OpenAI is about to close a $40 billion funding round, Bloomberg reports. The round is being led by SoftBank.
Investors involved in the negotiations include Magnetar Capital, Coatue Management, Founders Fund and Altimeter Capital Management. Magnetar Capital's hedge fund may contribute up to $1 billion.
This round of funding could be the largest ever for the AI developer. The deal is expected to value the company at $300 billion, almost double the previous estimate of $157 billion after the October investment.
SoftBank will initially invest $7.5 billion in the company, along with $2.5 billion from a consortium of investors. Later this year, there will be a second tranche of $30 billion, including $22.5 billion from SoftBank and $7.5 billion from the consortium.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that ChatGPT developer expects to more than triple its revenue this year to $12.7 billion thanks to paid subscriptions. Last year, the company's revenue reached $3.7 billion, sources said.
Yesterday, OpenAI launched an image generator in ChatGPT based on its advanced AI model GPT-4o. The demand was so great that they had to cancel this feature for free users.
