The Financial Times reported OpenAI told investors annualized revenue was approaching 50 billion dollars at the end of September, not the 70 billion dollars cited last month. OpenAI had not commented.
OpenAI's annualized revenue is about 20 billion dollars less than previously signaled, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing financial documents shared with investors. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report and that OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FT said the company recently told investors revenue was approaching 50 billion dollars on an annualized basis at the end of September, short of the 70 billion dollars reported by outlets including Reuters late last month. The gap came from investors trying to compare OpenAI with Anthropic, the FT said, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
Anthropic includes revenue from sales through cloud partners such as AWS and Google Cloud, while OpenAI does not, the report said. Annualized revenue often multiplies one month by 12 and can mislead, Reuters noted, even though startups use the metric widely.
Reuters' markets wrap said US tech and AI shares fell Thursday after the report. The Nasdaq closed down 1.3 percent, its biggest fall in nearly two months, and chip stocks fell about 4 percent. Oil rose even after President Donald Trump said the United States would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterms.
OpenAI and Anthropic are potentially preparing to go public, which could give a clearer view of the figures. Until the company comments, the 50 billion dollar number remains an unverified press report.