OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has increased its valuation to $500 billion after its employees sold approximately $6.6 billion worth of stock. This figure underscores the company’s rapid growth and growing revenues in a short period. OpenAI’s current valuation has increased from $300 billion at the beginning of the year to $500 billion.

OpenAI’s valuation reaches $500 billion

With this massive valuation, OpenAI surpassed SpaceX’s $456 billion valuation and became the world’s most valuable private company.

As part of the sale, current and former OpenAI employees sold their shares to investors such as Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX, and T. Rowe Price. Sources indicate that the company has approved a secondary market sale of over $10 billion worth of shares, but only a fraction of this has materialized.

This transaction complemented SoftBank’s previous $40 billion primary investment round. The company’s financial growth is also noteworthy. OpenAI generated $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025. This figure already surpasses the company’s total revenue of the previous year by 16 percent.

OpenAI’s move isn’t just a financial success; it’s also part of its strategy to retain talented researchers and staff.

Rival Meta is known to offer astronomical salaries to recruit top AI experts. OpenAI’s secondary sales model allows employees to retain talent by providing them with cash benefits while also allowing the company to continue its operations without being listed on the stock exchange.