OpenAI offers Washington a 5% stake — asks Google, Meta and Anthropic to match
TL;DR
OpenAI floated a 5% equity donation to the US government — about $42.6B on its $852B valuation — and urged Google, Meta and Anthropic to match. Anthropic is not at the table.
OpenAI has told the White House it is willing to hand over a 5% equity stake for free, and wants Google, Meta and Anthropic to do the same. On the $852B post-money valuation set in March, 5% is worth about $42.6B — the largest no-cash equity transfer from a private US tech company to the federal government ever discussed. Financial Times broke the story; CNBC, Bloomberg and Reuters followed.
Sam Altman has walked the pitch through President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Bernie Sanders in recent weeks. The donated equity would sit inside a vehicle modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund — OpenAI's April 2026 policy paper calls it a Public Wealth Fund, invested in diversified long-term assets and paying dividends directly to US households. Altman's framing: letting the public share the upside is cleaner than taxing it after the fact.
Google and Meta have not said whether they will follow. Anthropic is explicitly not in the talks — a source told the FT the company is «not discussing equity with the government». Anthropic's relationship with the White House has been tense over AI safety policy; access to its frontier models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 was briefly suspended for foreign nationals inside US firms, then reinstated.
The backdrop: in August the Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for support, and the president's public stance on the chipmaker flipped from pressure to endorsement overnight. In June, Sanders went further and drafted legislation forcing US taxpayers to own 50% of OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic. Altman's 5% offer looks like a pre-emptive markdown against the Sanders number.
Any deal needs a new act of Congress, and two people familiar told the FT the talks are still «conceptual». If it works, OpenAI buys a decade of political cover and public sentiment insurance for $42.6B. If it doesn't, it sets the precedent that private AI companies pay recurring equity tribute to Washington, and every future regulatory round starts at 5% and goes up.
via CNBC / Bloomberg / RTÉ
Sam Altman has walked the pitch through President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Bernie Sanders in recent weeks. The donated equity would sit inside a vehicle modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund — OpenAI's April 2026 policy paper calls it a Public Wealth Fund, invested in diversified long-term assets and paying dividends directly to US households. Altman's framing: letting the public share the upside is cleaner than taxing it after the fact.
Google and Meta have not said whether they will follow. Anthropic is explicitly not in the talks — a source told the FT the company is «not discussing equity with the government». Anthropic's relationship with the White House has been tense over AI safety policy; access to its frontier models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 was briefly suspended for foreign nationals inside US firms, then reinstated.
The backdrop: in August the Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for support, and the president's public stance on the chipmaker flipped from pressure to endorsement overnight. In June, Sanders went further and drafted legislation forcing US taxpayers to own 50% of OpenAI, xAI and Anthropic. Altman's 5% offer looks like a pre-emptive markdown against the Sanders number.
Any deal needs a new act of Congress, and two people familiar told the FT the talks are still «conceptual». If it works, OpenAI buys a decade of political cover and public sentiment insurance for $42.6B. If it doesn't, it sets the precedent that private AI companies pay recurring equity tribute to Washington, and every future regulatory round starts at 5% and goes up.
via CNBC / Bloomberg / RTÉ
