OpenAI Selects IPO Legal Counsel, Eyes Q4 Listing

OpenAI has chosen law firms Cooley and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to prepare for its initial public offering (IPO), which could officially launch as early as the fourth quarter of this year.

Both firms have deep prior involvement in OpenAI's legal affairs:

* Wachtell, a New York-based firm, assisted OpenAI with several acquisitions, including last year's $6.5 billion purchase of Jony Ive's hardware company, io products, and the $1.1 billion acquisition of product analytics startup Statsig.

* Cooley is renowned for guiding tech companies to public markets, having served on IPOs for firms like Nvidia and Snowflake. The Financial Times previously reported OpenAI's engagement with Cooley but did not confirm the final selection.

OpenAI is currently in the midst of a new funding round, with a pre-funding valuation of $730 billion. This valuation will increase further following the infusion of $110 billion from the current round. If successful, the IPO would rank among the largest tech stock listings in history.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in San Francisco yesterday that a previously discussed plan to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI "probably won't move forward" because "they are going public."

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