OpenAI is negotiating a stock sale deal that could raise its value to $500 billion

OpenAI is in talks with potential investors for a stock sale deal that could raise the company's value to $500 billion, according to media reports citing two sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the negotiations.

The sources indicated that the talks are still in their early stages and are expected to include a secondary sale of shares owned by current and former employees of the company, with the possibility of Thrive Capital, one of the investors in OpenAI, leading this round.

OpenAI has seen significant growth in its value since the launch of the ChatGPT model in late 2022, solidifying its position as a leader in the field of generative artificial intelligence. Last March, the company announced a funding round valued at $40 billion at a valuation of $300 billion, the largest funding received by a private tech company. It also revealed last week an additional funding tranche of $8.3 billion.

In a related context, OpenAI announced on Tuesday the launch of two open-source language models for the first time since GPT-2 in 2019, stating that the goal is to provide low-cost options for developers and researchers. The company also recently revealed that the number of weekly active users of ChatGPT is approaching 700 million users.

At the same time, Anthropic, a main competitor of OpenAI, is seeking new funding ranging from $3 to $5 billion led by Iconiq Capital, at a potential valuation estimated at $170 billion, compared to $61.5 billion last March.

It is worth noting that previous reports from "CNBC" predicted that OpenAI's annual recurring revenue would exceed $20 billion by the end of this year, after recording $10 billion last June.