OpenAI accelerates revenue pace to $40 billion: record figures amid personnel turbulence
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum: its annualized revenue run rate (ARR) has reached $40 billion. This figure has doubled since the end of 2025, sending a powerful signal to the market ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO).
What is driving the explosive revenue growth?
The main drivers of this growth are three key business areas. First, the ChatGPT subscriber base continues to expand. Second, sales of tools for developers specializing in code work are growing rapidly. Third, the young but already noticeable advertising segment is making an increasingly significant contribution to total revenue.
Company President Greg Brockman confirmed to the team that revenue in July alone grew by more than 20% compared to June. Notably, July proved to be more productive for the business than the entire second quarter. This was also aided by a new pricing policy: lowering service costs for clients attracted new corporate customers, and the expected revenue decline, contrary to concerns, did not materialize.
Additional momentum came from AI agents — specialized systems for task automation. Products like Codex for programmers and ChatGPT Work for office teams are actively pushing clients to upgrade to more expensive pricing plans. Previously, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar projected revenue exceeding $20 billion by the end of 2025, but current pace has surpassed even the boldest expectations. Management now aims to generate half of its revenue from corporate clients by the end of this year.
Executive reshuffles: a warning sign ahead of the IPO
However, amid financial successes, the company is being shaken by a wave of resignations among top executives. In the coming weeks, OpenAI will lose Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser, who spent about eight months at the company after moving from Slack. Global sales will be led by Dali Rajic, former president of cybersecurity company Wiz.
Dresser's departure follows the resignation of Brad Lightcap, whose duties were partially planned to be transferred to her. A month ago, Fiji Simo also left the company for health reasons. Overall, in recent months, OpenAI has lost the heads of its ethics department, security division, and former chief strategy officer. Greg Brockman has taken on some management functions in an attempt to stabilize the situation.
Preparation for the stock exchange is in full swing: the company has filed a confidential IPO application and recently bought back $7 billion worth of employee shares using its own funds. Meanwhile, 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 outweighs the negative impact of key executives' departures.
Analyst commentary: ARR growth to $40 billion is an undeniable success, demonstrating the strength of OpenAI's business model. However, the executive shuffle ahead of the IPO is a serious reputational risk. Investors are always wary of instability in leadership, especially at such a critical moment. The success of the offering will depend on the company's ability to prove that its financial results are sustainable rather than the product of one-off factors.