News
OpenAI Tells Investors Annualized Revenue Is About $50 Billion, Not $68 Billion, as AI Stocks Slide
OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue is approaching $50 billion, not the $68 billion reported earlier. According to an anonymous source, the gap comes from counting partners' gross revenue; the Nasdaq fell 1.25 percent.
OpenAI has told prospective investors that its annualized revenue is close to 50 billion dollars. The figure widely cited until now was 68 billion. The news, reported by the Financial Times on Thursday, October 8, deepened losses in AI infrastructure stocks; indexes had already opened the session in the red.
Where the gap comes from
According to an anonymous source quoted by SiliconANGLE, the 68 billion dollar figure included partners' gross revenue, which was meant to make comparison with Anthropic's reporting easier. The 50 billion figure is stated on a net basis. The source therefore attributes the difference to a different way of counting revenue.
It should be stressed that this explanation rests on a single anonymous source. Based on the available reports, OpenAI has not published its own statement commenting on the discrepancy.
Market reaction
After the FT's publication, losses deepened. The Nasdaq Composite ended the session 1.25 percent lower, and the S&P 500 lost about 0.5 percent. Oracle fell 5.5 percent, Intel 5.3 percent, Nvidia 2.9 percent and CoreWeave 8 percent. AMD and Broadcom each lost about 4 percent, and Super Micro nearly 5 percent.
Investors' initial calculations leave no room for error, so any wobble, such as revenue below expectations, will send shockwaves through the wider ecosystem. - Holger Mueller, Constellation Research
Valuation and IPO plans
OpenAI's latest valuation stands at 852 billion dollars. In June the company confidentially filed paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is now considering a debut in 2027. According to SiliconANGLE, OpenAI also touted annualized revenue growth of 77 percent in the third quarter and 107 percent in its enterprise segment.
There is also a race with Anthropic in the background. The outlet reports that, according to an August Bloomberg report based on anonymous sources, Anthropic is on track to reach annualized revenue above 65 billion dollars, and recent reports suggest the company could go public as early as November 9. These are media reports, not confirmed company data.
What it means for readers
According to SiliconANGLE, revenue clearly below expectations could affect OpenAI's ability to meet its contractual obligations, which would ripple across the whole industry. Oracle, which has multibillion-dollar contracts with OpenAI, was among the hardest-hit stocks.
