OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was "approaching $50 billion" at the end of September, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing financial documents shared with investors. That is about $20 billion below the nearly $70 billion figure that circulated late last month.
The gap is about definitions, not lost sales. According to the FT, as quoted by TechCrunch, the higher number came from "attempts by OpenAI's own investors to produce a direct comparison with Anthropic's annualised revenues."
The two companies count partner sales differently. Anthropic includes revenue from sales through cloud partners such as AWS and Google Cloud, while OpenAI does not, Reuters reported, summarizing the FT. Axios reported that the $70 billion figure was an attempt to "gross up" OpenAI's revenue using Anthropic's method.
The nearly $70 billion figure was reported in late September by Axios and other outlets, including Reuters. A source familiar with the documents told CNN the figure did not come from OpenAI, and The Information reported it traced back to one unnamed investor's estimate, according to a roundup by The Next Web.
The comparison point is Anthropic's run rate, which passed $65 billion at the end of July, Bloomberg reported in August. That figure counts gross cloud-partner sales and is two months older, so setting it against OpenAI's net $50 billion compares two different measures.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, and TechCrunch said it had reached out. OpenAI declined to comment to Bloomberg, which separately reported Friday, according to The Next Web, that OpenAI expects its run rate to reach or exceed $70 billion by year-end.
With both companies reportedly preparing to go public, the episode shows how much headline AI revenue depends on who sets the definition, and why the audited numbers in an IPO filing will matter more than run-rate leaks.