OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that he has zero interest in leading a publicly traded company, despite acknowledging that the ChatGPT maker will likely need to go public to secure capital and manage growth. Speaking on the “Big Technology Podcast” last month, Altman said, “Am I excited to be a public company CEO? 0%.” He expressed mixed feelings about a potential initial public offering for OpenAI, adding, “Am I excited for OpenAI to be a public company? In some ways, I am, and in some ways I think it’d be really annoying.” However, the AI startup’s CEO recognised the practical reasons pushing toward an eventual IPO, noting that OpenAI needs substantial capital and will eventually exceed shareholder limits.Sam Altman said, “I do think it’s cool that public markets get to participate in value creation. And in some sense, we will be very late to go public if you look at any previous company. It’s wonderful to be a private company. We need lots of capital. We’re going to cross all of the shareholder limits and stuff at some point.”
OpenAI’s path toward becoming a publicly traded company
OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Altman and eleven others. The company has grown considerably since launching its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, in 2022. ChatGPT now has around 800 million weekly users, and OpenAI has signed deals worth about $1 trillion with major tech companies, including Oracle, Nvidia, and AMD.Signs point to the company preparing for an IPO. In October, Reuters reported that OpenAI is considering filing with securities regulators as early as the second half of 2026. However, when asked earlier this year on a podcast whether OpenAI would go public next year, Altman said, “I don’t know.”Recent reports claim OpenAI is taking early steps toward an IPO, with the company in early discussions and being valued at about $830 billion. A higher estimate from Reuters in October 2025 suggested OpenAI could be valued at as much as $1 trillion, citing three sources. The Reuters report also stated that chief financial officer Sarah Friar is aiming for a stock market listing in 2027, with a possible IPO filing in late 2026.Going public would help OpenAI raise the large amounts of money needed to compete in the AI industry. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 but completed a significant restructuring in October that turned it into a more traditional for-profit company.Under this change, the nonprofit that controls OpenAI received a $130 billion stake. The restructuring also reduced Microsoft’s stake to 27% and expanded its research access, while allowing OpenAI to partner with other cloud-computing companies.OpenAI’s push to keep pace with competitors became clear in December when Altman issued a “code red” in an internal memo after Google quickly launched its Gemini 3 model. The “Code red” called for an eight-week focus on accelerating OpenAI’s core work while pausing other initiatives such as advertising and e-commerce expansion.The strategy seems to be working, as OpenAI recently launched its new GPT-5.2 model and followed it with a new image-generation model to rival Google’s Nano Banana. OpenAI’s apps CEO Fidji Simo said the release was not a direct response to Gemini 3 but added that the extra resources from the “code red” helped speed up the launch.
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