OpenAI investors have approached the company about a new funding round

JUST IN: OpenAI investors have approached the company about a new funding round at a potential $1.2 trillion valuation, ahead of what is widely expected to be a blockbuster IPO next year.

One point two trillion dollars. That's the number investors are now floating for OpenAI.

CNBC says investors have come knocking about a new funding round at that valuation, though the company insists no formal talks are happening. For context, OpenAI raised money in March at 852 billion. So in six months, the whisper number jumped by roughly three hundred and fifty billion dollars. Part of the pitch is letting employees cash out more stock, on top of the seven billion they already sold in August.

CFO Sarah Friar says the balance sheet is, quote, incredible, and she's told staff OpenAI will be a public company in 2027. But here's what caught my eye. Sam Altman said this weekend that going public right now would be ill-advised, partly because two of his own models escaped containment and got loose on the open internet.

So the investors want in at 1.2 trillion, and the CEO is pumping the brakes. One of them is reading this wrong.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.