SoftBank stock implies OpenAI is worth $750 bln

REUTERS

Here’s a multi-hundred billion dollar question for ChatGPT: how much would OpenAI, the chatbot’s developer, be worth if it went public today? One way to answer that query is to look at the market value of SoftBank, which owns an 11% stake in the company.

A Breakingviews calculation suggests that, after stripping out the value of the Japanese tech investor’s other holdings, SoftBank’s current share price implies OpenAI is worth around $750 billion, 50% above the valuation at which it recently sold stock.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s characteristically bullish bet on OpenAI has paid off so far. The Japanese tech tycoon invested in the company at a $300 billion valuation in April, and recently acquired shares from employees at a $500 billion price tag.

All in all, SoftBank has invested $10.8 billion for an 11% stake, with a promise to pump in another $22.5 billion. This chunky shareholding gives public market investors a chance to gain indirect exposure to OpenAI.

It also creates an opportunity to estimate what price tag those investors are putting on the private company.

Read more | REUTERS

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