OpenAI’s $50 Billion Revenue Reset Rattles the AI Trade
OpenAI’s $50 Billion Revenue Reset Rattles the AI Trade
In September, OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50 billion. That was sharply below the roughly $70 billion figure circulated by Axios and other outlets — a number that had been shared in an effort to compare the company more directly with rival Anthropic.
The dispute is less about a missing $20 billion than about what gets counted. Anthropic’s method can treat the full value of sales made through cloud partners as revenue, then record the cloud provider’s share as an expense. OpenAI, by contrast, records only its own share of certain partner transactions. Both approaches are GAAP-compliant, but they reflect different views of who controls the customer relationship and delivers the product.
That distinction did not spare OpenAI from a tougher reading of its finances. The Financial Times reported that the $70 billion estimate had emerged from investors’ attempts to create an apples-to-apples comparison with Anthropic. TechCrunch noted the pressure on OpenAI to justify enormous investment behind the company, including its $122 billion March funding round, while leaked 2025 financials reportedly showed about $13 billion in revenue alongside far larger spending.
By Thursday, the revision had become a market event. CNBC confirmed OpenAI had reached roughly $50 billion in annualized revenue at September’s end, while a person familiar with the presentation said the previously reported $68 billion included gross revenue from partners. OpenAI also highlighted 77% total run-rate growth in the third quarter and 107% enterprise run-rate growth.
Investors focused on the smaller top-line figure: Nvidia fell 3%, Oracle nearly 6% and CoreWeave nearly 8%, with other AI-linked stocks sliding too. For OpenAI, the accounting explanation may be defensible. For a market funding an $852 billion valuation and anticipating an eventual IPO, it was plainly not reassuring.
[1] OpenAI annualized revenue $20 billion less than previously reported — OpenAI’s $50 billion figure was lower than the earlier $70 billion comparison, largely because of differing treatment of partner sales.
[2] OpenAI’s revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected — The earlier figure was intended to compare OpenAI with Anthropic, while OpenAI faces pressure to validate huge investment and spending.
[3] Nvidia, Oracle, CoreWeave and other AI stocks sink on OpenAI revenue report — Investors reacted to the revenue clarification by selling AI-related stocks, despite OpenAI’s reported run-rate growth.
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