Why did OpenAI's revenue figure change from $70 billion to $50 billion?

Axios reports that the earlier figure used a calculation designed to make OpenAI's revenue more comparable to Anthropic's. The two companies book partner sales differently, so it is an accounting question.

How does OpenAI count partner sales compared with Anthropic?

Anthropic records the full customer payment when selling through cloud partners, then logs the cloud provider's cut as an expense. OpenAI only counts its own share as revenue for certain partner deals. Both methods comply with US GAAP.

How fast is OpenAI's revenue growing now?

Overall annualized revenue grew 77 percent in the third quarter, with enterprise revenue up 107 percent, according to CNBC. OpenAI also expects to hit at least $70 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2026.

AI Business & IndustryTHE DECODER2m agoOct 10, 2026, 04:00 JST

OpenAI revenue is $50 billion, not $70 billion, per Financial Times

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OpenAI's annualized revenue rate stood at roughly $50 billion at the end of September, the Financial Times reported, correcting an earlier nearly $70 billion figure that Axios says used a method to make OpenAI comparable to Anthropic.

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Context & Analysis

The correction arrives at a delicate moment. After the Financial Times report landed, tech stocks took a hit, with chip stocks dropping several percent, and the selloff shows how tightly the market tracks the two biggest US AI companies. That nervousness may also help explain why Anthropic is moving cautiously on its IPO and why OpenAI has already pushed its own public offering to next year.

OpenAI is still growing quickly even on the smaller base. The company shared figures during talks about a new funding round, and the main driver is its expanding enterprise business. In March, OpenAI raised up to $122 billion at a post-money valuation of $852 billion, so the current negotiation at least $30 billion at a target pre-money valuation of $1.4 trillion would mark a substantial step up.

All of this feeds back into the AI bubble debate. Can revenue growth at AI companies keep pace with their massive spending commitments on compute buildouts over the long run? That will likely hinge on measurable productivity gains that companies can actually point to.

FAQ

Why did OpenAI's revenue figure change from $70 billion to $50 billion?: Axios reports that the earlier figure used a calculation designed to make OpenAI's revenue more comparable to Anthropic's. The two companies book partner sales differently, so it is an accounting question.
How does OpenAI count partner sales compared with Anthropic?: Anthropic records the full customer payment when selling through cloud partners, then logs the cloud provider's cut as an expense. OpenAI only counts its own share as revenue for certain partner deals. Both methods comply with US GAAP.
How fast is OpenAI's revenue growing now?: Overall annualized revenue grew 77 percent in the third quarter, with enterprise revenue up 107 percent, according to CNBC. OpenAI also expects to hit at least $70 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2026.

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