OPENAI NEARS $30 BILLION ROUND AT $1.25 TRILLION

OpenAI is closing in on a funding round of up to $30 billion that would value the company at $1.25 trillion, according to CNBC. Investors from the United Arab Emirates and Coatue are leading the round, which OpenAI is framing as an opportunistic bridge ahead of a potential 2027 IPO. The figure comes in below the $1.4 trillion valuation OpenAI had sought earlier this month, as the AI financing boom runs into a broader tech selloff. Microsoft ($MSFT), one of OpenAI's biggest investors, holds a stake that rises or falls with every valuation reset like this one.