at an astounding $500 billion. According to sources familiar with the matter, current and former employees are planning to sell about $6 billion worth of shares to an investor group that includes Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., and Dragoneer Investment Group. While the deal is still in its early stages and the final sale size could change, this move gives employees a way to cash in their equity. This is a crucial strategy for startups like OpenAI to retain top talent in a highly competitive AI market, especially as companies like Meta Platforms Inc offer significant salaries to recruit AI specialists.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Meta's recruitment "distasteful"
The fierce competition for top-tier AI talent has intensified, with Meta Platforms aggressively recruiting key personnel from OpenAI. The most notable defection is Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT and GPT-4, who has been named Chief Scientist of Meta's new Superintelligence Lab. TThis aggressive poaching has rattled OpenAI, with one of its research officers, Mark Chen, likening the situation to "a home invasion." In a message to his employees, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Meta's recruitment "distasteful" and warned that such a compensation-first strategy could lead to "very deep cultural problems."

In response, OpenAI has taken measures to retain its talent, including offering special bonuses and allowing employees to sell shares in the company, which is valued at a whopping $500 billion in this recent secondary sale.

SoftBank's growing stake and OpenAI's massive ambitions
SoftBank is making a substantial bet on OpenAI's future. This new share sale would add to its previous commitments, including its plan to lead a $40 billion funding round that values the company at $300 billion. The Japanese conglomerate also recently completed a separate $1 billion purchase of employee shares at a $300 billion valuation.

If the $500 billion valuation is finalized, it would make OpenAI the world's most valuable startup, surpassing Elon Musk 's SpaceX. The company's revenue is also projected to triple this year to $12.7 billion, a significant jump from $3.7 billion in 2024.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also signaled the company's massive ambitions, stating that it plans to spend trillions of dollars on the infrastructure needed to run AI services in the near future. "You should expect a bunch of economists to wring their hands and say, 'This is so crazy, it's so reckless,'...and we'll just be like, 'You know what? Let us do our thing,'" Altman said.