OpenAI has reportedly told investors that its annualized revenue is approaching $50 billion, roughly $20 billion below a figure circulated little more than a week earlier. TechCrunch reported on October 8 that the newer number comes from the Financial Times, while an earlier Axios report said the company was nearing a $70 billion annualized rate.

The distinction matters because the $70 billion figure was not presented as a directly reported OpenAI result. According to TechCrunch’s summary of the Financial Times, news outlets derived that number from information shared with investors and from investor attempts to compare OpenAI directly with Anthropic. OpenAI has now reportedly given investors the lower figure itself, though the company had not responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment at publication time.

Different sales streams flow into two mismatched accounting totals.
OpenAI and Anthropic reportedly count annualized revenue differently, complicating direct comparisons.

The comparison is complicated by differences in accounting. TechCrunch said Anthropic includes sales made through cloud partners when calculating annualized revenue, while OpenAI does not. That means headline run rates from the two companies may not measure the same set of transactions, even when both are described with the same financial term.

TechCrunch placed the discrepancy against the scale of capital flowing into OpenAI. The company raised $122 billion in a March financing round, according to the report. Its leaked 2025 financial information showed approximately $13 billion in revenue while spending substantially more, making current revenue growth central to investor judgments about whether the company can support the resources being committed to it.

A capital reservoir feeds an AI computing complex beside a revenue gauge.
The revenue debate comes as investors commit enormous sums to OpenAI’s continued expansion.

Annualized revenue is also not the same as revenue already collected during a completed fiscal year. It extrapolates a recent pace across a full year, so it can change quickly and depends on which sales channels are included. The gap between the two reported OpenAI figures therefore does not by itself establish that revenue fell by $20 billion; it shows that the earlier comparison and the number reportedly supplied by the company were calculated or communicated differently.

The timing adds scrutiny because OpenAI is expected to remain dependent on unusually large financing while it expands computing capacity and develops new models and products. TechCrunch said an initial public offering once rumored for this year has been pushed to early 2027. With neither the Financial Times figure nor the earlier estimate confirmed by OpenAI in the report, the safest conclusion is limited but consequential: the company’s reported revenue pace is substantial, yet the public numbers remain unsettled and are not directly comparable with rival estimates without consistent accounting.