OpenAI tells investors annualized revenue is near $50 billion, below earlier $70 billion figure

OpenAI has told investors that its annualized revenue was close to $50 billion as of the end of September, according to the Financial Times, a figure that comes in well below the $70 billion estimate reported late last month. People familiar with the matter said the gap stems from how investors were comparing OpenAI with rival Anthropic rather than from a sudden change in the company’s business trajectory. The key issue is revenue methodology. Anthropic counts sales generated through cloud partners such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud in its revenue figures, while OpenAI does not use that approach. Earlier investor calculations had adjusted OpenAI’s revenue basis, producing an annualized revenue estimate of $40 billion for August. That number was then combined with company disclosures showing revenue growth of more than 70%, leading to the widely cited $70 billion figure. OpenAI declined to comment on the report. The update highlights how differing accounting treatments can complicate direct comparisons between major AI companies, especially as investors track growth across the sector using annualized revenue metrics.