The OpenAI valuation target in a new funding round is reportedly $1.25 trillion, with about $30 billion being raised. Yahoo Finance described the talks on Friday, October 23, and a Motley Fool column followed on Saturday. Both describe the terms as reported and not final.
OpenAI hasn’t confirmed the numbers in the material we reviewed, and neither piece says who first reported the current $30 billion target. This is a news summary, not investment advice.
What is reported about the raise
Yahoo Finance says OpenAI is seeking about $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation. It adds that OpenAI had earlier been reported, by Bloomberg, to be seeking capital at a $1.5 trillion valuation. That would make the new target a step down.
The last round gives a point of comparison. OpenAI raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion valuation, according to its own announcement dated March 31. The Fool column says $30 billion is less than the last round but still a large sum.
On investors, the two reports differ. Yahoo Finance names none. The Fool says investors from the United Arab Emirates and the investment firm Coatue are leading the round, and that talks began in September when investors approached OpenAI. We couldn’t confirm that detail elsewhere. Coatue was among the investors named in the March announcement.
What OpenAI said about its business in March
The March announcement holds the most recent numbers we found that OpenAI published itself. It said ChatGPT had more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million subscribers, and that revenue was running at $2 billion a month, with enterprise accounting for over 40% of it. Those are the company’s own claims, and they’re seven months old. The announcement doesn’t itemize how the money would be spent, and it says nothing about losses or cash flow.
Why the OpenAI valuation target dropped
Both articles tie the backdrop to a rough stretch for AI stocks. Yahoo Finance points to broad declines over worries about data center spending, with CoreWeave and other neocloud companies at the center because of heavy debt. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was down 7% over five days, and Meta fell as much as 7% on Thursday after raising the low end of its capital expenditure guidance. Our own coverage of that move is in our look at Meta’s stock split and results.
The Fool column links the lower target to what it calls sector fatigue, citing the drop in CoreWeave shares and Meta’s sell-off after it reported negative free cash flow. It also notes that the four biggest cloud companies are set to spend more than $700 billion on AI infrastructure.
The IPO picture
The Fool says OpenAI chief Sam Altman told employees now isn’t the right time to go public, but the company is still aiming for an IPO in 2027. The same column argues OpenAI should wait a few months rather than list alongside Anthropic.
The two reports describe Anthropic’s plans differently. Yahoo Finance says Anthropic is reportedly preparing to file for its IPO before Thanksgiving, with Wall Street expecting a valuation of up to $2 trillion, and that its S-1 could become public in the coming days. The Fool says Anthropic filed confidentially last month and is expected to finish its IPO in November at about $2 trillion. We haven’t seen a filing, so treat the timing as unconfirmed. Our Anthropic explainer tracks what’s confirmed.
What the OpenAI valuation tells investors
A reported $1.25 trillion price is still far above the $852 billion set in March, so this is a step down from the first ask rather than a drop from the last round. The articles don’t give OpenAI’s current revenue, losses, or cash flow, which are the numbers that would justify the price. That gap matters more than the headline OpenAI valuation. The Fool says the sector’s future hinges on OpenAI and Anthropic becoming profitable, and that Anthropic’s S-1 will be a key data point because it should include full financials.
OpenAI also faces legal and regulatory pressure that investors will weigh. See our reports on the eight states suing OpenAI and the FTC’s questions to OpenAI and Anthropic.
Editor’s take
The number to watch isn’t $1.25 trillion. It’s the gap between that price and anything OpenAI has published about its own earnings. A lower ask in a shaky market suggests investors are less willing to pay for growth alone. We’d watch three things: whether OpenAI confirms the OpenAI valuation terms and the investors, whether Anthropic’s S-1 becomes public, and whether the AI stock selloff continues into next week’s big tech earnings. Until then, treat every figure here as a report, not a deal.
