OpenAI’s annualized revenue revised to around $50 billion, highlighting methodological differences with Anthropic

A financial document shared with investors and revealed by the Financial Times on Thursday, 8, shows that OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, had annualized revenue close to $50 billion at the end of September. This figure is around $20 billion less than the $70 billion previously reported by the press.

Why the numbers differ

Investors adjusted their calculations to compare OpenAI with Anthropic, the creator of Claude. The two companies use different methodologies to estimate annualized revenue. While Anthropic includes sales made by cloud partners such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud, OpenAI does not include these amounts in the same way, according to the FT.

According to the Financial Times, the financial documents shared with investors detail the difference in revenue metrics.

How the $70 billion figure came about

To make the companies comparable, analysts raised OpenAI’s revenue projection, resulting in an estimate of $40 billion in August. Later, the company told investors about growth of more than 70%, which, combined with the previous adjustment, led to the disclosure of the $70 billion figure at the end of September.

What does annualized revenue mean

Annualized revenue does not represent the total amount billed in a year. The metric converts the performance of a shorter period into an equivalent of 12 months. For example, if a company bills $1 billion in one month, its annualized revenue may be presented as $12 billion, without this meaning that the money has already been received or that the pace will be maintained.

Implications for investors and for OpenAI’s valuation

These indicators help the market assess demand for artificial intelligence solutions and the size of the businesses that finance infrastructure expansion. OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s numbers fuel expectations about spending on computing and about publicly traded companies. The discussion is particularly relevant at a time when OpenAI is seeking to sustain a valuation that, according to the Financial Times, could exceed $1.2 trillion in preliminary talks held in September.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is OpenAI’s current annualized revenue?

  According to the documents shared with investors and described by the Financial Times, the indicator was close to $50 billion at the end of September.

• Why was $70 billion disclosed earlier?

  Investors adjusted the numbers to compare OpenAI with Anthropic. This adjustment, combined with subsequent information about growth, resulted in the figure disclosed.

• Did OpenAI lose $20 billion?

  The report does not indicate an actual loss. The difference reflects different calculation methods between the estimates disclosed.

• Is annualized revenue the same as annual revenue?

  No. It is a projection of the revenue rate of a shorter period into a full year, not the total amount actually received.