FT: OpenAI proposed giving U.S. government a 5% stake to ease Washington pressure

According to CNBC, OpenAI has proposed handing the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company as it seeks to defuse mounting political pressure in Washington, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The report said a 5% holding would be worth roughly $42.6 billion after OpenAI closed a funding round in March at a post-money valuation of $852 billion, and that CEO Sam Altman raised the idea in early discussions with the Trump administration as part of a broader arrangement in which Washington would hold 5% of each leading U.S. AI developer via a government vehicle. The FT said the proposal envisions other U.S. AI companies including Anthropic, Google and Meta ceding similar stakes through a sovereign wealth fund vehicle, though it is unclear whether they would agree; the White House, OpenAI, Google and Meta did not respond to CNBC requests for comment, and a source familiar with the matter said the Trump administration and Anthropic have not discussed the government taking stakes in the company.