OpenAI Seeks $30 Billion at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation

OpenAI is seeking about $30 billion in new funding at a target valuation of $1.25 trillion, according to Bloomberg News reporter Rebecca Torrence. The proposed round is still roughly the size previously reported, but the target price is $150 billion below the earlier $1.4 trillion figure. Torrence attributed the reduction to price sensitivity in broader markets.

That combination is the central change: OpenAI is seeking a very large amount of new capital while accepting a lower valuation than the one previously attached to the round. The reported target remains a target, not a completed financing. Torrence said Coatue Management was in talks to co-lead the round alongside entities from the United Arab Emirates, whose involvement had been reported earlier.

A Bloomberg on-screen headline also named BlackRock in connection with funding talks. That name appeared in the graphic; Torrence’s spoken account identified Coatue and UAE entities as the parties in talks to co-lead.

The company’s need for more money is not straightforward. Torrence said much of the capital from an earlier $122 billion round remained on OpenAI’s balance sheet. At the same time, she pointed to the company’s substantial compute commitments and the cost of its work as reasons it could use additional funding. The available capital and continuing expenses sit side by side: a large balance does not, in Torrence’s account, remove the demand for more financing.

The financing is being positioned as a bridge to a public listing, rather than simply as a response to an immediate shortage of cash. Torrence said OpenAI had originally planned to go public as early as this year, but was then looking at next year at the earliest. A new round could provide capital through that next milestone.

That framing leaves two explanations in play. The round may be attractive to investors seeking an opportunity to invest in OpenAI, as Ed Ludlow suggested; Torrence said that was how it was being positioned. But she also said the company’s compute commitments and costly work mean it can use the money. The source does not resolve which motive is primary.

There is also a distinction between investors’ interest in a round and OpenAI’s confirmation that it is pursuing one. Torrence said CFO Sarah Friar had not confirmed a new round when asked, but said there was market demand to do one. Torrence added that much of the earlier round’s capital remained on the balance sheet. That account supports both sides of the tension: investor demand may be driving the opportunity, while operating commitments give OpenAI a reason to take it.

The proposed $1.25 trillion valuation would put OpenAI above Anthropic on the private-company comparison Torrence described. Anthropic’s last private valuation was $965 billion; OpenAI’s previous valuation was $852 billion. If OpenAI’s new round closes at its reported target, it would become the highest-valued private technology company.

The comparison is provisional in two ways. OpenAI’s round has not been presented as complete, and Anthropic’s status could change. Torrence said Anthropic appeared likely to go public as soon as November. If that happens, it would no longer be a private company, leaving OpenAI as the highest-valued private company by default of the comparison.

A Bloomberg graphic put the figures in the same frame: the proposed $30 billion raise, the $1.25 trillion target, and the $122 billion round in March at an $852 billion valuation. The graphic also said investor commitments were expected to be finalized by the end of the following week. Those details describe the reported plan and timetable, not confirmation that the commitments or round were finalized. The valuation race therefore turns on both whether OpenAI secures the new financing and whether Anthropic’s reported listing happens on the expected schedule.