OpenAI is the world’s most valuable private company after private stock sale

Group 1 - OpenAI has sold $6.6 billion in shares held by current and former employees, raising its total valuation to $500 billion, the highest ever for a privately held company [1] - The sale serves as a retention tool for OpenAI amid competition from Meta, which has successfully recruited several top engineers from the company [2] - OpenAI's last funding round in August raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation, with participation from major investors including SoftBank and T. Rowe Price [3] Group 2 - The recent sale highlights OpenAI's capability to raise cash, which is crucial for its ambitious plans to spend $300 billion on Oracle Cloud Services over the next five years [4] - A non-binding agreement with Microsoft may lead to OpenAI's conversion into a for-profit entity, although this has not yet been confirmed in court [5] - OpenAI reported $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025 while incurring $2.5 billion in cash burn [6]