OpenAI aims for $11 billion in 2025 revenue, spurred by a wider user base and its ramping revenue growth over the years. The firm reached the $1 billion milestone in 2023 and grew more than $3 billion in 2024.
According to the reports, the ChatGPT-parent company had forecast $3.7 billion in revenue in 2024, a target that was attainable. While the 2025 figures may look impressive, they align with ongoing growth trends.
OpenAI users are up 33% since December 2024, hitting 400 million active users last week even as rivals, including the Chinese company DeepSeek, gain ground.
The plans by the company’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar follow discussions between OpenAI and SoftBank for a $40 billion investment that would value the ChatGPT maker at approximately $300 billion.
Investors now look well beyond a company’s growth rate—especially when a business is young. Investors, she added, are motivated by the company’s future prospects.
And that’s enabling us to, as we speak with investors, be able to command valuations that are, I think, commensurate with the growth rate and the scale that we’re achieving.
Sarah Friar
Friar believes OpenAI’s ongoing innovation is attracting more users over time
Friar contends that the AI industry is far from commoditized despite rival models with similar outputs. She believes OpenAI’s numbers are evidence of a feedback loop as their innovation improves with each iteration. Deep Research is a recent product from OpenAI that helps you analyze at the highest level in the shortest time.
The company has also announced an expanded rollout of its newly unveiled operator AI agent to its ChatGPT Pro subscribers. This tool will make things more efficient, as it will take care of tasks on its own—like making reservations and booking tickets, and now it will be available in most locations wherever ChatGPT works.
OpenAI experienced losses of up to $5 billion in 2024
OpenAI was projected to incur a loss of about $5 billion in 2024, with losses potentially reaching as high as $14 billion by 2026. These figures highlight the steep costs of scaling advanced artificial intelligence models amid increasing global demand for generative AI technologies.
There is a lot of noise surrounding OpenAI, with various companies competing for a stake in the pie. Competitors such as DeepSeek—which recently launched and offers similar features—could chip away at its user base.
In addition, the company just received an unsolicited takeover offer from Elon Musk, a co-founder who left in 2018. Musk offered $98.4 billion to buy the platform, but the company’s board rejected the offer.
On the question of restructuring OpenAI into a for-profit entity—a step that Musk blocked—Sam Altman has also rushed to the court. His new motion seeks permission from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to use such material to demonstrate that Musk is hypocritically inconsistent in his battle against OpenAI’s bid to become for-profit. He’s seeking to have Gonzalez Rogers append the letter to all that he’s already filed in opposition to Musk’s request that the judge stay that transition.
Musk took to X on Sept. 26 before heading to court to argue that one “can’t just convert a nonprofit into a for-profit,” adding that such a conversion is “illegal.”
All of those things could have an effect on the firm’s revenue forecasts, but we don’t know yet whether it will be positive or negative.
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