What We Know About OpenAI's Lower Reported Annual Revenue

The ChatGPT maker has told investors its annualized revenue is running about $20 billion lower than a figure that circulated just over a week earlier, according to a Financial Times report cited by TechCrunch on Oct. 8.

What Does the Company Say Its Annualized Revenue Actually Is?

The Financial Times reports that the firm told investors its annualized revenue is "approaching $50 billion," TechCrunch wrote. That figure sits roughly $20 billion below a run rate near $70 billion that had been reported a little over a week earlier, according to the outlet.

Where Did the $70 Billion Estimate Come From?

The higher number traced back to information shared with investors and reflected "attempts by [the company's] own investors to produce a direct comparison with Anthropic's annualised revenues," the Financial Times told TechCrunch. The goal of that comparison was to show the lab keeping pace with Anthropic's reported run rate, TechCrunch wrote.

Why Do the Two Companies' Numbers Diverge?

Part of the gap comes down to accounting method rather than sales alone. Anthropic counts revenue earned by its cloud partners in its reported figures, while the ChatGPT maker does not count partner revenue the same way, TechCrunch reported. That difference means a side-by-side "annualized revenue" comparison between the two firms is not strictly apples to apples, the outlet noted.

What Do Past Financial Disclosures Show?

Leaked 2025 financials examined earlier this year showed the company brought in about $13 billion in revenue while spending significantly more than that, according to TechCrunch. The spending gap has drawn scrutiny given the scale of capital flowing toward the firm, which raised $122 billion in a single funding round in March, TechCrunch reported.

When Will the Company Go Public?

An initial public offering once rumored for this year has been pushed back. TechCrunch reported that the listing is now expected in early 2027. The outlet said it reached out to the company for comment on the revised revenue figures; no response was included in its report.

The revenue question has become a recurring point of pressure for the lab as it works to justify the size of investment being committed on its behalf, TechCrunch wrote, even as the underlying dispute centers less on whether sales are growing and more on how, exactly, to count them against a rival using a different formula.

For more coverage of the AI funding and infrastructure race, read the original TechCrunch report.