OpenAI, the artificial intelligence startup behind ChatGPT, could see its upcoming funding round reduced by $10 billion if it fails to complete its for-profit conversion before the end of 2025, according to a report by CNBC.

OpenAI is being run by CEO Sam Altman and has the support of Microsoft (MSFT, Financials). The company has been in talks to raise $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group (SFTBY, Financials), which would put a $300 billion value on the company. But if the company doesn't become an official for-profit business by Dec. 31, 2025, the total amount of money raised could drop to $30 billion.A person familiar with the situation told CNBC that if the deal is delayed, SoftBank's contribution would drop to $20 billion, and the other $10 billion would come from existing owners, such as Microsoft.The business thinks that its sales will grow a lot over the next two years. It thinks that sales will triple from $3.7 billion in 2024 to $12.7 billion in 2025. Bloomberg said earlier that OpenAI thinks it will make $29.4 billion by 2026.OpenAI said in December 2024 that it was going to change its organization in order to create a new for-profit company while keeping a nonprofit review group. OpenAI's for-profit part is currently run by its non-profit parent group.Legal complaints have been made about the planned change to the structure. Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, has sued the company and its leaders, including Altman, saying they are putting making money ahead of OpenAI's claimed goal of helping people. In November, Musk also filed an order to stop the change in the company.In February, Musk led a group that made an unexpected all-cash offer of $97.4 billion to buy the charity that runs OpenAI. The offer is good until May 10, 2025, which is three months after the letter of intent was sent.It was said by Altman that OpenAI is not for sale. An investment firm called Wedbush Securities said that Musk's offer seems more like a way to delay the funding round than a real offer to buy the company.