• UAE’s MGX joins USD 6.6B OpenAI employee share sale, helping the AI company attract global investors and retain talent.
• OpenAI’s secondary sale boosts the company’s valuation to USD 500 billion, reflecting the growing investor momentum in artificial intelligence.
• Competition for AI talent intensifies as tech giants like Meta recruit researchers, while OpenAI incentivizes employees through liquidity opportunities.

MGX

OpenAI completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company, helping the company reach a USD 500 billion valuation.

Current and former OpenAI employees sold about USD 6.6 billion of stock to investors. According to Bloomberg, these include Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price.

This deal is part of the investment momentum surrounding technology and artificial intelligence.  According to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for MGX said the firm is “pleased to be a core partner to OpenAI and to continue building on our strong relationship as a significant investor across multiple funding rounds.”

Global AI Push

OpenAI is one of several companies including Nvidia Corp. leading a global push to build data centers and develop artificial intelligence services. Founded in 2015, OpenAI started as a non profit dedicated to advancing digital intelligence. Now, the company plans to give the existing OpenAI nonprofit entity control over a new public benefit corporation.

OpenAI faces an increasingly competitive market for AI talent as large tech firms compete for the resources they need. For instance, Meta has recruited researchers from OpenAI and other labs for its new super intelligence team with enticing pay packages in the nine-figure range.  Thus, a secondary sale could help OpenAI incentivize staff to stay at the company and turn down those lavish compensation offers.

Bottom line: OpenAI’s USD 6.6B share sale highlights its rising influence in AI, ongoing investor interest, and competition for top talent.