OpenAI now worth $500B, most valuable startup in history (finance.yahoo.com)

OpenAI has reached a $500 billion valuation after current and former employees sold about $6.6 billion in shares to investors including Thrive Capital, Dragoneer, T. Rowe Price, SoftBank and UAE’s MGX in a secondary transaction intended partly to retain staff. That price tag would make OpenAI the most valuable startup in history, reflecting sky-high investor expectations even though the company’s for‑profit arm is not yet consistently profitable and remains technically controlled by its nonprofit board. The deal matters because it sends a strong signal about where capital and talent are flowing in AI: Big fundraising liquidity boosts hiring and R&D power, strengthens partnerships (Oracle/SoftBank’s Stargate data‑center venture, Nvidia for AI chips) and funds new commercial pushes like ChatGPT integrations with Etsy/Shopify and the Sora AI video app. But it also heightens concerns about an AI valuation bubble and regulatory scrutiny over OpenAI’s governance and charitable mandates (California and Delaware attorneys general are watching). CEO Sam Altman acknowledged cycles of “booms and busts” while arguing AI will drive major economic and scientific gains. For the AI/ML community, the headline valuation both accelerates infrastructure and talent competition (e.g., Meta’s hiring and investments) and raises the stakes for delivering technically robust, revenue-generating AI products.