OpenAI 寻求私募股权公司加入企业 AI 冒险项目

<p>By Milana Vinn and Echo Wang</p>
<p>NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/organizations/openai/">OpenAI</a> (<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/OPAI.PVT">OPAI.PVT</a>) is in advanced talks with private equity firms including TPG, Advent International, Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management to form a joint venture that would distribute its enterprise products across the firms' portfolio companies and beyond, four people familiar ‌with the matter said.</p>
<p>The proposed deal has a pre-money valuation of about $10 billion, two of the people said, and could give OpenAI a faster route into ‌corporate adoption while providing the PE firms with a potential lifeline for companies in their portfolios that are exposed to AI disruption.</p>
<p>Both OpenAI and Anthropic are aggressively courting private equity firms because they control enterprise companies and ​influence how businesses budget for software and AI, three of the people said — a race growing more urgent as both companies vie to go public as soon as this year.</p>
<p>OpenAI declined to comment on the joint venture plans. Advent, TPG and Brookfield declined to comment. Bain did not respond to requests for comment.</p>
<p>Under the proposed arrangement, the private equity investors would commit about $4 billion and receive equity stakes in the venture, along with influence over how OpenAI’s technology is deployed across their portfolio companies, two of the people said.</p>
<p>TPG would serve as the anchor investor, committing ‌the most capital, while Advent, Bain, and Brookfield would participate as ⁠co-founding investors. All four firms would secure board seats in the joint venture, according to people familiar with the matter, cautioning that no final decision has been taken and the plans are subject to change.</p>
<p>The arrangement would also give the PE firms early access to OpenAI’s enterprise ⁠tools and the potential to benefit when adoption expands beyond their portfolios, two people familiar with the talks said.</p>
<p>Sources requested anonymity because the discussions are private.</p>
<p>Anthropic (<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ANTH.PVT">ANTH.PVT</a>) is also in discussions with private equity firms, including Blackstone, Permira, and Hellman &amp; Friedman, to form a joint venture that would sell its Claude AI technology to companies backed by those firms, according to one of the people familiar with ​the ​matter.</p>
<p>As part of the deal, the PE firms would take an equity stake of approximately $1 billion, the ​person said, cautioning that the plans — including the figures — are subject to ‌change and no final agreement has been reached.</p>
<p>The Information first reported last week that the Claude maker has been in discussions with Blackstone and Hellman &amp; Friedman to form a joint venture.</p>