OpenAI Discusses $43bn White House Stake

OpenAI is weighing whether to give the US government a 5 percent equity stake worth roughly $43 billion, a move that would tie the ChatGPT maker's fortunes directly to Washington ahead of a planned stock market debut.

What Sam Altman Has Proposed

According to reporting from the Financial Times, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman raised the offer during recent talks with the White House. The timing matters: OpenAI is currently valued at $852 billion, but it is pushing toward a $1 trillion valuation ahead of a New York listing, which is the figure that would make a 5 percent slice worth $43 billion (about £32 billion). Altman has floated this kind of arrangement before, having previously pitched a public wealth fund that would hold equity in AI companies including his own.

Trump's Push For Taxpayer Stakes In AI

President Donald Trump has made no secret of wanting the government, and by extension American taxpayers, to hold pieces of leading AI firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Last month he described the concept as something that could turn into