Kristina Roberts
OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI tool ChatGPT, is thinking about letting some of its workers sell their company shares. This means that employees who have been working at OpenAI could finally get a chance to make money from the shares they hold. If this plan goes ahead, OpenAI’s total value could reach around $500 billion, according to someone who knows about the discussions. That’s a very big number—much higher than the $300 billion value the company holds today.
Even though the talks are still in the early stages, the idea of such a large jump in value shows just how fast OpenAI is growing. The company has become famous all around the world because of its smart chatbot, ChatGPT, which can write essays, answer questions, tell jokes, and even help with schoolwork or coding. People everywhere—from students to business owners—use it. This sudden success has helped OpenAI bring in more money and more users in a short period of time.
The person who shared this news didn’t want to reveal their name because the conversations about the share sale are private and still being discussed behind closed doors. However, what we know so far is that this plan would allow both current and past employees to sell shares they already own. They could possibly sell several billion dollars’ worth of these shares. It’s not the same as selling new shares to the public like in an IPO (Initial Public Offering), but it still gives workers a chance to earn money from the value they helped create.
A major reason behind OpenAI’s growing success is ChatGPT, which has become one of the most widely used AI tools in the world. In just the first seven months of this year, OpenAI has already doubled its earnings. It now brings in enough money each year to be on pace for $12 billion, and it could even reach $20 billion by the end of the year. That is a huge amount of money for a company that started just a few years ago.
Microsoft has played a big part in OpenAI’s journey. Microsoft supports OpenAI financially and also helps it grow through its technology and cloud services. Because of this partnership, OpenAI has been able to improve its tools and serve more people. The number of people using ChatGPT every week has grown a lot—from 400 million users in February to about 700 million now. That means hundreds of millions of people are actively using OpenAI’s products every week.
In addition to this share sale, OpenAI is also planning another big fundraising round. It hopes to raise $40 billion, with help from large investors like Japan’s SoftBank Group. This would give the company even more power to invest in better technology, hire talented workers, and stay ahead of its competitors.
Right now, tech companies around the world are all trying to grow their artificial intelligence (AI) departments. They want to build smart tools like ChatGPT, and to do that, they need brilliant people who know how to create advanced AI systems. That’s why companies are not only trying to build better products, but also to attract and keep the best AI engineers and researchers. Offering employees a chance to sell their shares for real money is one way to make them feel rewarded and stay loyal to the company.
The share sale also tells us how OpenAI is thinking about its future. Instead of rushing into a public stock offering, it is choosing to first let employees benefit from their hard work. This shows that OpenAI is being careful and wants to grow in a stable way. At the same time, it is keeping options open for possibly becoming a public company in the future.
There’s also a human side to this. Many employees at OpenAI joined the company because they believed in the idea of using AI to help the world. Now, with the chance to sell shares, they can finally get something back for all the late nights and hard work they put in. It’s not just about money—it’s also about feeling proud and valued for the difference they’ve made.
While OpenAI is growing quickly, it’s also competing with other big tech names like Google, Amazon, Meta, and startups that are working hard to build their own smart AI tools. The world of artificial intelligence is changing fast, and being first matters a lot. That’s why OpenAI needs money, talent, and good planning to stay at the top.
Letting employees sell their shares at such a high company value is not something that happens every day. It shows that OpenAI believes it is building something truly important and valuable—not just for today, but for the future. With AI becoming a part of our everyday lives—from education to business to entertainment—OpenAI is at the center of it all.
In the end, the share sale is a big step, not just in terms of money but also in how OpenAI is growing as a company. It is still a young business, but it is moving fast. Its choices today—about money, people, and technology—will shape how it grows in the years ahead. And if the company really does reach a $500 billion value, it will become one of the most valuable tech companies in the world.
Only time will tell what happens next. Will OpenAI go public? Will it continue to lead in the AI race? What new things will it invent next? These are questions that people everywhere—from investors to schoolkids using ChatGPT—are curious to find out.
