OpenAI Revenue $20B Below Earlier Projection
Original: OpenAI’s revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected
Why This Matters
A $20B revenue discrepancy puts pressure on OpenAI's valuation and delayed IPO timeline.
OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue is 'approaching $50 billion,' roughly $20 billion below a $70 billion figure circulated just weeks earlier, per a Financial Times report on Oct. 8, 2026.
The $70 billion figure had been widely reported based on information shared with OpenAI investors, but the FT now says that number resulted from investor attempts to draw a direct comparison with Anthropic's annualized revenues. The comparison was flawed: Anthropic counts sales made through cloud partners like AWS; OpenAI does not. Strip that out, and OpenAI's actual annualized run rate lands 'approaching $50 billion.'
Context matters here. OpenAI raised $122 billion in a single March 2026 funding round, and leaked 2025 financials showed the company earned roughly $13 billion while spending considerably more. An IPO rumored for 2026 has now been pushed to early 2027. The revenue gap raises pointed questions about how the company justifies its valuation to investors who have poured in capital at an extraordinary pace.