OpenAI Told Investors It Was Worth $1.4 Trillion. This Week It Said $1.25 Trillion.

OpenAI cut its own price. Earlier this month the company was pitching investors a $1.4 trillion valuation; on Thursday, October 22, 2026, it told them $1.25 trillion — $150 billion lower — while raising up to $30 billion in a round led by investors from the United Arab Emirates and Coatue 12. The round is not a listing. It is a private bridge to one.

Both numbers are pre-money: the price set on the company before the new cash arrives. At $1.25 trillion pre-money and the full $30 billion in, the post-money valuation would be $1.28 trillion 3.

The Financial Times reported the $1.4 trillion figure from documents it saw earlier in October and said the target was trimmed after resistance from some investors. One person involved in the talks described the demand this way: "There has been zero clamouring. All the prior times there's been a frenzy. This time is a bit of a thud" 2.

Investors from the United Arab Emirates lead the round alongside Coatue. SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's MGX were in talks to join by October 19, and people familiar with the talks said the round was expected to close faster than is typical for an offering that size — OpenAI told investors on Thursday it wants signatures by the end of next week 13. Alongside the equity, OpenAI is negotiating a commercial deal for more computing capacity from the UAE; in February it told investors it was targeting roughly $600 billion of total compute spend by 2030, and Nvidia counts OpenAI's existing and planned commitments at about 12 gigawatts 13.

OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was roughly $50 billion at the end of September. A $68 billion figure had been widely reported in late September; the higher number counted gross revenue including partners' share, while OpenAI books revenue net of it 34.

The growth behind it is slower than the price implies. OpenAI told investors second-quarter 2026 revenue was $6.7 billion, up 18% from $5.7 billion in the first quarter, while its operating loss widened from $9.3 billion to $12.3 billion over the same two quarters 5. When the $50 billion net figure surfaced on October 8, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.25%, Nvidia about 3%, Oracle nearly 6% and CoreWeave nearly 8% 3.

Even at the lower price the company would be the most valuable private company ever, and a $1.28 trillion post-money would sit roughly $430 billion above the $122 billion round it raised in March at an $852 billion post-money valuation 36.

OpenAI filed its IPO prospectus confidentially in June. Its chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, told employees in August the company "will be a public company in 2027"; a month later, chief executive Sam Altman said "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public" 1.

Anthropic is expected to list in mid-November and is reportedly seeking $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, which would beat SpaceX's June offering; three people familiar with its plans said its S-1 prospectus could become public as soon as Friday, October 23 17. Reuters described OpenAI's fundraising as "unusually fast" and reported that both companies are chasing the same investors 4.

The round is unsigned, its final size is still being determined, and OpenAI declined to comment. No IPO date has been set. Whether Anthropic files on Friday, and whether the $1.25 trillion holds once signatures are in — Reuters had the round above $1.4 trillion as recently as October 19 — are both open 14.

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