Bloomberg reports that OpenAI expects its annualised revenue to reach $70 billion or more by the end of 2026, up from roughly $50 billion at the end of September. The figure is a projection, not money earned, and it comes from unnamed people familiar with the matter. OpenAI declined to comment. TSN offers no investment advice.
Spotted via Bloomberg (@business) on X.
What Bloomberg reported (reported)
On 9 October Bloomberg News said that “OpenAI is expecting to reach or exceed $70 billion in annualized revenue by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter, driven largely by growth in its enterprise business” [1]. It adds that the company’s annualised revenue was “roughly $50 billion at the end of September”, and that this figure “represents a projection of OpenAI’s yearly sales based on a shorter period” [1].
“Annualised revenue”, or run rate, takes a recent stretch of sales and scales it up to a year. It is not what a company has banked over the past twelve months, and it is not audited. Our earlier explainer covers the idea and why the method matters.
The fundraising behind it (reported)
Bloomberg’s sources say OpenAI shared the numbers with investors as part of discussions for its latest fundraising [1]. The same article says the company “is in talks to raise $30 billion or more at a $1.4 trillion valuation before the new money, Bloomberg first reported in September” [1]. So the raise is a reported ask and talks, not a completed deal, and the valuation is the figure before any new money is counted. OpenAI has announced neither.
For context, Bloomberg notes that OpenAI most recently raised a $122 billion round in March at an $852 billion valuation, including the money [1].
How this differs from the earlier $70 billion
Last month some outlets reported that OpenAI was already running at nearly $70 billion. Bloomberg says the Financial Times reported on Thursday that the gap came from OpenAI’s investors trying to calculate OpenAI’s number the way rival Anthropic does, which accounts for cloud-provider sales differently [1]. The FT’s own headline put OpenAI’s figure at “$20bn less than previously signalled” [2]. Bloomberg adds that Anthropic’s annualised revenue “hit $65 billion by the end of July”, as it previously reported, and that “not all companies measure it the same way” [1].
The new figure is different in kind. The earlier $70 billion was an investor restatement of a past number. This one is a year-end expectation that OpenAI is reported to hold. Bloomberg does not say which counting method it uses, so TSN does not read it as confirming either earlier number.
What this does not prove
- That OpenAI will reach $70 billion. It is an expectation described by unnamed people, shared with investors during a fundraising, and OpenAI has not published it [1].
- That the $30 billion or $1.4 trillion has been agreed. Bloomberg describes talks. No round has been announced [1].
- That OpenAI is ahead of or behind Anthropic. The companies count revenue differently, so their run rates are not directly comparable [1].
- Anything about OpenAI’s value or share-price prospects. TSN makes no predictions.
The Bottom Line
Bloomberg reports that OpenAI expects to reach or exceed $70 billion in annualised revenue by the end of 2026, up from roughly $50 billion at the end of September, and that it is in talks to raise $30 billion or more at a $1.4 trillion valuation before the new money. Both are reported figures from people familiar with the matter; the revenue number is a projection, and OpenAI declined to comment. Treat them as claims to watch, not results.
Sources
- Rebecca Torrence and Shirin Ghaffary, “OpenAI Expects $70 Billion in Annualized Revenue by End of 2026”, Bloomberg News, 9 October 2026, 02:43 BST (people familiar with the matter; read in full via the Yahoo Finance reprint; reported). https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/openai-expects-70-billion-annualized-014338719.html
- George Hammond and Stephen Morris, “OpenAI annualised revenues $20bn less than previously signalled”, Financial Times, 8 October 2026 (paywalled; TSN read the headline and standfirst only; its method explanation is as relayed by Bloomberg [1]). https://www.ft.com/content/b66a9858-f8fb-46cb-b506-44bfe26fca2a
- Bloomberg (@business), X post, 9 October 2026, 09:25 BST (read via the X API; it summarises [1] and adds nothing beyond the article). https://x.com/business/status/2108473983980937563
