OpenAI accelerates revenue growth to $40 billion amid personnel turbulence ahead of IPO
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum: its annualized revenue run rate (ARR) has reached $40 billion, double the figures from late 2025. However, alongside this success, the company is facing significant personnel instability.
What is fueling the explosive revenue growth
The main drivers of this growth are three key areas. First and foremost, it is the rapid increase in the number of ChatGPT subscribers. Secondly, the segment of software sales for developers focused on code-related work makes a significant contribution. Finally, the young advertising business is already starting to generate tangible revenue.
In July, the company's revenue grew by more than 20% compared to June. Moreover, according to my data, July proved to be more productive for the company than the entire second quarter of the current year. This was also aided by the new pricing policy: lowering service costs for corporate clients not only failed to reduce revenue but also attracted new customers, confirming the elasticity of demand for AI products.
Additional momentum was provided by AI agents—specialized systems for task automation, such as Codex for programmers and ChatGPT Work for office teams. These products are actively pushing clients to upgrade to more expensive pricing plans.
The CFO 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.
Personnel reshuffles: a warning sign for investors
In the coming weeks, the company will be leaving its Chief Revenue Officer, Denise Dressel, who joined OpenAI from Slack in December 2025 and worked for only about eight months. Global sales will be led by Dali Rajic, who previously served as president and chief operating officer of the cybersecurity company Wiz.
Dressel's departure is just part of a larger-scale leadership shuffle. Earlier, the company had already been left by Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap and Fiji Simo due to health reasons. Over the past few months, the head of the ethics department, the head of the security division, and the former director of strategic development have also departed. President Greg Brockman has been forced to take on some management functions to stabilize the situation.
Preparation for the stock market debut is in full swing: the IPO application has been filed in confidential mode, and the company recently bought back shares from employees for $7 billion from its own funds.
My view: The growth of ARR to $40 billion is undoubtedly a strong signal for the market, and it significantly strengthens the position of those advocating for going public. However, the mass exodus of top executives ahead of the IPO is a warning bell that could indicate internal disagreements over development strategy. While competitor Anthropic plans its debut as early as October with a valuation exceeding $2 trillion, the question of whether OpenAI's financial momentum will outweigh personnel risks will be key to determining the company's fair value on the public market.