Public reporting shows that OpenAI’s late‑2023 employee tender offer valued the company at about $86 billion post‑money. (techcrunch.com)

In February 2024, a Thrive Capital‑led tender did close at around an $80 billion valuation, which is indeed below that late‑2023 level. (forbes.com) However, later in 2024 OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in a new funding round at a $157 billion valuation, nearly double the earlier ~$86 billion figure. Multiple outlets (Forbes, TechCrunch, and others) reported this October 2, 2024 round and valuation. (forbes.com) CNBC subsequently noted a SoftBank tender in November 2024 that explicitly referenced this $157 billion round. (cnbc.com)

By the end of 2024, then, the most recent secondary and primary transactions were implying a valuation far above—rather than below—roughly $90 billion. Under the normalized prediction that OpenAI’s implied enterprise value by year‑end 2024 would be lower than that late‑2023 level, the prediction did not come true, even though there was a temporary dip to ~$80 billion earlier in the year.