Analysis attributes the ~$20 billion gap to differing accounting methods: OpenAI counts only its cloud-partner cut; Anthropic counts the full cloud-provider revenue.
Following·New·first covered 9 Oct 2026·2 sources
OpenAI Annualized Revenue Closer to $50B, Not $68B Reported
The gist
The discrepancy shows that headline revenue figures from private AI companies can reflect incompatible accounting methods, making comparisons unreliable. Because disclosures are unaudited and unregulated, investors and analysts have limited ability to verify what the numbers actually measure.
The full picture
OpenAI's current annualized revenue is approximately $50 billion, below the $68 billion figure that circulated in reports last month. OpenAI has projected $70 billion in annualized revenue by year-end. Stocks in Nvidia, Oracle, and CoreWeave fell after the discrepancy became apparent. The gap reflects a difference in accounting methods: OpenAI has counted only its approximately 20% cut of fees paid through cloud partners like Google Cloud, while Anthropic has counted not just its own share but the cloud provider's share as well. Investors alleged OpenAI's reported figure was off by roughly $20 billion compared to Anthropic's accounting approach. Private company revenue disclosures are not audited or regulated, meaning they cannot reliably inform investment decisions. One item noted that analysts should look at metrics such as customer count, enterprise churn, per-token margins, and revenue concentration rather than headline revenue figures. Separately, OpenAI has pulled roughly level with Anthropic in the enterprise market after cutting prices for new model access, according to OpenRouter data.
How it developed
Sources
Semafor Technology
- OpenAI and Anthropic revenue figures questioned as both companies use differing accounting approaches
The daily email
Want this in your inbox?
I send one email each morning with the stories that moved. If you would rather just read here, that works too.
Subscribe free