OpenAI Investors Approach Company With $1.2 Trillion Valuation Proposal

OpenAI investors have approached the company about a potential funding round at a $1.2 trillion valuation, CNBC reported. The proposed price would surpass OpenAI’s last completed valuation, but it is not a deal: sources said the company is not engaged in formal discussions.

The investors, rather than OpenAI, initiated the approaches, according to people familiar with the matter. Some have framed a possible transaction as a way for employees to sell stock. OpenAI has not announced financing, and it declined to comment to the Financial Times on the reported round.

$852 billionMarch completed valuation

OpenAI said its March financing closed at an $852 billion post-money valuation.

$1.2 trillionCurrent investor proposal

Investors have floated the higher valuation, but OpenAI is not in formal talks about a round.

OpenAI’s March round closed with $122 billion in committed capital and an $852 billion post-money valuation, the company said. That is a completed transaction with a defined price. By contrast, the $1.2 trillion figure is an investor proposal, not an agreed valuation or evidence that OpenAI will take new capital.

A new sale opportunity would not be OpenAI employees’ first. CNBC reported that the company completed a roughly $7 billion secondary share sale in August, allowing employees to cash out part of their holdings. That establishes a recent precedent for liquidity, not the size, timing, or terms of any potential new transaction.

The approach arrives while OpenAI’s route to public markets remains unsettled. CNBC reported that the company confidentially filed an IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Separately, CEO Sam Altman said OpenAI would not go public in 2026, citing safety and model-alignment work as reasons to remain private. For now, that leaves a clear divide: investors have named a price, while OpenAI has not entered negotiations.