OpenAI plans to go public in the fourth quarter of this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The maker of ChatGPT has become the top Artificial Intelligence company in the world. It’s widely anticipated Initial Public Offering would attract significant attention from individual and institutional investors.
OpenAI is the second most valuable private company in the world. SpaceX is the most valuable with a $1.25 trillion market capitalization.
OpenAI was founded as in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
The release of ChatGPT in late 2022 created the first Large Language Model and sparked the Artificial Intelligence revolution. ChatGPT was quickly followed by the release of competing models from Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Anthropic and Perplexity.
Here’s a breakdown of the company’s revenues:
· 2023: $2 billion
· 2024: $6 billion
· 2025: $20 billion (run rate at year-end)
· 2026: $25 billion
OpenAI is unprofitable. Some reports suggest that the company’s losses this year could exceed $14 billion.
Typically, companies would wait until they were profitable or approaching profitability before going public. However, OpenAI doesn’t plan to let the large financial losses get in the way of an IPO.
The latest private financing round values the company at $500 billion. CEO Sam Altman has been meeting with investors in the Middle East with the goal of raising $50 billion in capital to fund the company.
The upcoming financing could value OpenAI at $750 - $830 billion, according to Bloomberg.
OpenAI’s biggest investor is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The software giant owns a 28% stake in the company. Softbank (OTC: SFTBY) is also a significant investor.
The company wants to get its stock listed before AI competitor Anthropic.
Right now, SpaceX appears to be the first Mega IPO of the year. Elon Musk says he wants the stock to be trading before July.
Ian Wyatt