- AI stocks, including Nvidia, Oracle and CoreWeave, sank after the market learned more details about OpenAI's revenue.
- OpenAI told investors that it hit roughly $50 billion in annualized revenue at the end of September, CNBC confirmed, lower than the the $68 billion figure widely reported late last month.
- A person familiar with the matter said the $68 billion figure included gross revenue from OpenAI's partners, which helps investors make a more direct comparison with Anthropic.
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Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is speaking at the AI company's developer conference on Sept. 29, 2026.Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesShares of Nvidia, Oracle, CoreWeave and other artificial intelligence names sank lower on Thursday after the market learned more details about OpenAI's revenue.
OpenAI told investors that it hit roughly $50 billion in annualized revenue at the end of September, CNBC confirmed, lower than the the $68 billion figure that was widely reported late last month. A person familiar with the matter said the $68 billion figure includedgross revenue from OpenAI's partners, which helps investors make a more direct comparison with its chief rival, Anthropic.
The Financial Times was first to report the $50 billion figure.
OpenAI shared an update about its finances in an investor presentation, said the person, who asked not to be named in order to discuss the numbers. In addition to the $50 billion in annualized revenue, OpenAI touted 77% total run rate growth during its third quarter, as well as 107% run rate growth for its enterprise business during the same period, the person said.
Nvidia shares fell 3%, Oracle shares fell 6% and CoreWeave shares slipped 8% during intraday trading on Thursday. Additionally, Advanced Micro Devices fell 5%, Broadcom fell 5%, Intel fell 6% and Super Micro Computer fell 6%.
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OpenAI is under pressure to justify its $852 billion valuation to investors as it gears up for what is widely expected to be a blockbuster IPO. OpenAI confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators in June, and executives have signaled that the company is eyeing a 2027 debut.
Anthropic is also readying for a major IPO. The company has not officially disclosed when it plans to debut, but it's been engaging in meetings with prospective investors and is reportedly seeking a $2 trillion valuation. In August, Anthropic told investors that its annualized revenue run rate hit $65 billion at the end of July.
In a report on Tuesday, independent financial research provider New Constructs called Anthropic's upcoming offering the "most ridiculous IPO of 2026," and valued the company at a mere $150 billion. Anthropic's revenue in 2025 was $4.6 billion as the company racked up a net loss of $42 billion, according to Reuters, which cited a leaked copy of the company's prospectus.
Both Anthropic and OpenAI have been at the center of a fierce debate over AI safety, after a growing chorus of researchers warned that the companies' models could potentially cause catastrophic harm. OpenAI has disclosed several incidents where its models behaved in unintended ways, and the company recently pulled its plans to launch GPT-6.1 Astra, saying the model did not meet its safety standards.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in September that "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public," in part because of the ongoing concerns around safety.
As OpenAI bides its time, the company is engaging in early stage discussions with investors about a potential new funding round. The company could raise around $30 billion, CNBC previously reported, but that figure could change. The round is being driven by investor demand and no term sheet has been finalized yet.
OpenAI closed a historic $122 billion funding round in March, and CFO Sarah Friar told CNBC last week that it is still "very well capitalized."
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