OpenAI
Sam Altman & others · 2015
OpenAI is a public benefit corporation whose legal structure separates nominal mission stewardship (26% nonprofit ownership) from actual control and value capture. Its market impact is real—ChatGPT became the fifth-most-visited site globally—but its $852bn valuation reflects investor appetite for AI infrastructure access, not verified unit economics, revenue, or margin discipline. Microsoft’s $13bn investment funds development but does not constitute revenue. The gap between OpenAI’s self-description as a public benefit entity and its operational reality is structural—not incidental.