OpenAI in talks on share sale that would price it above Elon Musk’s SpaceX
OpenAI is reportedly in early talks about a sale of shares held by current and former employees that would value it at half a trillion dollars, overtaking Elon Musk’s SpaceX,If the transaction goes ahead, the value of the ChatGPT developer would rise by about two-thirds, from $300bn (£225bn),Musk’s rocket companyis currently worth $350bn and is reportedly circling a $400bn price tag in a new fundraising,Bloomberg, which first reported the OpenAI talks, said existing investors, including Thrive Capital, have approached the company about buying employee shares,Other investors in OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, include the Japanese investment company SoftBank, which led the $300bn financing, and Microsoft.
OpenAI and Thrive Capital declined to commentTech startups are known to arrange employee share sales to motivate staff and bring in investors,OpenAI is also under competitive pressure from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to retain leading staff members, with a share sale possibly offering an incentive to stay,The Facebook parent has poached staff from OpenAI and others in a hiring drive to build an AI “superintelligence” unit,OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, has said Meta had taken “none of our best people” despite offering “crazy” signing bonuses of $100m (£74m),Anthropic, another rival, founded by former OpenAI employees, is reportedly in negotiations for a fundraising valuing the business at $170bn.
Fundraising is a continuing requirement for AI startups as they seek finance to train the increasingly sophisticated models that power their products, a process that involves using expensive computer chips and data centre capacity.The report comes as Altman indicated that OpenAI was preparing to release an upgraded version of the model powering ChatGPT.On Sunday he shared a screenshot of what appeared to be the company’s latest AI model, GPT-5.OpenAI also launched two new open models on Tuesday, meaning they can be downloaded freely and customised, in a competitive challenge to Meta and China’s DeepSeek, which have also launched open AI models.“We’re excited to make this model, the result of billions of dollars of research, available to the world to get AI into the hands of the most people possible,” said Altman.
However, OpenAI’s main business is based on “closed” models, whose inner workings cannot be accessed, and it charges for subscriptions for enhanced versions of ChatGPT or for integrating its models into businesses.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionOpenAI, which is structured as a non-profit entity with a profit-making arm, is in talks to become a for-profit business, with the long-running negotiations yet to conclude amid reports of wrangling with Microsoft.Speaking to the New York Times podcast in June, Altman said of the Microsoft relationship: “Obviously in any deep partnership there are points of tension, and we certainly have those.But on the whole it’s been like really wonderfully good for both companies.”In March a US judge denied Musk’s request for a preliminary injunction to pause OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit model.
Musk, the world’s richest person, was a co-founder of OpenAI and left the company in 2019 – but has accused the startup of straying from its founding mission to develop artificial intelligence for the good of humanity, rather than for corporate profit,OpenAI is also pushing into hardware after buying a startup, io, owned by the iPhone designer Sir Jony Ive in a $6,4bn deal,Altman reportedly told employees that OpenAI planned to build 100m AI “companions” that would be part of users’ everyday life,Mass production of the unnamed io gadget is not expected to start until 2027, although Altman has described a prototype as “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen”.
Rugby in US suffers another blow as second team in a week exits MLR
Major League Rugby was reduced to eight teams on Wednesday by the withdrawal of the Miami Sharks, just a week after a founding team quit the competition and two California teams merged.Miami and MLR did not immediately comment but multiple league sources confirmed that the Sharks’ withdrawal after two years in the league was finalized on Tuesday.The Guardian understands that a request to withdraw for 2026 before a potential return in 2027 was rejected by team owners – NOLA Gold, the team that announced its exit last week, having sought a similar arrangement.NOLA and Miami could reapply to play in 2027, the Guardian was told.Last week, after NOLA’s exit and the merger of San Diego Legion and RFC LA, it was widely reported that the league could yet fall to just seven teams, the number that kicked off the competition in 2018
Jayden Nguyen’s Bombers debut could herald new era as AFL tackles cultural diversity | Jack Snape
The first AFL men’s player with a Vietnamese background, Essendon’s Jayden Nguyen, held his own against Sydney star Tom Papley on Saturday. Despite the Bombers’ 14-point defeat, Nguyen’s appearance was an important milestone for a game still struggling to come to terms with its place within multicultural Australia.The 19-year-old, whose parents arrived in Australia in the 1980s, said he hoped he had made others proud. “I’m pretty wrapped with the support I’ve got over the past few days from the Vietnamese community, and the Asian community in general,” Nguyen said after the match. “I just feel like it helps push me and makes me feel proud about myself
The Spin | Strapple, greeble, slog and kiss: how cricket’s language turns a game of numbers into poetry
Joe Root shifts his weight forward, rising with the lifting ball from back of a good length. As it nears his body he moves his hands and bat towards the ball. In one seamless motion, with the ball under his eyes, he adjusts his weight back a touch, twisting his wrists to open the face of the blade. He lets the ball come to him before directing it through the gap between third slip and gully.That is a lot of words to say that Joe Root has yet again steered one behind square for four
From the Pocket: nagging questions remain but Simon Goodwin’s gameplan ultimately marked his card
At their very best, Simon Goodwin’s Demons would fight hand to hand, square metre by square metre. Their midfielders were like snorting bulls. Their ruckman was peerless. Their key defenders would patrol and gobble, deny and thwart. In just under an hour, it all came together in a flawless, torrential, still scarcely believable flood of goals
How a controversial hand gesture divided opinion in the NRL
The NRL showed leniency on Wednesday by letting off Wests Tigers players with a warning after they used a gesture offensive to some Lebanese-Australian communities in Sunday’s victory over Canterbury-Bankstown. But the sanction is unlikely to satisfy everyone given the range of responses elicited, from those outraged to others who believe the act was “just a bit of banter”.Celebrating a second-half try to seal an upset Tigers’ win against the high-flying Bulldogs in pouring rain at Parramatta, backrower Samuela Fainu made a hand gesture known as “the khawd”, and his teammates quickly joined in.Almost one in five residents of Bankstown have Lebanese ancestry, and the Bulldogs’ fanbase has a strong association with Arab communities in Sydney’s west. The club holds an annual Ifthar dinner each year during Ramadan and one of its favourite sons is Lebanon-born former winger Hazem El-Masri
Trump announces he will chair White House taskforce for 2028 LA Olympics
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the creation of a White House taskforce that he will lead to oversee elements of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.The president signed an executive order establishing the taskforce, which will include JD Vance as well as other cabinet members and government officials. The body will work with local and state authorities on security and transportation for the first Games in the US in nearly three decades.Trump will chair the taskforce, while Vance will serve as vice-chair and an executive director will oversee “daily operations”, according to the White House.“The LA Olympics is shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America
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