Why some OpenAI investors are buying shares at a much higher price
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OpenAI is raising money at a $300 billion valuation, in a SoftBank-led round that the company announced months ago but which isn't slated to close until year-end.
- It's also working on a secondary share sale at a $500 billion valuation, as recently reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Axios.
The big question: Why would investors buy shares at the much higher price?
The big answer: Allocation issues.
By the numbers: The primary round was for a total of $40 billion, of which $30 billion was to come from SoftBank and $10 billion was to come from other investors.
- A $10 billion first close occurred in June, including $7.5 billion from SoftBank and $2.5 billion from the syndicate.
- That left the syndicate with $7.5 billion of allocation, which late last month got upsized to $8.3 billion (thus increasing the overall round size to nearly $41 billion).
Zoom in: Syndicate investors wanted more than the $8.3 billion they got, according to multiple sources. But the rest has been allocated to SoftBank.
- That's what's driving demand at the $500 billion mark.
- Yes, it's at a 40% premium. But if you believe OpenAI is eventually going to join the Mag 7 (or whatever that cohort gets renamed), then it's a bargain.
- On the sell-side, OpenAI is continuing to offer employee tenders — as it's done fairly consistently.
The intrigue: SoftBank can get out of its remaining commitment if OpenAI doesn't complete certain corporate restructuring moves. It's a very unlikely scenario, but there's at least a possibility that there could be new shares available at the $300 billion mark.
The bottom line: Public market value concentration is beginning to get mirrored in the private market.
