OpenAI is trying to go public. California wants to make sure it doesn’t lose its soul in the process.
The state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta has established a Memorandum of Understanding with OpenAI that governs how the AI giant can transition from its nonprofit roots to a publicly traded company. The arrangement gives California unusual oversight power over what could become the largest tech IPO in history, with confidential draft paperwork already filed with the SEC and a valuation target of at least $1 trillion.
A nonprofit going public is exactly as weird as it sounds
When investors buy shares, they won’t be investing in a normal corporation. They’ll be putting money into an entity ultimately controlled by a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit.
The restructuring carved things up so that the nonprofit arm, now called OpenAI Foundation, retains approximately 26% economic interest in the company. Based on a previous $500 billion valuation from October 2025, that stake was worth roughly $130 billion. If the IPO hits its $1 trillion target, that number gets a lot bigger.
