OpenAI Disappoints Investors: Revenue Growth Was Weaker Than Anthropic's

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, told investors that its revenue rose 18% last quarter compared with the previous quarter, while losses increased, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports, citing sources. These results disappointed some shareholders, who had hoped the startup would showmoreprogress in its efforts to catch up with its competitor—Anthropic, the world’s most valuable AI startup—according to WSJ sources.

OpenAI reported that its revenue in the second quarter rose to $6.7 billion, up from $5.7 billion in the first quarter. Company representatives told investors that growth accelerated following the launch of a new set of models in July, according to WSJ sources. For many startups, quarterly revenue of nearly $7 billion would be an extraordinary achievement, but different expectations are placed on OpenAI, the publication emphasizes.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's operating margin has slipped even further into the red, pushing the company further away from profitability ahead of its IPO, sources told the WSJ.

Meanwhile, over the same period, revenue at OpenAI’s competitor, Anthropic, more than doubled, reaching $11.6 billion—marking the first time the company’s sales exceeded those of ChatGPT’s creator. In addition, Anthropic posted a small operating profit.

OpenAI has convinced investors of its rapid growth and has secured major computing deals based on its ability to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue in the near future, according to the WSJ. The performance of Nvidia, Oracle, and other tech giants depends on whether OpenAI can fulfill its commitments to them. At the same time, OpenAI’s quarterly growth rates over the same period were slower than Palantir’s and lagged behind other AI favorites such as CoreWeave and Micron, the WSJ explains.

OpenAI’s operating loss, which includes stock-based compensation, rose from $9.3 billion in the first quarter to $12.3 billion in the second, outpacing revenue growth. Anthropic, by contrast, managed to post an adjusted profit; the company told investors that it had made progress in how efficiently it uses computing resources. It is not yet clear what methods Anthropic (which is not yet a public company) used to calculate its adjusted profit, but in past investor communications, it excluded stock-based compensation from this metric, the WSJ notes.

The different paths taken by OpenAI and Anthropic show just how dramatically the balance of power in the artificial intelligence race has shifted since the beginning of the year, the WSJ notes. The slowdown in ChatGPT’s growth, combined with the success of Anthropic’s programming tool—Claude Code—has put OpenAI at a disadvantage, forcing the company to adjust its business strategy and restructure its leadership: Among those who have left the company are the chief operating officer and the chief revenue officer.

On June 9, OpenAI confidentially filed documents for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The creator of ChatGPT has hired investment bankers and lawyers with the aim of potentially launching the offering as early as the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to sources cited by The New York Times. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed his advisors to find a way to value the startup at $1 trillion—higher than the company’s latest private valuation of $730 billion, sources told the newspaper.

However, the deteriorating market conditions and SpaceX’s decline shortly after its debut caused OpenAI to have second thoughts and consider postponing its IPO until 2027, the NYT reported.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor