The round announced on 31 March 2025 in which OpenAI raised up to $40bn led by SoftBank at a reported valuation of $300bn, with a portion conditional on the company's restructuring, and the internet did the arithmetic on how many companies in the world were worth less than the raise. A secondary sale reported later in 2025 put the valuation at $500bn, which made the March figure look like an early price.
The record notes that the round was larger than the annual GDP of many countries and that the comparison, made everywhere, was not informative and was made anyway.
Someone remembers reading the number, assuming it was a typo for $4bn, and checking. The record notes that this was a common experience that spring and that the checking was the news consumption.
The reports that SoftBank's share was around $30bn and partly borrowed, and that part of the money was contingent on the for-profit conversion by year end. The record notes that the condition was met, as described under its own headword.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
