OpenAI has reportedly told investors that its annualized revenue is nearing $50 billion, lower than the nearly $70 billion figure previously reported in the press. According to an October 8 TechCrunch article citing the Financial Times (FT), this discrepancy stems from how investors compared OpenAI to Anthropic, rather than indicating an actual recent decline in revenue.
Two numbers not built on the same basis
In late September, several media outlets reported that OpenAI’s annualized revenue was approaching $70 billion. The FT later reported that this figure arose from an effort by OpenAI’s own investors to construct a direct comparison with Anthropic’s revenue.
According to TechCrunch, Anthropic includes sales generated by cloud computing partners, whereas OpenAI does not include these in its own calculation. As a result, placing the two figures side by side without clarifying their accounting scope could lead readers to misjudge the business scale of each company.
Annualized revenue must also be distinguished from revenue recognized within a fiscal year. This metric uses the revenue pace at a single point in time to reflect an annual scale. It does not mean the company has actually collected that entire sum, and it is certainly not net profit after expenses.
The $20 billion gap in this latest report is the difference between two reported figures. It should not be converted into an assertion that OpenAI just lost $20 billion in revenue, or that the company will definitely miss its business plan.
Pressure to prove revenue remains substantial
TechCrunch placed the new details in the context of OpenAI raising $122 billion in its March funding round. With capital at such scale, how revenue streams are measured becomes a crucial issue for investors, rather than a minor detail in a comparison sheet.
The article also cited leaked 2025 financial figures indicating that OpenAI generated around $13 billion in revenue while incurring significantly higher spending. This is information cited by the press, not an audited financial statement independently verified by this article.
TechCrunch reached out to OpenAI for comment. Based on the accessible text, the article had not provided a response from the company regarding the difference between the two calculation methods. The FT website was blocked upon access, so this article relies on TechCrunch’s account rather than reading the original report directly.
The key question going forward is how transparently OpenAI will disclose its revenue accounting methodology. When AI companies are all touting massive figures, are investors comparing the same type of revenue, or merely numbers that look equivalent?