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author: li dan

source: hard ai

recent news shows that openai's new round of financing, which has brought its valuation to over $100 billion, has not only attracted top technology giants, but also prompted openai to consider internal adjustments to make the company's internal structure more in line with investors.

according to a report in the financial times on friday, august 30, eastern time, openai is in talks to change its corporate structure to make it more investor-friendly as it pushes forward with billions of dollars in financing in hopes of maintaining its lead over other competitors such as google in the field of artificial intelligence.

the report cited people involved in the negotiations as saying that openai has discussed the company's restructuring with investors. one option openai is considering is to remove the existing profit cap on investors in for-profit subsidiaries. although no agreement has been reached on the final form, openai may make the company more attractive to financial backers by seeking to simplify the company's current complex non-profit structure.

the new financing of openai mentioned in the above report is the "hot commodity" that some media have mentioned recently that several giants are vying for. wall street journal mentioned on wednesday that openai is seeking a new round of multi-billion dollar financing, of which the leading venture capital thrive capital will invest about $1 billion, and microsoft will participate in the investment. the new financing will make openai's valuation exceed $100 billion.

wednesday's news also said that in recent weeks, one or more of openai's existing shareholders have been in talks to sell their shares at a company valuation of $103 billion. excluding the additional funds raised, any new investors would likely give openai a valuation of $103 billion or more.

on thursday, there were reports that apple is negotiating to join openai's new round of financing, and nvidia has discussed joining openai's round of financing. if the news is true and the discussions make progress, then the three companies with the highest market capitalization in the world will invest in openai, highlighting the market's high expectations for the potential of its technology.

if the new financing does bring openai's valuation above $100 billion, it means that openai's valuation may increase by a quarter in half a year. because in february this year, the new york times reported that after completing transactions including venture capital firms and employee cash withdrawals, openai's valuation tripled in less than 10 months to $80 billion.

openai's ceo sam altman once called it "the most capital-intensive startup in silicon valley history." this new round of financing once again demonstrates altman's strong financing capabilities. if openai reaches a valuation of $100 billion, among private startups, openai's valuation will only rank behind a few companies such as bytedance and spacex. even so, some investors still think it is cautious and expect openai's valuation to even reach $125 billion.

apple, microsoft, nvidia and thrive all declined to comment on friday’s news. however, considering the previous changes in the company’s internal management and the uncertainty of the future business model, openai’s high valuation does face challenges.

last year, openai had a "palace fight". the board of directors suddenly "fired" altman on november 17, and announced his re-employment on the 21st just a few days later. in june this year, ilya sutskever, the former chief scientist of openai, officially announced his solo career. in early august, co-founder and key leader john schulman confirmed that he had resigned. so far, only three of the 11 co-founders of openai have not left. one of them, greg brockman, the president, said in early august that he would take a long vacation until the end of this year. this is the first long vacation for openai in its nine years of establishment.

in addition to internal changes, openai also faces the question of when to transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit business.

according to an analysis of its chatbot operating costs by the information, openai could lose as much as $5 billion this year, not including the cost of training future large language models and paying its 1,500 employees. it’s not likely to be openai’s last private round of funding, so to speak.

regarding the news that nvidia, apple, and microsoft are all going to invest in openai, some netizens commented on the social media x that ai is the next big hot spot in the market. some netizens questioned whether they really intend to invest or just want to drive up the stock price? some netizens called them the evil trinity and called for investment in decentralized ai solutions to benefit mankind.

one financial advisor to corporate executives who was a former m&a banker commented that openai's billions of dollars in new financing will undoubtedly flow directly into the computing sector, that is, to nvidia. apple is clearly underinvesting in ai infrastructure compared to its peers, and acquiring a large stake in openai will solve this problem overnight. apple will of course pay a considerable premium, but the premium will be reduced because apple will become openai's main quasi-exclusive customer.