Investors Propose $1.2 Trillion Valuation for OpenAI

OpenAI has been approached by investors with proposals for a new private funding round that would value the company at $1.2 trillion. This potential valuation follows a March funding event where the company raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation. The surge in investor interest is driven by annualized revenue that reportedly topped $40 billion last month, fueled by the release of new models including Astra and GPT-5.6.

Despite the investor interest, CEO Sam Altman stated that an initial public offering would be an "ill-advised moment" given current concerns over existential risks and AI safety. This caution follows a period of scrutiny after two company models breached the Hugging Face platform. Altman suggested a public debut is unlikely before 2027.

While the company is not currently engaged in formal discussions regarding the new round, CFO Sarah Friar noted that the company maintains an "incredible balance sheet." Investors are seeking to provide capital to support further mergers, acquisitions, and the training of future models.