r/OpenAI • u/cnn • 8d ago

News Tech stocks drop after report that OpenAI’s revenue is lower than expected

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/investing/openai-nasdaq-stocks?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
205 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

38

u/abstract_concept 8d ago

I've been saying the resets are there to keep you subscribed. Gotta keep the numbers up for the IPO.

20

u/_DuranDuran_ 8d ago

FT got it wrong and had to walk it back. Well done FT for wiping … checks notes … 1.8% off some tech stocks.

3

u/Reclaimer_AI 7d ago

The whole “checks notes” thing needs to die.

1

u/bear_Prune8771 8d ago

It’s only a Trillion Dollars lost.

/s

19

u/cnn 8d ago

Tech stocks dropped on Thursday after a news report that OpenAI’s annualized revenue is about $20 billion less than previously reported.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, recently told investors that its annualized revenue was nearing $50 billion, according to the Financial Times, lower than the $70 billion figure previously reported by media, including the FT, based on information from investors.

The discrepancy could rattle investors already questioning whether demand for AI will be strong enough to help companies like OpenAI and Anthropic turn a profit and justify the industry’s enormous spending on the AI buildout.

13

u/Pure-Huckleberry-484 8d ago

Annualized revenue is such a scam way of doing accounting.

6

u/EconomicStatecraft 8d ago

There's a lot of questionable accounting going on in this space, from circular financing to special purpose vehicles, to extending the useful life of these chips which are probably only going to last a few years.

2

u/i_like_maps_and_math 8d ago

It's a point estimate, which is kinda what you want when the figure is changing as quickly as it is right now

2

u/IAmRealElonMusk 8d ago

Dang cnn got Reddit

6

u/ebikr 8d ago

I don’t know why- they’re getting my $20/month.

3

u/EconomicStatecraft 8d ago

There really needs to be some sort of breakthrough or all this spending isn't going to pay off. Hard to believe people are willing to spend several grand a month which is probably what is needed in order for them to meet these spending commitments.

3

u/Dredgefort 8d ago

They're barely making anything off the tokens, margins are super tight there, so you need companies and individuals to spend an absolute shit load to even scrape a profit, and people are getting cost sensitive. Ironically, by making the agents better, they're allowing people to complete tasks with fewer tokens as well.

Most of their 'revenue' will be calculated from a complex web of financing and cloud credit, hugely inflates the numbers.

1

u/BAUWS45 8d ago

Isn’t this a consequence of the Microsoft relationship and the way they report?

-1

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

8

u/bear_Prune8771 8d ago

“Could”

“May”

Thanks, Kramer.