OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#431

Post by aurareturn » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:26 AM UTC

lmm wrote: post #396

aurareturn wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are we treating OpenAI and Anthropic differently than say, Amazon or Uber? Both companies invested in growth for many years before making a profit. Most tech companies in the last 2-3 decades lost money for years before making a profit. Why are we saying that OpenAI and Anthropic can't do the same?

Amazon had a clear business model. They had positive gross margin from, if not day 1, then pretty close to it. I remain skeptical of Uber. Sure, maybe OpenAI and Anthropic will make it work. It's not impossible. But it's far from guaranteed.

OpenAI and Anthropic have positive gross margins for inference.

Uber generates about $1b in profit yearly now.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#432

Post by bumby » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:28 AM UTC

chronc6393 wrote: post #419

LaGrange wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol that’s a line so incredibly naive it hurts. One does not “simply” reduce spending.

> One does not “simply” reduce spending. Why does stock price go up after mass layoffs?

What happens when the only way to reduce spending is to reduce your assets? Seems like circular logic at that point. I suppose the market isn’t expected to be rational all the time, but eventually it is.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#433

Post by Fripplebubby » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #420

SilverElfin wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the GAAP accounting matter if everyone passively buys shares due to the new fast entry rules, which corruptly will force us all to buy into these companies? The fundamentals and true value seem less relevant than ever: https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/03/51248353/michael...

For other readers, I want to add some context here. NASDAQ is pondering whether or not to change their NASDAQ 100 index membership rules for IPOs. Currently, there is a three month waiting rule for IPOs. They are proposing (not sure if passed/agree/completed yet) to remove this waiting rule for IPOs. Real question: What is the real impact of this rule change? To me, it seems so minor. Three months is just a blip in t…

> Also, if you don't like the NASDAQ 100 rules, then you don't have to invest in securities that track it.

Isn't the idea with the indexes that they allow you to intentionally not take an activist position in the market? The exposure is not tied to any underlying market hypothesis. In other words, if we make people form a market hypothesis in order to decide whether or not to hold this index, it has failed in its purpose.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#434

Post by voganmother42 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:58 AM UTC

parineum wrote: post #365

voganmother42 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you miss the cancel/unsubscribe gpt boycott? It was only about a month ago. Many people I know cancelled/unsubscribed. To be fair though, most people I have talked with needed almost no encouragement to move to anthropic or google (better products, easy to switch etc). Consumer sentiment can change quickly.

Many people in your bubble cancelled.

Perhaps, but it was pretty widely reported on, if you care to look.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#435

Post by bko » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:59 AM UTC

alyxya wrote: post #31

> Today, we closed our latest funding round with $122 billion in committed capital at a post money valuation of $852 billion. A couple things that stand out to me about this is the use of the phrase "committed capital", which only sounds like a promise that could break from various circumstances, and the valuation of their funding keeps changing so it sounds like a max rather than the valuation every investor investe…

I assure you committed capital is very much common parlance in finance

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#436

Post by seanhunter » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:26 PM UTC

lelanthran wrote: post #429

aurareturn wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't reporting anything yet. What we hearing is just from news media who get their leaks/info from investors who get some form of IR reports/ presentation. The $24b figure is literally in OpenAI's announcement. The $19b ARR and $6b added in Feb came directly from Anthropic CEO recently.

> The $24b figure is literally in OpenAI's announcement. And? That's not a legislated report; they can use whatever mechanism they want to, without disclosure, to produce numbers. Lets wait until they are regulated as a public company, then their mechanism has to be both aligned with what legislation requires as well as clearly documented in their report.

> they can use whatever mechanism they want to, without disclosure, to produce numbers.

That would be fraud against whoever participated in this round, so no. Just because they aren't regulated doesn't mean they are literally free to do whatever they want to close the round.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#437

Post by lazyguythugman » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:33 PM UTC

I still don't get how a non profit can become a for profit entity on a whim.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#438

Post by adgjlsfhk1 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:39 PM UTC

seanhunter wrote: post #436

lelanthran wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The $24b figure is literally in OpenAI's announcement. And? That's not a legislated report; they can use whatever mechanism they want to, without disclosure, to produce numbers. Lets wait until they are regulated as a public company, then their mechanism has to be both aligned with what legislation requires as well as clearly documented in their report.

> they can use whatever mechanism they want to, without disclosure, to produce numbers. That would be fraud against whoever participated in this round, so no. Just because they aren't regulated doesn't mean they are literally free to do whatever they want to close the round.

it would be fraud only if they're also telling their investors the same numbers.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#439

Post by stingraycharles » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:46 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #403

stingraycharles wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t sales tax only for consumers? Ie companies reverse charge sales tax or omit it entirely. Or what is this 2% - 10% sales tax you’re referring to?

> Isn’t sales tax only for consumers? It depends how you defined “consumers”. If you mean “those who consume the good subject to the tax, rather than people who resell the good”, yes, ideally. If you mean “not businesses” or “individuals but not corporations”, then, no. > Ie companies reverse charge sales tax or omit it entirely. Generally, the theory of sales taxes is that people (including corporations) pay sales t…

That’s interesting, that’s not the case in the EU. Here, as long as you can argue that it’s a business expense, you don’t have to pay sales tax. Eg the internal documents are a necessary expense / cost of doing business.

Re: OpenAI closes funding round at an $852B valuation

#440

Post by adgjlsfhk1 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:46 PM UTC

aurareturn wrote: post #394

hvb2 wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if Gemini doesn't end up using the compute because of whatever reason, Google has other ways to monetize that compute. OpenAI doesn't? So the same money spent by OpenAI and Google doesn't carry nearly the same amount of risk?

OpenAI doesn't? Why not? They've openly said they could in theory sell compute to others if they can't use it all.

this isn't credible though. them not being able to use all their compute likely means that the ai bubble has popped, so they won't be getting a good price on it.