OpenAI Cuts Its Mega-Round by a Third: Now Seeking $20 Billion at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation

OpenAI has slashed the target for its latest fundraising round by a third, according to a Financial Times report published Friday that cited multiple people familiar with the effort. The ChatGPT developer is now seeking to raise about $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, down from the $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation it was pitching in late September. The round was marketed internally as the last chance for private investors to buy in before an expected initial public offering, likely in 2027.

The downsizing did not happen overnight. In late October, the FT reported that OpenAI had already trimmed its valuation goal to $1.25 trillion after some investors balked at the higher price, with documents showing Morgan Stanley and the technology fund Dragoneer had offered the round to the bank's private wealth clients at a $1.4 trillion pre-money valuation. CNBC reported at the time that investment firm Coatue and funds from the United Arab Emirates were in discussions to lead the deal. Now, according to the new report, OpenAI has set a subscription deadline of last Friday, and the first close is expected to bring in less than $20 billion because some investors have reduced their commitments.

Even at the reduced terms, the round would value OpenAI roughly 50 percent above the $852 billion post-money valuation from its previous round in March 2026, which press recaps put at around $122 billion, the largest private raise on record. The company had justified the step-up by pointing to rapid revenue growth since July. But the market backdrop has turned hostile: AI-related stocks sold off sharply this week, with Intel suffering its worst trading day since the 1970s on Friday and Reddit dropping nearly 30 percent after weak guidance, as investors openly question the scale and pace of AI infrastructure spending.

The timing is also awkward. Anthropic filed its S-1 publicly on October 26 ahead of an IPO expected within weeks, and whatever price that listing settles on will become the first public benchmark against which OpenAI's private round gets measured. Anthropic's filing showed $16.3 billion in first-half 2026 revenue, and reports have floated IPO valuations between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion — numbers that make OpenAI's $1.25 trillion private mark look either cheap or exposed, depending on who you ask.

Neither OpenAI nor the banks involved have publicly commented on the revised terms, and the final size of the round remains subject to investor interest. The company did not respond to requests for comment about whether the first close has been pushed past its deadline.

The deeper significance is that this is the first visible crack in the AI industry's record-setting private fundraising pace. A $10 billion haircut on a single round, on top of a valuation trim, signals that even the most sought-after asset in private markets is feeling the same pressure now visible in public ones. If Anthropic's IPO prices below the marks private investors have been paying, the recalibration could spread quickly through an ecosystem that has leaned on ever-rising valuations to justify debt-fueled buildouts.