OpenAI is worth more than Snap, Domino’s, Zillow, The NYTimes, Levi’s, and 7 other companies combined

The loss-making startup now has $10+ billion to play with

10/4/24 9:45AM

Earlier this week, OpenAI, the tech startup behind gen-AI chatbot ChatGPT, closed its latest funding round. The deal — one of the largest funding rounds ever for a private company, counting investors such as Thrive Capital, Microsoft, and Nvidia — added $6.6 billion to the company’s coffers, and values the world’s hottest AI startup at $157 billion.

That makes OpenAI worth roughly the same as Goldman Sachs (~$153 billion), despite being some 146 years younger than the investment bank. It makes it more valuable than Nike or Starbucks. In fact, OpenAI’s market cap is bigger than the valuation of 12 of America’s best-known multi-billion-dollar companies, including Zoom (~$21 billion) and Warner Music Group (~$16 billion), combined. Pretty remarkable for any young company, let alone one expecting to rack up a loss of $5 billion this year.

Chat, is this real?

OpenAI has had a far more eventful 12 months than your average startup, weathering a dramatic CEO ousting, major copyright lawsuits, more copyright lawsuits, a high-profile voice usage dispute, and, most recently, a huge leadership upheaval, which left only 3 out of 11 co-founders remaining at the company. Then again, OpenAI is not your average startup.

While the meteoric rise of ChatGPT has provoked concerns about the ethical use of AI, OpenAI’s rampant growth has sent investors clamoring to buy a slice of it, the company’s restructuring as a for-profit corporation has only caused interest to swell further. On top of the equity investment, OpenAI has also tapped several banks for a $4 billion revolving credit line, giving it access to more than $10 billion in liquidity.

But, as our colleague Jack Raines asked last week: Is OpenAI worth anywhere near $150 billion without the senior employees who actually built it?

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JetBlue is raising its bag fees as fuel costs squeeze airlines

JetBlue will reportedly hike its bag fees, as the cost of jet fuel continues to climb amid the war in Iran. It’s the latest example of carriers finding ways to push rising costs onto travelers.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that if fuel prices remain elevated, fares would need to rise another 20% for his airline to break even this year.

As CNBC reported, when one airline raises fees, others tend to follow.

Earlier this month, JetBlue hiked its first-quarter outlook for operating revenue per seat mile to between 5% and 7%, saying that strong Q1 demand helped “partially offset additional expenses realized from operational disruptions and rising fuel costs.” Now, the carrier appears to be making moves to further boost revenue to offset those costs.

Earlier on Monday, JetBlue rival Alaska Air lowered its Q1 profit forecast. The refining margins for the carrier’s cheapest fuel option — sourced from Singapore and representing about 20% of Alaska’s overall supply — have spiked 400% since February.

JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.