OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has met with high-profile investors in the Middle East to organize a new funding round of at least $50 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

According to the agency, the entrepreneur held talks, among others, with representatives of some of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign wealth funds.

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, aims to raise $50 billion or more at a valuation of $750–830 billion. The discussions are at an early stage, and the final amount may change.

In addition, OpenAI reportedly discussed with Amazon the possibility of securing at least $10 billion in additional funding.

Previously, Abu Dhabi–based technology investment firm MGX invested in the company. Altman’s startup has also signed a partnership agreement with G42 to build a massive data center in the United Arab Emirates.

OpenAI’s Financial Challenges

OpenAI reported revenue of more than $20 billion in 2025, a tenfold increase compared with 2023. However, the rapid growth in cash flow has not enabled the company to remain profitable.

In November, analysts reviewed leaked financial data and concluded that the company may still be spending more on inference than it earns.

In January, The Information published a report citing OpenAI’s internal financial forecasts. The document states that the company is expected to lose approximately $14–17 billion in 2026. By the end of 2028, net cash outflows could reach $44 billion.

At the same time, OpenAI projects a return to profitability in 2029, with an estimated profit of $14 billion.

The report also claims that OpenAI plans to spend $200 billion by the end of the decade, allocating 60–80% of those funds to training and deploying AI models.

In December, Deutsche Bank analysts presented even more pessimistic estimates. According to their calculations, Altman’s company could accumulate $143 billion in negative cash flow by 2029, excluding additional commitments for data center construction totaling $1.4 trillion.

“No startup in the world has ever operated with losses of this magnitude,” the analysts noted.

In addition, OpenAI is facing a $134 billion lawsuit from Elon Musk.

Time to Exit?

Well-known investor George Noble said he has watched companies collapse for decades and believes OpenAI is showing all the signs of an impending breakdown.

OPENAI IS FALLING APART IN REAL TIME
I've watched companies implode for decades. X

Among the warning signals, he cited:

  • the “red code” declared in December amid fears that Google’s Gemini 3 is “taking their lunch”; Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff reportedly publicly abandoned ChatGPT in favor of Gemini after just two hours of use;
  • a decline in chatbot traffic in November, the second monthly drop in 2025, while Gemini reached 650 million monthly users;
  • financial losses: OpenAI allegedly spends $15 million per day on Sora alone and $5 billion per year on “creating memes that infringe copyrights”;
  • a lack of innovation: reports claim the company failed to produce models in 2025 that outperform previous generations;
  • users labeling GPT-5 as “terrible”;
  • talent outflows;
  • the lawsuit from Musk.

Noble advises investors to “look for the exit” from the AI sector.

“Sell at the peak of the hype before the music stops,” he said.

In October, OpenAI allowed current and former employees to sell shares worth $6.6 billion. The transaction valued the startup at $500 billion, a record for a private company.