OpenAI revenue correction exposes $20 billion estimate gap: Report

OpenAI’s annualized revenue is $20 billion lower than previously estimated after investors miscalculated the startup's growth figures, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The startup’s annualised revenue reached roughly $50 billion as of September, falling well short of prior market estimates of $70 billion. The disparity resulted from investors attempting to calculate OpenAI’s performance by applying methods used for Anthropic, despite both companies calculating annualized revenue differently.

Investors initially attempted to determine if OpenAI reached $40 billion in revenue in August. When OpenAI later informed investors that revenue grew by 70%, investors added that percentage to the initial $40 billion baseline to arrive at $70 billion.

At $50 billion, OpenAI’s annualized revenue now trails Anthropic, which reported an annualized revenue run rate of $65 billion at the end of July.

The figures emerge as both companies compete for enterprise clients with coding tools and general-purpose AI agents while preparing for initial public offerings.

OpenAI, currently working to justify its $852 billion valuation, confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators in June. Company executives have signaled an IPO launch in early 2027. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in September that “right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public,” citing ongoing safety concerns.

OpenAI recently pulled its planned launch of GPT-6.1 Astra after determining the model failed to meet safety standards, following several incidents where its models exhibited unintended behavior.

Anthropic is expected to launch its IPO before Thanksgiving, with its public S-1 prospectus anticipated shortly. The company is seeking a $2 trillion valuation in meetings with prospective investors.

Independent financial research firm New Constructs questioned Anthropic's valuation in a report Tuesday, calling the planned offering the “most ridiculous IPO of 2026” and estimating the company’s value at $150 billion. Reuters, citing a leaked prospectus, reported that Anthropic recorded $4.6 billion in revenue and a net loss of $42 billion in 2025.

Following details of OpenAI’s revenue figures, shares of Nvidia, Oracle, CoreWeave, and other AI-related companies traded lower on Thursday.