OpenAI Announces $50 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Falling Short of Expectations

OpenAI has reportedly informed its investors of an annualized revenue run rate of around $50 billion, significantly lower than previous projections. This adjustment comes as the company has postponed its initial public offering (IPO) plans to early 2027 and has already reported expenses exceeding its revenues.

IPO postponed to early 2027 and expenses exceeding revenues

OpenAI's IPO, initially planned for this year, has been pushed back to early 2027. Financial documents for 2025, leaked earlier this year, indicated approximately $13 billion in revenue, while noting that expenses were significantly higher than this amount. This situation has raised concerns for the company regarding the justification of the investments received.

A run rate of $50 billion annualized, down from $70 billion

OpenAI has reportedly recently informed its investors that its annualized revenues are around $50 billion, which is $20 billion less than previous forecasts. These earlier estimates, close to $70 billion, were based on information provided by OpenAI to its investors to allow for a direct comparison with Anthropic. Additionally, the company raised $122 billion in a funding round in March.

Distinct calculation methods of OpenAI and Anthropic

The Financial Times indicates that the methods for calculating annualized revenues differ between OpenAI and Anthropic. Anthropic includes sales made by its cloud partners, while OpenAI does not take these into account. This difference complicates the direct comparison of the figures presented by the two companies.