Sam Altman Is Pushing for a $1 Trillion IPO Valuation for OpenAI, Even as SoftBank Faces a $40 Billion Loan Deadline in 2027. Here's What That Tension Means for Microsoft and Nvidia Shareholders.
OpenAI's IPO target is colliding with SoftBank's 2027 deadline.
Overview
Sam Altman's push for a $1 trillion OpenAI IPO is on a collision course with SoftBank's need to repay a $40 billion bridge loan early next year, creating real tension around the deal's timing and valuation. All this tension matters for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shareholders, because both companies have meaningful OpenAI exposure on their balance sheets and in their narratives.
OpenAI filed a confidential S‑1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June and sits at a private post‑money valuation of around $852 billion after its March 2026 funding round. Reports put its 2025 revenue near $13 billion and its 2026 revenue near $2 billion per month, numbers that support a high valuation multiple, but not a stress‑free one. Altman has told investors he will not take the company public below $1 trillion, so the IPO must clear that bar, or the listing will stay on hold.
Details
To fund its expanded stake in OpenAI, SoftBank arranged an unsecured $40 billion bridge loan that matures in March 2027. Bridge paper exists to carry a borrower into a specific liquidity moment, which in this case lines up with a fourth-quarter 2026 or first-quarter 2027 window for OpenAI's IPO. If public markets balk at putting a $1 trillion valuation on the ChatGPT developer, SoftBank will either have to refinance at tougher terms or the company will have to accept a lower market cap -- an outcome that could ripple through its broader AI story.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.