OpenAI accelerates revenue to $40 billion on the brink of an IPO: personnel reshuffles cast a shadow over ambitions
OpenAI is demonstrating impressive financial momentum, reaching new monetization milestones. The company's annualized revenue run rate has hit $40 billion, double the figures from late 2025. This surge not only strengthens the company's position ahead of a potential public offering but also fundamentally reshapes the balance of power in the artificial intelligence market.
Growth Drivers: From Subscriptions to AI Agents
Three key areas are fueling this explosive growth. First, the ChatGPT subscriber base is steadily expanding. Second, sales of developer tools focused on code-related work are growing rapidly. Third, the young advertising business is beginning to make a tangible contribution to overall revenue.
Notably, July showed revenue growth of more than 20% compared to June, and the company earned more in that single month than it did for the entire second quarter. This was also supported by a new pricing strategy: lowering service costs for clients not only failed to reduce revenue but also attracted new corporate customers. 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 tiers.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Fryer previously projected revenue exceeding $20 billion by the end of 2025. Now, management is setting a goal to derive half of all revenue from corporate clients by the end of the current year. The company has not officially commented on the new figures, but the $40 billion mark looks entirely achievable given current dynamics.
Executive Turbulence on the Road to the Exchange
However, amid these financial successes, the company is being shaken by executive reshuffles. In the coming weeks, OpenAI will lose Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser, who has been with the company for about eight months. Global sales will be led by Dali Rajic, who previously served as president at cybersecurity firm Wiz. Dresser's departure follows the resignation of Brad Lightcap, part of whose responsibilities were planned to be transferred to her. A month ago, Fidji Simo also left for health reasons.
A wave of resignations has been sweeping OpenAI for some time now. Over the past few months, the company has lost its head of ethics, its head of the safety division, and its former chief strategy officer. President Greg Brockman has taken on part of the management duties to stabilize the situation.
Preparation for the IPO is in full swing: the company has filed for an initial public offering in confidential mode 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 price will directly depend on whether revenue growth outweighs the negative impact of key executives departing.
My take: OpenAI's financial performance is impressive, but the executive shuffle ahead of the IPO is a worrying signal for investors. The AI market is becoming increasingly competitive, and the stability of the management team often proves to be just as important a factor as revenue growth rates. The success of the offering will depend on whether the company can convince the market of its ability to maintain leadership amid internal turmoil.