OpenAI is recovering from the downturn it experienced earlier this year. Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that the company’s quarterly revenue topped $10 billion for the first time, thanks to strong demand for its recent AI models.
If true, this would represent an almost 50% increase in sales from the $6.7 billion the company reportedly recorded in the second quarter. This represents a significant increase in sales growth, which was previously said to be about 18% between the first and second quarters of this year.
OpenAI’s profitability also appears to be improving, with its adjusted operating margin narrowing from -150% in the second quarter to -109% in the third quarter, the report said.
As one of the first companies to commercialize AI models, OpenAI hasn’t had a hard time continuing to grow its revenue. Quarterly revenue of $5.7 billion plus 18% growth is huge no matter how you look at it, especially when compared to most software businesses.
But the company believed those gains would be eclipsed by arch-rival Anthropic, which has taken the lead in capturing the enterprise market for AI models and recently reported third-quarter sales of $17 billion. Because of OpenAI’s broader focus, it attracted a large user base and gained popularity early on, saying it has more than 1 billion users, but it’s reasonable to assume that most of them are free users or subscribers to its cheapest plan.
Still, the company lags behind Anthropic in catering to the enterprise market, a market where Claude manufacturers are ahead, at least in terms of revenue growth.
OpenAI has recently benefited from a combination of tighter pricing, discounts, improved models, and a focus on building enterprise-ready products and AI agents that can help people complete tasks.
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI’s annual revenue run rate is now at $50 billion. Meanwhile, Anthropic, which is seeking a $1.4 trillion valuation in its likely upcoming IPO, announced yesterday that its annual revenue run rate increased by $10 billion in less than a month to $81 billion at the end of October.
(Note that OpenAI and Anthropic calculate annual revenue differently; Anthropic counts revenue from cloud partners, while OpenAI only reports a partial share of revenue through partners.)
None of these numbers are small, of course, but both companies also compete with models from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, as well as cheaper but more powerful models from open source AI labs, especially China.
If you make a purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
