OpenAI Reportedly Floats Giving 5% Stake To Government Amid IPO Race With Anthropic

Last month, President Donald Trump said he was weighing options to give Americans an ownership stake in leading AI firms.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and company executives reportedly suggested that major U.S. AI firms set aside 5% of their equity for a government vehicle, according to the Financial Times.
• Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by greater government involvement in businesses; The U.S. acquired a 10% stake in Intel last year.
• Recent reports said OpenAI is pushing its IPO to next year.

OpenAI has discussed giving the U.S. government a 5% stake, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, a crucial development that comes amid the growing scrutiny of AI for national security risks and major firms heading for public listings.

Under the proposal, OpenAI has suggested that other U.S. AI companies also hand the government similar stakes, the report ​said, adding it was unclear whether the other companies would agree. 

Last month, President Donald Trump said his administration was considering ways to give the public an ownership stake in leading AI companies, addressing concerns that ordinary Americans may not benefit from the industry’s expected profits.

Similar calls have been made by lawmakers in South Korea, where chipmaker SK Hynix and Samsung are minting profits and fueling the stock market.

OpenAI Suggests All AI Companies Hand Over 5% Stake

According to the FT, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and company executives suggested that major U.S. AI firms set aside 5% of their equity for a vehicle similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-backed fund financed by oil revenues that pays annual dividends to Alaskans.

Altman ⁠discussed the stake sale with Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, the FT report said.

Trump’s direct involvement with businesses has been one of the standouts of his second term. Last year, the U.S. government picked up a 10% stake in Intel and Trump has routinely argued that his involvement helped Intel’s stock surge multifold and revive its foundry business.

He is also known to have been involved in the months leading up to Paramount clinching the Warner Bros. deal from Netflix.

The stake talks come close amid ongoing scrutiny of Anthropic’s new Mythos AI technology. The government first placed and later removed export controls on Anthropic’s Fable 5 AI model, a derivative of Mythos, on concerns that it could be used for harmful purposes by malicious actors.

OpenAI IPO Watch, Retail View

OpenAI’s discussion comes as the AI startup has reportedly pushed its IPO to next year, although that has not been confirmed by the company so far. The delay comes as OpenAI has trailed behind Anthropic, which appears to be on track for an IPO by the fourth quarter of this year. 

Retail investors are closely eyeing developments for both companies and are picking exposure to them through market-traded funds such as KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF (AGIX), Fundrise Innovation Fund (VCX), Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ), and those run by ARK Investment Management.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘bearish’ for both Anthropic and OpenAI late Monday.

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