OpenAI accelerates revenue to $40 billion: record growth amid personnel turbulence
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum: the company's annual revenue run rate has reached $40 billion, double the forecasts announced at the end of 2025. However, alongside this success, the company is facing serious personnel instability—key executives are leaving their posts.
Such aggressive growth strengthens shareholders' positions ahead of the anticipated public offering. Nevertheless, turnover in senior management adds uncertainty to this process.
What's Behind the Record Figures
Three main drivers fueled this surge: continued growth in ChatGPT subscriber numbers, a rapid increase in sales of developer tools, and a surprisingly successful launch of the advertising business, which is already making a tangible contribution to revenue.
Company President Greg Brockman told the team that revenue in July grew by more than 20% compared to June. This confirms a previously disclosed internal report: July brought in more revenue than the entire second quarter combined.
The new pricing strategy also played a key role. Lowering service costs for corporate clients, made possible by cost optimization, attracted new customers. Contrary to concerns, price reductions did not lead to a drop in revenue but instead expanded the client base.
AI agents provided additional momentum: Codex for programmers and ChatGPT Work for office teams. Both products are actively pushing users to upgrade to more expensive pricing tiers.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar previously projected 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 these figures, but my sources familiar with the situation confirm the accuracy of the $40 billion figure.
Personnel Shakeups Ahead of the IPO
In the coming weeks, Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dressel will leave the company after only about eight months—she moved from Slack in December 2025. She will be replaced by Dali Rajic, who previously led the cybersecurity company Wiz.
Dressel's resignation follows the departure of Brad Lightcap, some of whose responsibilities were planned to be transferred to her. A month ago, Fidji Simo also left for health reasons. Over the past few months, the company has also lost its head of ethics, its head of security, and its former chief strategy officer. Greg Brockman has taken on some management functions in an attempt to stabilize the situation.
Preparation for the stock exchange listing is in full swing: OpenAI 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 share price will directly depend on whether the impressive revenue growth can outweigh the negative impact of the outflow of key executives.
My analysis: Growth to $40 billion is a powerful signal to the market, but turnover in the upper echelons of management is a warning sign for investors. The success of the IPO will be determined not only by financial metrics but also by the company's ability to maintain managerial stability during this critical period.