OpenAI trims valuation target to $1.25tn after pitching higher price

OpenAI has cut its valuation target for its latest funding round after facing resistance on a $1.4tn price tag from some investors, as it pushes to raise $30bn before going public next year.

The ChatGPT maker is in the final stages of a deal which is expected to value the company at $1.25tn, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

That would be a jump of almost 50 per cent from its current $852bn valuation, but is lower than the price pitched to investors earlier this month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The lower valuation target comes as US tech stocks have sold off sharply, due to intensifying concerns about the sustainability of the debt-fuelled AI infrastructure boom.

Morgan Stanley and San Francisco-based tech fund Dragoneer had floated OpenAI to the bank’s private wealth clients at a pre-money valuation of $1.4tn, according to documents seen by the FT.

Multiple people with knowledge of the Morgan Stanley-led process said demand from clients was weaker than in the past. “There has been zero clamouring,” said one of the people. “All the prior times [OpenAI] have been on there’s been a frenzy. This time is a bit of a thud.”

Some investors were also suffering from fatigue, or “indigestion”, having invested heavily in prior rounds, said some of the people. OpenAI raised $40bn in March 2025 and a record-breaking $122bn in March this year. Arch-rival Anthropic has also raised close to $100bn this year.

Other investors told the FT they would rather wait and see how Anthropic prices in an initial public offering, expected later this year, before committing to its rival.

OpenAI is targeting raising $30bn as a “bridge” before its own public offering. That was likely to come in the first half of 2027, said a person close to the company, though no date has been fixed.

US investment group Coatue and funds from the United Arab Emirates were in discussion to lead the round, said one of the people with knowledge of the deal.

The deal also gives OpenAI right of first refusal on new computing power developed by its partners in the UAE, they added.

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The company has given prospective investors until October 30 to commit to the deal, and may ultimately raise less than $30bn depending on investor interest.

OpenAI declined to comment. Coatue did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CNBC on Thursday reported that OpenAI was nearing a deal at $1.25tn.

Jimmy Chang, chief investment officer at the Rockefeller Global Family Office, which has exposure to OpenAI and Anthropic, said uncertainty around both of the companies’ IPOs was weighing on the broader US stock market.

“The market needs to see a successful IPO,” said Chang. “These companies need funding.”