OpenAI annualized revenue nears $50 billion, FT reports

OpenAI told investors that its annualized revenue approached $50 billion at the end of September, according to financial documents reported by the Financial Times. The reported figure is roughly $20 billion below an earlier estimate of $70 billion published in late September.

The difference stems from how investors attempted to compare OpenAI with Anthropic, the developer of Claude. According to a person familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times, the two firms use different accounting methods. Anthropic includes revenue from cloud partners such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, while OpenAI does not incorporate those sales in the same manner.

To align the metrics, investors previously adjusted OpenAI's annualized revenue upward to $40 billion in August. When the company subsequently reported growth exceeding 70%, that combined calculation generated the $70 billion figure previously reported. The latest documents show actual annualized revenue closer to $50 billion, reflecting different calculation methods rather than an operational loss of revenue.

Annualized revenue extrapolates a short period of sales into a 12-month run rate rather than measuring cumulative cash collected over a full year. In August, Anthropic told investors its annualized revenue exceeded $65 billion at the end of July, according to Bloomberg. The Financial Times noted that preliminary discussions in September could value OpenAI at more than $1.2 trillion, while OpenAI did not comment on the reported figures.