OpenAI is worth $300 bn after SoftBank deal. Why that turns the screw on Microsoft.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SoftBank Group has agreed to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI. It’s a deal which should boost the value of Microsoft’s stake in the ChatGPT maker but raises the bar for the successful conversion of OpenAI into a for-profit company.
The Japanese technology-and-telecoms company said Tuesday that it planned to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary and syndicate the remaining $10 billion to co-investors. The deal values OpenAI at $300 billion, up from $157 billion in a funding round late last year. Artificial-intelligence company OpenAI is currently structured as a nonprofit company with a board that oversees its for-profit business.
It intends to become a for-profit public-benefit corporation, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of its plans. OpenAI has to complete that transition by the end of the year or SoftBank can reduce the funding round to $20 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. That puts pressure on the timeline for the complicated negotiations over the share of the company that early backers such Microsoft will receive.
Microsoft has pumped $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019. However, Microsoft has lessened its dependence on the company by setting up an in house AI unit, while OpenAI has struck deals with other companies such as Oracle for computing power. “The rapidly souring relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI means that if conflicts emerge, there is now a large and grumpy shareholder capable of making a lot of trouble," wrote independent analyst Richard Windsor, who publishes Radio Free Mobile.
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