Abu Dhabi’s MGX Joins US$6.6 Billion Share Sale Of OpenAI, Now The World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Company
The deal has given the maker of ChatGPT a valuation of $500 billion.
Abu Dhabi’s artificial intelligence (AI) investment platform MGX has participated in a US$6.6 billion secondary share sale in the San Francisco-headquartered OpenAI, setting the ChatGPT maker’s valuation at about US$500 billion.
The transaction makes OpenAI the world’s most valuable privately held company, surpassing the valuation of SpaceX—which held this title previously—of $456 billion.
Bloomberg was the first to report the transaction’s completion. In a statement to CNBC, MGX said it is “pleased to be a core partner to OpenAI” and looks forward to continuing its “strong relationship as a significant investor across multiple funding rounds.”
OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 billion in shares for sale—an increase from the initial $6 billion target—but only about two-thirds of that amount were sold. A person briefed on internal discussions told CNBC that the lower participation is being viewed as a sign of confidence in the company’s long-term outlook and continued investor interest, even at the higher valuation, up from $300 billion earlier this year.
The deal allows current and former OpenAI employees to sell stock to investors, including New York–based venture capital firm Thrive Capital, Japan’s investment giant SoftBank, San Francisco–based growth equity firm Dragoneer Investment Group, MGX, and US asset manager T. Rowe Price.
The offer was extended in early September to eligible current and former employees who had held shares for more than two years. It is OpenAI’s second major tender offer in less than a year, following a $1.5 billion deal with SoftBank in November.
Pictured in the image is a scene from a September 2025 meeting between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and UAE President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Image courtesy WAM.
