OpenAI’s revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected
- ID
- 33312
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 09 Oct 2026, 2:19 AM
- Fetched
- 09 Oct 2026, 2:24 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/08/openais-revenue-is-reportedly-20-billion-less-than-previously-projected/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 6.0
- Created
- 09 Oct 2026, 2:24 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_ml_learnersai_agent_userssaas_founders
What happened
TechCrunch reports that OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue is approaching $50 billion, roughly $20 billion below the previously circulated ~$70 billion figure. The Financial Times says the $70 billion number came from OpenAI investors' attempts to compare directly with Anthropic's annualized revenue, but the two companies count annualized revenue differently—Anthropic includes cloud-partner sales, while OpenAI does not. OpenAI raised $122 billion in a March funding round, leaked 2025 financials showed about $13 billion in revenue with significantly higher spending, and its IPO has reportedly been pushed to early 2027.
Why it matters
If you are modeling AI platform stability or comparing OpenAI with Anthropic, do not treat the old ~$70B figure as an apples-to-apples run rate: the reported investor-facing number is ~$50B, and Anthropic's includes cloud-partner sales while OpenAI's does not. For founders, this is a concrete reason to watch OpenAI pricing, packaging, and enterprise terms as it tries to justify large funding and a delayed IPO, though this article does not announce any product or pricing change.
Discussion angle
What would make you change your model-provider strategy: a revenue miss, a delayed IPO, or an actual API pricing/terms change? Use the $50B vs $70B gap and the Anthropic cloud-partner accounting difference as a live example of how vendor metrics can mislead build-vs-buy decisions.