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financial news agency, september 28 (editor huang junzhi)apple has withdrawn from negotiations for an openai funding round that was expected to raise $6.5 billion, media reported on friday.

the tech giant recently pulled out of the round of negotiations, which was set to end next week, media reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. at this time, financing negotiations have not been completed, so participants and investment amounts are still subject to change.

according to previous reports, openai decided to increase the financing amount because the computing power required to build large-scale ai systems will lead to greater expenses. at the time, the company was in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors at a company valuation of $150 billion and would raise an additional $5 billion from banks in the form of revolving debt.

it is understood that this round of financing will be led by thrive capital. microsoft, the company's largest investor, will also participate and is expected to invest about $1 billion, having previously invested $13 billion in the company.nvidiait intends to invest us$100 million in this round of financing.sequoia capitalwe are also discussing return investment matters.

why did apple “back off”?

openai chief financial officer sarah friar told investors on thursday that the funding round is oversubscribed and will close next week. as for the reason why apple "backed off" at this time, it is still unclear.

some analysts said this may be related to the resignation of many key figures in the company.this wednesday,OpenAIchief technology officer mira murati resigned. it is understood that she has worked at openai for six and a half years. murati briefly took over as interim ceo last year. at that time, altman was quickly reinstated and she returned to her position as chief technology officer.

subsequently, the company's chief research officer bob mcgrew and vice president barret zoph also left one after another.

some analysts believe that it is also related to openai’s recent plan to “transform” into a for-profit enterprise.openai was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit before transitioning to a for-profit startup in 2019. openai currently defines itself as a capped-profit enterprise.

but if openai wants to achieve the above-mentioned $150 billion valuation, it will need to adjust its corporate structure and remove the current profit cap for investors. the so-called profit cap means that there is a cap on the return on investment for investors, and any additional returns will go to the nonprofit organization.

sources said that if openai is unable to change the company's structure, the company will need to renegotiate its valuation with investors, and their shares may convert at a lower number. the company is said to have been torn apart recently over this incident. it is said that if openai fails to turn into a profitable business within two years, itsfinancingwill be converted into debt.

finally, it may have something to do with a financial document seen by the media.this document shows that openai’s rate of making money is far less than the rate of “burning money”: it is expected to have revenue of 3.7 billion u.s. dollars this year and a loss of about 5 billion u.s. dollars.

the company expects to lose about $5 billion this year after covering costs related to operating services and other expenses such as employee salaries and office rent, according to an analysis by a financial professional who reviewed the documents.

the filing also shows that openai will need to continue raising capital over the next year as its operating expenses increase as the number of people using its products increases.