The OverheardJuly 2, 2026via The Verge AI
OpenAI floats giving Trump administration 5 percent cut of AI boom
Why it matters
OpenAI is using equity ownership as a political shield against AI regulation and public backlash—a precedent-setting move that could reshape how tech giants navigate government relations in the AI era.
Key signals
- OpenAI pitched 5% US government ownership stake to Trump administration
- CEO Sam Altman proposed idea to share AI upside with public via government equity
- Pitch reportedly made early last year, now surfacing via Financial Times
- OpenAI valued at $852B in latest funding round
- 5% stake would be worth approximately $42.6B based on latest valuation
- Strategic move to ease tensions with Trump administration and blunt AI backlash
- Sources: two unnamed people familiar with talks
The hook
Sam Altman just pitched Trump on giving the US government 5% of OpenAI. Here's what that stake is actually worth.
OpenAI has floated giving the US government a 5 percent ownership stake as a way of easing tensions with the Trump administration and blunting mounting public backlash against AI, according to the Financial Times.
CEO Sam Altman argued that giving the public a financial interest in the company would be the best way to share the upside of AI, the FT reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the talks. He's said to have first pitched the idea to Trump early last year.
Altman reportedly suggested the 5 percent figure. Based on OpenAI's latest funding round, which ended with the company valued at $852 billion, that stake would be worth …
Read the full story at The Verge.