August 6, 2025
Published by: Zorrox Update Team
OpenAI is reportedly in early discussions over a secondary share sale that could value the company at $500 billion, positioning it as the most valuable privately held tech firm in the world. In parallel, the company has launched a new suite of open-weight AI models in a strategic move to counter rising competition from Meta and China’s DeepSeek.
The proposed share sale would allow employees and early backers to liquidate holdings, with OpenAI potentially doubling its last reported valuation of $300 billion. The transaction underscores continued investor demand for exposure to generative AI despite questions surrounding monetization, infrastructure costs, and regulatory risks.
While no definitive terms have been finalized, market sources suggest the transaction could close in Q4 2025. If completed, the deal would outpace SpaceX and Stripe in private market value and reinforce OpenAI’s lead in the commercial AI race.
OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate has accelerated from $12 billion to a projected $20 billion within the year, driven by enterprise integrations, API licensing, and sustained ChatGPT usage. The company now reports over 700 million weekly active users, with further growth expected from the developer ecosystem and embedded applications across corporate workflows.
Despite operating losses tied to compute and model development costs, OpenAI’s monetization curve continues to steepen, bolstering the investment case for long-term scalability.
In a notable shift, OpenAI has released two open-weight language models—GPT-OSS-120B and GPT-OSS-20B—under permissive licenses. These models can be downloaded and deployed locally, enabling third-party developers to fine-tune or integrate them without API dependence or licensing constraints.
This marks OpenAI’s first major open model release since 2019 and reflects mounting pressure from the global open-source community. The company framed the release as an effort to promote transparency and empower developers, while simultaneously countering the rapid rise of rivals offering freely available large-scale models.
DeepSeek, a fast-moving Chinese AI startup, has gained international attention after releasing DeepSeek-R1, an open-weight model trained under MIT license. Its cost-efficient training process and viral developer adoption have made it one of the fastest-growing players in the open-source AI ecosystem.
The success of DeepSeek—and similar moves by Meta—has pushed OpenAI to adopt a hybrid strategy, balancing proprietary APIs and enterprise tools with community-driven, open-access options to retain developer mindshare and platform relevance.
While OpenAI has not signaled any imminent plans to go public, the structure of the secondary sale and recent board appointments suggest the groundwork is being laid. The release of open models, combined with efforts to engage regulators and international partners, points to a broader strategy of reputational positioning ahead of any future market listing.
Investor sentiment remains strong, but with a proposed $500 billion valuation, scrutiny over model costs, competitive dynamics, and regulatory exposure will intensify.
Monitor revenue guidance and ARR updates—growth trends are key to justifying high-end private market valuations.
Track adoption rates for GPT-OSS models across developer platforms—GitHub metrics and third-party integrations may offer early insight.
Keep an eye on DeepSeek and Meta model launches—market share in open-weight ecosystems could shift rapidly.
Assess valuation risks—private placement terms and investor composition will influence market perception and comparables.
Follow regulatory developments—open-weight models may attract attention from global regulators on privacy, AI safety, and data sourcing.
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