Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thank you, Mr. Air, a netizen of CTOnews.com, for your clue delivery! CTOnews.com, Sept. 27 (Xinhua)-- artificial intelligence startup OpenAI is in talks with investors to sell shares at a valuation of about $80 billion to $90 billion (CTOnews.com Note: about 584.8 billion to 657.9 billion yuan), almost triple what it was at the beginning of the year, according to a person familiar with the matter with the Wall Street Journal.

The start-up told investors it expected revenue this year to reach $1 billion (currently about 7.31 billion yuan) and to add billions more by 2024, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal will allow employees to sell existing shares instead of issuing new shares to raise new capital, the report said. OpenAI has begun promoting the deal to investors, but the terms are still likely to change, according to people familiar with the matter.

A valuation of at least $80 billion will make OpenAI one of the most highly valued startups in the world. Microsoft has previously invested $13 billion (currently about 95.03 billion yuan) in OpenAI, a company co-founded by Sam Altman.

An employee-owned stock sale may set a minimum price to attract any outside investors to provide additional financing. OpenAI is widely expected to raise more money by issuing new shares to cover the computing costs of developing and maintaining its artificial intelligence systems.

People familiar with the matter also said OpenAI intended for Microsoft to take a minority stake in the company, meaning Microsoft might not be able to buy enough shares to push its stake to more than 50 per cent to take control.

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