Credit: OpenAI
OpenAI expects its annualised revenue to reach or exceed $70bn by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The company shared the forecast with investors in talks over its latest funding round, according to people familiar with the matter. They said growth in its enterprise business is driving most of it.
A day earlier, the Financial Times reported that the figure was approaching $50bn at the end of September. That is about $20bn below the figure reported last month. OpenAI declined to comment to Bloomberg.
How the two figures emerged
Bloomberg and The Information had reported that OpenAI’s annualised revenue passed $40bn as of mid-August. That figure included revenue OpenAI used to receive when Microsoft sold its models to Azure cloud customers, a person with knowledge of the figure later told The Information. OpenAI stopped receiving that revenue around April, when the two companies updated their commercial agreement.
On 29 September, Axios reported that OpenAI’s annualised revenue was nearing $70bn. TNW reported the $70bn figure on 1 October, citing Axios. According to Reuters, OpenAI had indicated that figure to investors at a separate event.
On 8 October, the FT reported the $50bn figure. It said the $70bn came from “attempts by OpenAI’s own investors to produce a direct comparison” with Anthropic’s figures. A source familiar with the documents told CNN that the $70bn figure did not come from OpenAI.
Late on 8 October, The Information reported that OpenAI had told investors its run rate was approaching $50bn at the end of September. A person with knowledge of the communications said the earlier reports stemmed from one unnamed investor’s estimate. That estimate followed a statement by chief financial officer Sarah Friar that the run rate grew 70% from the end of June to the end of September. OpenAI did not dispute the earlier figures, The Information reported.
The two companies count revenue differently, Bloomberg reported. Anthropic counts the gross amount of certain sales through cloud partners such as Amazon. OpenAI counts only its share of revenue from partners, including Microsoft.
According to The Information, Anthropic’s figure includes all sales of its Claude models by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google. OpenAI’s figures have generally included the 20% of its revenue that it shares with Microsoft, The Information reported.
What OpenAI told investors
OpenAI shared the $50bn figure in an investor presentation, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Its total run rate grew 77% in the third quarter, the person said. Its enterprise run rate grew 107%.
Anthropic’s annualised revenue passed $65bn at the end of July, Reuters reported. In the second quarter, Anthropic’s quarterly revenue overtook OpenAI’s for the first time, at $11.5bn against $6.7bn, Reuters said.
Shares and the funding round
Tech shares fell on Thursday after the FT report, CNN reported. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.25%, its worst day since mid-August. Oracle fell 5.5%, Intel 5.3% and Nvidia 2.9%.
OpenAI is seeking $30bn or more at a $1.4tn valuation before the new money, Bloomberg reported. Abu Dhabi’s MGX is among possible investors. OpenAI has ruled out a listing this year, citing safety. Anthropic is expected to go public as soon as November, according to Bloomberg.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
