Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
On March 31, 2025, OpenAI announced up to $40 billion in new funding led by SoftBank, at a $300 billion post-money valuation. It was a staged primary financing—not a tender offer in the usual sense of existing shareholders selling their shares. The distinction matters: a separate employee share sale was later reported at roughly a $500 billion valuation.
The $300 billion figure is historical, not OpenAI’s latest reported valuation. Later financing announcements put the company at higher transaction-based valuations, though private-company valuations are not the same as public-market prices.
The $300 billion deal at a glance
| Item | What was announced |
|---|---|
| Announcement | March 31, 2025 |
| Maximum new funding | Up to $40 billion |
| Post-money valuation | $300 billion |
| Pre-money valuation disclosed by SoftBank | $260 billion |
| SoftBank’s planned investment | Up to $40 billion before syndication; up to $10 billion could be syndicated to co-investors |
| First closing | $10 billion |
| Potential second closing | Up to $30 billion, subject to conditions |
OpenAI described the raise as up to $40 billion at a $300 billion post-money valuation. SoftBank’s transaction announcement provided more detail on the investment’s stages, conditions and planned syndication. OpenAI’s announcement and SoftBank’s transaction terms are the primary sources for the headline figures.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhy the valuation was $300 billion post-money
A pre-money valuation is the agreed transaction value before new capital is added. A post-money valuation includes the new investment. In this case, SoftBank disclosed a $260 billion pre-money figure; adding up to $40 billion in funding gives the announced $300 billion post-money valuation.
#1 Best Overall
So it is more precise to say OpenAI raised funding at a $300 billion post-money valuation than to imply that $300 billion was its value before the financing. It is also an implied value under a particular transaction’s terms—not an independently audited appraisal or a price available to everyone buying or selling OpenAI shares.
Was it a tender offer?
No, not in the ordinary sense suggested by that label. The March 2025 deal was primarily a financing investment into OpenAI. A tender offer or other secondary share sale generally lets existing shareholders sell shares, giving those holders liquidity. Primary funding instead puts new capital into the company.
OpenAI’s $300 billion financing should not be confused with a later reported employee liquidity transaction. The Associated Press reported that current and former employees sold shares to investors, including SoftBank and Thrive Capital, at a valuation of about $500 billion. That was a separate secondary sale, not the March funding round. The AP report and Reuters reporting republished by Inc. describe that later transaction.
How SoftBank’s commitment was staged
The headline amount did not mean OpenAI received $40 billion in one unconditional wire transfer on announcement day. SoftBank described a two-stage arrangement:
- First closing: $10 billion at a $260 billion pre-money valuation.
- Potential second closing: up to $30 billion, dependent on OpenAI completing a recapitalization and meeting specified restructuring conditions. SoftBank said the second closing could be limited to $10 billion if the conditions were not met.
- Syndication: SoftBank planned to syndicate up to $10 billion to co-investors, meaning it was not necessarily going to retain the full announced exposure itself.
The investment was linked to changes in OpenAI’s corporate structure and the recapitalization of its economic arrangements. SoftBank’s documents described investment rights that could convert into preferred shares, with later conversion mechanics also addressed. Those details help explain why a headline valuation alone does not tell the whole story about an investor’s rights or eventual economics. See SoftBank’s shareholder-meeting materials for securities and conversion disclosures.
SoftBank later said the first closing was completed in April 2025. In December 2025, it announced an additional $22.5 billion investment and said its commitment under the March agreement had been fully satisfied alongside third-party co-investors. That later disclosure is a better guide to completion than treating the original “up to” commitment as cash funded on announcement day. SoftBank’s December 2025 update provides the subsequent detail.
Rank #3
Why SoftBank was willing to invest
SoftBank already had exposure to OpenAI: it said it had invested $2.2 billion through Vision Fund 2 before the March 2025 transaction. It also described OpenAI as a central AI partner and announced a plan to deploy OpenAI products across its group companies, with spending estimated at approximately $3 billion annually. These are SoftBank’s stated strategic reasons, not independent evidence that the investment will produce a particular return. SoftBank’s partnership announcement outlines the deployment plan.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
The financing also sat within a broader infrastructure push. SoftBank and OpenAI were identified as lead partners in Stargate, an initiative intended to invest up to $500 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure over four years. That project gives context to the capital needs behind the investment, but it is distinct from the $40 billion OpenAI financing. SoftBank’s Stargate announcement describes the plan.
What OpenAI said the money would fund
OpenAI said the capital would support AI research, computing infrastructure and product development. In practical terms, frontier AI development and deployment require more than software engineering: they require access to large amounts of specialized computing hardware, data-center capacity, energy, networking and long-term compute arrangements. Serving models to large numbers of users and businesses also carries ongoing infrastructure costs.
That makes the round an infrastructure-and-scaling bet as well as a research investment. It does not, by itself, establish OpenAI’s profitability, cash flow or ability to earn a return on the capital.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What a private-company valuation does—and doesn’t—tell you
A private valuation is inferred from the price and terms negotiated in a financing or share sale. It is not equivalent to a public company’s market capitalization, which changes as shares trade in an open market. Private securities may include preferred-share protections, liquidation preferences, conversion provisions, voting rights and transfer restrictions that affect their value relative to common shares.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
That distinction is particularly important for OpenAI, whose nonprofit governance and for-profit operating structure were part of the financing context. OpenAI later announced an updated structure in which the OpenAI Foundation retained a substantial equity stake and continued to control mission-oriented governance. OpenAI’s structure page describes the arrangement.
Best Value
For readers assessing the number, a $300 billion transaction valuation is a signal about the price and terms investors accepted at that time. It does not mean every share could have been sold at that implied price, prove the company was profitable, or guarantee a future public-market valuation.
How the reported valuation changed
| Date | Event | Reported valuation signal |
|---|---|---|
| March 31, 2025 | OpenAI announced SoftBank-led funding | $300 billion post-money |
| April 2025 | SoftBank’s first closing | $260 billion pre-money; $10 billion first closing |
| 2025 | Reported employee share sale | About $500 billion |
| February 2026 | SoftBank announced a separate follow-on investment | $730 billion pre-money |
| Later 2026 announcement | OpenAI announced a $122 billion funding round | $852 billion post-money |
These are different transactions and valuation bases; they should not be combined into a single deal. OpenAI’s later announcements described a $110 billion round at $730 billion pre-money and a subsequent $122 billion funding round at $852 billion post-money. SoftBank separately announced a $30 billion follow-on investment at a $730 billion pre-money valuation. See OpenAI’s $110 billion round announcement, its later funding announcement and SoftBank’s February 2026 announcement.
The $300 billion figure therefore belongs to the March 2025 funding round. It is not OpenAI’s latest reported valuation, and none of these private financing signals should be read as a continuously updated public share price.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
