OpenAI quarterly revenue hits $10 billion; operating loss widens to $10.9 billion
OpenAI's revenue rose nearly 50% from the prior quarter to $10 billion in the July–September quarter, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said, driven by an enterprise business that doubled. Its operating loss still grew, to $10.9 billion from $10.1 billion, according to investor documents reported by The Wall Street Journal.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
OpenAI's revenue reached $10 billion in the third quarter, up nearly 50% from the second quarter, CFO Sarah Friar said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said revenue nearly tripled from a year earlier and that executives including President Greg Brockman and Friar shared the results on an investor call.
Why it matters
Investors are scrutinizing AI companies' finances as rival Anthropic markets an IPO that could value it at about $1.4 trillion, Reuters noted. Anthropic reported about $17 billion in third-quarter revenue, but the two companies count revenue differently, so the figures can't be compared directly, Gulf News reported. Friar said Anthropic's cloud partnerships showed her the value of selling through outside cloud providers. "Part of it was we were really stuck on this Azure contract that we had," she said, referring to Microsoft.
More context
What drove it: "Our enterprise business doubled quarter over quarter," Friar said, adding that revenue is now split evenly between business and consumer customers. She credited coding and cybersecurity products and Dots, OpenAI's agent platform for companies. Consumer sales rose 20% from the prior quarter, and paid subscriptions topped 100 million, she said. OpenAI also reported 1.2 billion weekly active users, Storyboard18 reported. She put OpenAI's annual revenue run rate at roughly $50 billion.
The losses: OpenAI's operating loss grew to $10.9 billion from $10.1 billion, according to investor documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported. Its adjusted operating margin improved to -109% from -150%. In plain terms, it lost about $1.09 for every $1 of revenue, down from about $1.50. The Journal also reported that second-quarter growth was 18%.
Key numbers: $10 billion in quarterly revenue, up nearly 50% in three months. $10.9 billion operating loss, up from $10.1 billion. 100 million-plus paying subscribers. 1.2 billion weekly active users.
What's still unknown: OpenAI has not published the loss figures itself, and it did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on them. It is also unclear how quickly the company expects to narrow its losses as it spends on computing power.
4 listed sources
- Storyboard18, OpenAI's enterprise revenue doubles as Q3 revenue surges 50% to $10 billion, Nov. 11, 2026
- Reuters (via Investing.com), OpenAI posts steep losses even as quarterly revenue rises to $10 billion, WSJ reports, Nov. 10, 2026
- Bloomberg (via Bloomberg Law; Rebecca Torrence), OpenAI Third-Quarter Revenue Soars Nearly 50% to $10 Billion, Nov. 10, 2026
- Gulf News (Stacy Pereira), OpenAI revenue hits $10b, but operating loss widens, Nov. 11, 2026
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
OpenAI is private and does not publish financial statements. CFO Sarah Friar confirmed the revenue figure and growth rate on the record in a CNBC interview. The operating-loss and margin figures come from investor documents The Wall Street Journal reviewed; OpenAI did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on them.
Like US Brief? You can support it with a tip.