On October 8, 2026, reports said OpenAI had told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50 billion at the end of September. That is a run-rate estimate: it projects sales from a period across a year rather than reporting revenue earned over a completed year.
What the roughly $50 billion figure measures
Annualized revenue offers a snapshot of the pace of sales, expressed as a yearlong rate. OpenAI’s reported figure concerns the end of September 2026; it does not mean the company had already earned $50 billion during a completed year.
Earlier reports placed OpenAI’s annualized revenue at $6 billion in 2024 and $20 billion at the start of 2026. Those figures, too, describe run rates rather than completed-year totals.
How OpenAI and Anthropic count cloud-partner sales
The companies treat some sales made through cloud partners differently. OpenAI records its share of certain partner sales. Anthropic includes cloud-partner sales in its revenue tally, with the provider’s share recorded as an expense.
| Company | Reported treatment of certain cloud-partner sales |
| OpenAI | Records only its share of certain partner sales. |
| Anthropic | Includes cloud-partner sales in its revenue tally; the provider’s share is recorded as an expense. |
For example, under the treatment described for Anthropic, a $100 customer payment through a cloud provider can be counted as $100 in revenue, with the provider’s share recorded as an expense. OpenAI’s reported approach counts its share of certain partner sales instead. That difference affects how the companies’ revenue figures compare.
What the earlier estimate near $70 billion represented
A figure near $70 billion circulated earlier in September. It was reportedly adjusted to make OpenAI’s revenue more comparable with Anthropic’s treatment of cloud-partner sales, rather than being a direct OpenAI statement of its own run rate. The later figure, approaching $50 billion, was also reported as an annualized revenue estimate.
