Openai is about to be worth as much as Coca-Cola even though it is still a money losing machine. The reason: SoftBank

Openai is about to close a gigantic financing round led by SoftBank that will double its assessment as reported Bloomberg.

This new round will coincide with a non-tan-positive scenario for the company: that of increasing doubts about the rhythm of real progress of generative AI.

The panoramic. The startup is finalizing a financing round of 40,000 million dollars led by SoftBankwhich will raise its value to 300,000 million.

This assessment would place Openai in the select club of the most valuable companies in the world, drawing with a whole Coca-Cola, and getting closer to others such as Netflix or Tesla.

The context. The investment is structured in two phases:

1. An initial of 10,000 million (7.5 billion softbank and 2.5 billion of other investors).
2. A second of 30,000 million scheduled for this year.

Among the investors that accompany SoftBank are the Magnetar Capital Fund, which could contribute up to 1,000 million, in addition to Coatue Management, Founders Fund and Altimeter Capital Management.

This round almost doubles the assessment achieved in October 2024, when OpenAI captured 6,600 million led by Thrive Capital at an assessment of 157,000 million.

Between the lines. This spectacular increase in value could be interpreted as an attempt to maintain the perception of exponential growth at a time when the generative AI seems to have reached some plateau in its practical development.

And now what. OpenAI must demonstrate that it can transform its technological leadership into a sustainable business model that justifies this astronomical assessment. And Altman will have to overcome the sandwich made by his investors (demanding returns) and the infrastructure (which requires continuous capital).

After the initial euphoria with the generative AI, with the arrival of Chatgpt in the late 2022 as a clear turning point, we are going to a somewhat more selective phase in which only market leaders will continue to capture large amounts of money.

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