OpenAI's Revenue Run Rate Is About $50 Billion, Not $68 Billion, and AI Stocks Took the Hit

OpenAI, the San Francisco company behind ChatGPT, is bringing in a lot less money than many investors thought. The company told investors its annualized revenue was roughly $50 billion at the end of September, CNBC confirmed, well short of the $68 billion figure that was widely reported only a couple of weeks earlier.

Where the gap came from

The Financial Times first reported the lower number. The difference comes down to accounting. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC that the $68 billion figure included gross revenue from OpenAI's partners, a way of making the company easier to compare with rival Anthropic, which counts sales made through its cloud partners. OpenAI's own number does not. Axios reported that the higher figure was built at the request of investors who wanted an apples-to-apples comparison.

OpenAI still pointed to strong growth. According to CNBC's source, its presentation cited 77% run-rate growth in the third quarter and 107% for its enterprise business. Reuters reported that OpenAI started the year at $20 billion in annualized revenue, up from $6 billion in 2024, but that Anthropic out-earned it for the first time in the second quarter, $11.5 billion to $6.7 billion.

Markets reacted

The news hit companies that depend on AI spending. On Thursday, Nvidia fell 3%, Oracle nearly 6% and CoreWeave nearly 8%, CNBC reported, with AMD, Broadcom, Intel and Super Micro Computer also down 4% to 5%.

Why it matters here

OpenAI is valued at $852 billion and is widely expected to go public, with executives pointing to 2027. It raised $122 billion in March and is in early talks about a new round that could reach about $30 billion, CNBC reported. Anthropic, also based in San Francisco, is preparing its own IPO.

The two companies are at the center of the AI hiring and office boom that has pushed up rents in SoMa and nearby neighborhoods. A smaller-than-advertised revenue figure does not change that overnight, but it is a reminder that the money fueling the local AI economy rests on investor confidence in growth numbers like these.