OpenAI accelerates revenue to $40 billion and loses key executives: what is happening before the IPO
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum: the company's annual revenue run rate has reached $40 billion. This figure has doubled compared to the end of 2025, sending a powerful signal to investors ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO). However, alongside this financial success, the company is facing serious personnel turbulence, which adds uncertainty to its future.
What lies behind the record growth
The main drivers of this explosive growth are three key areas. First, the subscriber base of ChatGPT continues to expand. Second, sales of developer tools, particularly Codex, are growing rapidly. And third, a relatively new advertising model, which is just gaining traction, has begun to make a noticeable contribution.
Company President Greg Brockman confirmed to employees that revenue in July grew by more than 20% compared to June. Notably, July turned out to be more profitable than the entire second quarter of the current year. This was also aided by an adjusted pricing policy: lowering service costs for corporate clients not only failed to reduce revenue but also attracted new customers.
AI agents provided an additional boost. Products like Codex for programmers and ChatGPT Work for office teams are pushing users to upgrade to more expensive plans, which directly increases the average transaction value.
Personnel changes and IPO preparation
Against the backdrop of these successes, the company will be leaving in the coming weeks its Chief Revenue Officer, Denise Dressel, who worked at OpenAI for about eight months after moving from Slack. Global sales will be led by Dali Rajic, who previously served as president at the cybersecurity company Wiz.
This is not the first loss in leadership. Previously, the company was left by Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, and a month ago, Fidji Simo departed for health reasons. Turnover at the top echelon of OpenAI is becoming systemic: over recent months, the head of ethics, the head of the security division, and the Chief Strategy Officer have also left.
Preparation for the stock market debut is in full swing. OpenAI has already filed for an IPO in confidential mode and bought back $7 billion worth of shares from employees using its own funds. Meanwhile, competitor Anthropic plans to go public as early as October with a valuation of over $2 trillion, which adds additional pressure.
My view: Revenue growth to $40 billion is an undeniable success that will strengthen the company's position ahead of the listing. However, the mass departure of top executives is a worrying signal that may point to internal contradictions in the development strategy. Investors should closely watch whether OpenAI can sustain its growth pace amid personnel instability, as this will be the key factor in valuing its shares.