OpenAI accelerates revenue to $40 billion and loses key executives ahead of IPO
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum, doubling its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $40 billion in just eight months. However, in parallel, the company is facing significant executive turnover: on the eve of a potential initial public offering (IPO), top-level leaders are departing.
Such aggressive growth significantly strengthens the company's position ahead of its stock market debut. That said, the simultaneous leadership reshuffles introduce an element of uncertainty into this picture, which the market should monitor particularly closely.
What is driving OpenAI's revenue growth
The main drivers of this explosive growth are three areas. The number of ChatGPT subscribers continues to rise, sales of developer tools (Software Development Kits) are growing at double-digit rates, and the relatively young advertising business is already beginning to generate tangible revenue.
Company President Greg Brockman told employees that revenue in July grew by more than 20% compared to June. Notably, July was more profitable than the entire second quarter — which speaks to an incredible pace of scaling.
The new pricing policy also played a role. By lowering service costs in July, OpenAI made its products more accessible to corporate clients. Contrary to concerns, this did not lead to a drop in revenue, but instead attracted new customers and spurred volume growth.
Additional momentum came from AI agents — specialized systems for task automation. Codex, which assists programmers, and ChatGPT Work, aimed at office teams, are successfully pushing clients to upgrade to more expensive pricing plans.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar previously forecast that revenue would exceed $20 billion by the end of 2025. Now, management is setting a goal to derive half of its revenue from corporate clients by the end of the current year.
OpenAI has not officially commented on the new figures, but the $40 billion number looks quite realistic against the backdrop of such rapid dynamics.
Executive churn as a risk factor
In the coming weeks, Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser will leave the company; she joined OpenAI from Slack in December 2025 and worked there for about eight months. Global sales will be led by Dali Rajic, who previously served as president and chief operating officer at cybersecurity company Wiz.
Dresser's departure is only part of a larger trend. Earlier, the company was left by Brad Lightcap, some of whose responsibilities were planned to be transferred to her. A month ago, Fidji Simo also stepped down for health reasons. Over recent months, OpenAI has also lost its head of ethics, the head of the security division, and a former chief strategy officer.
Brockman has taken on some management functions, trying to stabilize the situation. But it is obvious that preparations for the stock exchange are proceeding in a tense atmosphere: the company has filed for an IPO in confidential mode and recently bought back $7 billion worth of shares from employees using its own funds.
Competitor Anthropic plans to go public as early as October with a valuation exceeding $2 trillion. OpenAI's stock performance will directly depend on whether revenue growth can outweigh the negative impact of key managers leaving.
My view: OpenAI's financial metrics are impressive, but executive instability on the brink of an IPO is a worrying signal for investors. The market usually forgives turnover at the operational level, but the loss of the chief revenue officer, responsible for monetization, at a critical moment in preparation for the listing could be perceived as a systemic management problem. The success of the offering will depend on the company's ability to demonstrate that business growth does not depend on individual personalities.