OpenAI Heads Toward $50 Billion in Revenue – $20 Billion Less Than Previously Expected

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OpenAI is heading toward $50 billion in revenue – $20 billion less than previously expected.

According to the news agency Bloomberg, OpenAI is on course for annualized revenue of around $50 billion – that is what the Handelsblatt reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The figure thus sits roughly $20 billion below the value most recently cited to investors.

The reason is explicitly not a slump in business. As the industry portal hada.io writes, citing the Financial Times, the previously communicated $68 billion figure also included the revenue of OpenAI's partner companies. The new calculation – without these line items – is meant to allow a more direct comparison with rival Anthropic.

For you as an observer, this means: the ChatGPT developer continues to grow rapidly, just not quite as rapidly as the old figure suggested. Investors still reacted nervously.

Why the figure is suddenly $20 billion smaller

The difference between $68 billion and $50 billion is, at its core, an accounting decision. Anyone wanting to compare OpenAI with rival Anthropic now gets the "own" revenue – without the proceeds from partners like Microsoft, which resells OpenAI models under its own label. The portal invezz, in its summary, speaks of an annualized rate that is "approaching" $50 billion – and thus sits roughly $20 billion below the previously reported $70 billion figure presented to investors.

How the market reacted

The stock market is punishing the suppliers in particular. Nvidia and Micron – both heavily dependent on chip orders from the AI hyperscalers – were among the biggest losers on the trading day, according to Finanznachrichten.de. The logic behind it: if even OpenAI is revising its own figure downward, chip and storage orders may also turn out smaller than hoped.

OpenAI keeps growing – just slower than hoped

That the new figure is still a success becomes clear when you look at the previous growth trajectory. As trendingtopics.eu, upday, and inside-it.ch report in agreement, OpenAI in 2025 had for the first time reached annualized revenue of more than $20 billion – a tripling compared to the previous year, which CFO Sarah Friar announced at the time in a blog post. The jump from $20 billion to $50 billion within roughly a year is, even under the new, more conservative accounting method, an enormous pace.

What the new figure really reflects

The management's message is clear: OpenAI no longer wants to be measured against inflated partner revenue, but against Anthropic's benchmark. Anyone reading about new "revenue records" at OpenAI in the coming days should therefore look closely – at whether partner revenue is being counted in the figure or not.