OpenAI Is Poised To Become The Most Valuable Startup Ever. Should It Be?

OpenAI is reportedly on the verge of a roughly 500 billion valuation, a figure that would make it the most valuable private company in the world--bigger than SpaceX, TikTok's parent company Bytedance, and even public giants like Palantir. It's a staggering number for a company with an "astronomical burn rate." How is this even possible? As Axios reports, there are actually two deals in play: a SoftBank-led round valuing the company at 300 billion, which won't close until year's end, and a secondary sale of employee shares at a far steeper 500 billion valuation. Most of the cheaper shares have already been snapped up, leaving investors to fight over the pricier ones.