OpenAI Is Poised to Become the Most Valuable Startup Ever. Should It Be?

OpenAI is heading for a $500bn valuation in a double deal led by SoftBank and a secondary sale of employee shares, even though the company has an astronomical burnout rate and its spending is increasing alongside its revenue.
One investor argued that the maths for investing at that valuation was straightforward based on the assumptions that ChatGPT achieves 2bn users and monetises at $5 per user per month.
That would achieve $120 bninann u a l re v e n u e a l o n e, s u pp or t in g a$ 1.5tr company.
However, the investor’s projections are ambitious and seem to disregard the threat of rivals like Google or Meta encroaching on its space.
For its IPO to be worthwhile, the company would need to be valued at over $1tn.
Though stranger things have happened, and OpenAI has already doubled its projected annual revenue, hitting $12bn in the first seven months of 2025, and has achieved surges in enterprise adoption.

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