FT: OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was nearing $50B, not $70B
AI stocks fall
Partly confirmed
Importance: major (4 of 5)The takeaway
On Oct 8, 2026 the Financial Times reported, citing documents, that OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50B at the end of September, about $20B below the ~$70B figure Axios had reported on Sept 29.
Status
- Claim
Partly confirmed
- Our reporting
- Medium confidence
- Importance
- Major (4 of 5)
- Last verified
- 8 October 2026
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Key facts
- FT (Oct 8): OpenAI told investors annualized revenue was ‘approaching $50 billion’ at the end of September, versus the ~$70B Axios reported on Sept 29 (see OpenAI’s annualized revenue nears $70B)
- Why the gap (FT via TechCrunch/Investing.com): the $70B figure came from ‘attempts by OpenAI’s own investors to produce a direct comparison with Anthropic’s annualised revenues’; Anthropic includes sales through cloud partners (AWS, Google Cloud), OpenAI does not
- OpenAI also cited 77% total run-rate growth in Q3 and 107% run-rate growth for its enterprise business (per press summaries of the FT report)
- Market reaction (CNBC, Oct 8): Oracle -6%, CoreWeave -8%, Nvidia -3%, AMD -5%, Broadcom -5%, Intel -6%, Super Micro -6% intraday; Nasdaq Composite closed -345 points (-1.25%) at 27,193.34, S&P 500 -0.47%, Dow +0.10% (Yahoo Finance). Other pressures that day: 30-year Treasury yields at two-decade highs, Brent above $100 and WSJ’s report on $50B+ financing for OpenAI chips
- Context: OpenAI was raising $30B+ at ~$1.4T pre-money and had pushed any IPO to 2027; Anthropic was preparing a November IPO
What happened
A week after Axios reported that OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue was nearing $70B, the FT reported from investor documents that OpenAI itself put the figure at close to $50B at the end of September. The difference is mostly about method: investors had grossed up OpenAI’s revenue to match how Anthropic counts sales made through cloud marketplaces. Chip and data-center stocks whose growth depends on OpenAI’s spending sold off within about half an hour of the report.
Why it matters
OpenAI’s revenue is a proxy for whether the industry’s capital spending can be paid back. A $20B downward revision, even if mostly an accounting comparison, moved the stocks of its suppliers and lenders, and it narrows the gap that had appeared between OpenAI and Anthropic ahead of Anthropic’s IPO.
Note: the FT article is paywalled and was read only through TechCrunch, Investing.com and Yahoo Finance summaries; the CNBC page returned 403 to the fetcher (stock moves from search summaries of it). OpenAI had not commented publicly at the time of writing.
Sources
6 sources from 6 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
6 sources: 5 press, 1 reaction
Press
- FT: OpenAI annualised revenues $20bn less than previously signalled (paywalled)ft.com, press
- CNBC: Nvidia, Oracle, CoreWeave and other AI stocks sink on OpenAI revenue reportcnbc.com, press
- TechCrunch: OpenAI’s revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projectedtechcrunch.com, press
- Investing.com: OpenAI annualized revenue at $50bn, far below reports - FTinvesting.com, press
- Yahoo Finance: Nasdaq drops over 300 points after OpenAI’s revenue comes in $20 billion shortfinance.yahoo.com, press
Reactions
- Hacker News discussion (~238 points)news.ycombinator.com, discussion
Changes
- Filed (Techmeme, HN)