OpenAI’s valuation has soared above $80 billion after closing its latest deal, the New York Times reported reported February 17.
The company is reportedly making a tender bid, orchestrated by Thrive Capital, to raise more money while providing tangible benefits to employees.
Quotation strategy
Under the deal, OpenAI employees will be allowed to sell their shares, with the proceeds being added to the company’s coffers. This approach differs from conventional capital raising methods typically used by companies for operational expansion.
However, the procurement strategy is not new for OpenAI. In a similar approach in 2023, venture capital giants such as Thrive Capital, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and K2 Global participated in a public takeover bid that valued the company at around $29 billion at the time.
The repeated use of this strategy signals a deliberate approach by OpenAI to provide liquidity options to its employees while attracting investment without diluting ownership through conventional funding rounds.
By further diversifying its strategic initiatives, CEO Sam Altman is proactively seeking opportunities to strengthen the company’s capabilities, especially in semiconductors.
Altman’s outreach to various stakeholders, including potential investors, semiconductor manufacturers and energy suppliers, highlights an ambitious plan to support and potentially revolutionize the infrastructure underlying the development of AI technology.
By positioning OpenAI as a key customer for future chip manufacturing projects, Altman aims to improve global chip manufacturing capacity, which is critical to the development and deployment of advanced AI technologies.
Sora
Amid these strategic and organizational developments, OpenAI has continued to innovate, most notably with the announcement of Sora, a text-to-video model.
Sora is able to create detailed videos from text prompts, extend stories from existing videos, and generate scenes from still images.
While OpenAI acknowledges that Sora is in its early stages of development and requires further refinement, its introduction marks a significant milestone in the field of generative AI.
The announcement caused AI-related digital assets to surge, including Altman’s Worldcoin, which saw a 40% gain following the news. The token has continued to rise in value and was trading at $4.79 at the time of writing, up another 8% in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the token is rising by more than 90% every week. The token has continuously increased in value despite the controversy over biometric data collection in several countries.
The past year has been tumultuous for OpenAI, marked by a brief period in which Altman was removed from his position as CEO by the company’s board of directors.
The decision was met with significant disagreement among the company’s employees, leading to his reinstatement. The episode revealed the strong internal support for Altman’s leadership and highlighted the challenges and conditions within one of the leading companies in the AI industry.