OpenAI’s annualized revenue may be closer to $50 billion than the $70 billion previously reported, and investors say the $20 billion gap reflects how revenue is counted, not a drop in sales.

FT Report Sparks Debate

The Financial Times reported Thursday that OpenAI told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50 billion at the end of September.

The newspaper said investors had earlier adjusted the ChatGPT maker’s figures to match Anthropic’s approach, which counts the full value of sales made through cloud partners.

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‘Gross and Net Revenue‘

CNBC host Jim Cramer said OpenAI "reports revenues differently from Anthropic" and that the number "isn’t apples to apples."

“The whole OpenAI drama today was people not knowing the difference between gross and net revenue," Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman said in a post on X.

Cramer added that, given his contacts at the company, there is a lack of clarity on whether the FT report is truly new.

The Financial Times and its reporters George Hammond and Stephen Morris did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

What OpenAI Keeps

Shay Boloor, market strategist at Futurum Equities, argued the sharper question is how much of every AI dollar OpenAI keeps after Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) take their cut.

Under its amended agreement with Microsoft earlier this year, OpenAI will keep paying the company a revenue share through 2030. The share is 20% of OpenAI’s total revenue, according to The Information.

For the AI buildout, Boloor said little changes, because “aggregate token growth matters way more than one AI lab’s revenue number.”

$500 Billion ‘Wiped Out’

Market research platform Bull Theory said $500 billion was “wiped out” of the U.S. stock market Thursday as the OpenAI revenue report fed doubts over AI spending.

Price Action: Shares of Microsoft closed 1.35% lower on Thursday at $522.61 and fell 0.02% in extended trading to $522.50.

Benzinga Edge rankings indicate Microsoft’s stock has a Momentum score in the 89th percentile and a Growth score in the 96th percentile.

See More: Top Momentum Stocks

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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