🔮 Can OpenAI outperform the Nasdaq?

From:

Azeem Azhar, Exponential View <exponentialview@substack.com>

To:

Hidden Recipient <hidden@emailshot.io>

Date:

9/5/2025, 5:16 PM

͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Watch now

🔮 Can OpenAI outperform the Nasdaq?

How I think about complex questions

Azeem Azhar

Sep 5

READ IN APP

OpenAI is expanding a secondary share sale that lets insiders sell about $10.3 billion of stock at roughly a $500 billion valuation. That raised a simple question: is a private slice of OpenAI better than buying the Nasdaq?

I have an exclusive essay ready for members (arriving in your inboxes tomorrow!) breaking down the math and my assumptions in detail. Become a premium member to receive it in full tomorrow morning.

Ahead of this release, I did a quick live chat with EV readers to share my initial assumptions and answer your questions. We covered:

What helps OpenAI’s case,
What tempers its case,
And Q&A including on compute & energy constraints, competition and regulation.

Although I was skeptical at first, my calculations suggest that there is a path for OpenAI to deliver outsized returns. More in tomorrow's essay!

Azeem

P.S. Keep in mind that none of this is financial advice - only a thought experiment about the future.

	Get more from Azeem Azhar in the Substack app
	Available for iOS and Android

Comment

Restack

Similar newsletters

There are other similar shared emails that you might be interested in: