Breaking4h ago12 sources56 reactions

OpenAI annual recurring revenue approaches $70 billion

28 DoomStory + reactionsStrong revenue growth framed as commercial milestone

By Splitfeed EditorialUpdated Sep 29, 2026, 15:40 UTC

Split of the day · 12 sources

Boom: OpenAI's annual recurring revenue has reached nearly $70 billion, per Axios sources
Boom: Enterprise sales more than doubled since July 2026, driving the revenue surge
Boom: OpenAI is closing the enterprise gap with competitor Anthropic
Neutral: Revenue figures come from unnamed sources; OpenAI has not publicly confirmed them

The story in full

OpenAI's annual recurring revenue has grown to nearly $70 billion, according to an Axios report published on September 29, 2026, citing sources. Enterprise sales have more than doubled since July 2026, and the company is narrowing the gap with competitor Anthropic in that segment.

The figures reflect accelerating commercial adoption of OpenAI's products beyond its consumer base. The revenue run rate and enterprise growth numbers come from unnamed sources cited by Axios; OpenAI has not issued a public statement confirming the figures.

Analysis

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By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Sep 29, 2026, 15:40 UTC

On September 29, 2026, Axios published a report, citing unnamed sources, stating that OpenAI's annual recurring revenue has grown to nearly $70 billion. The report also noted that the company's enterprise sales have more than doubled since July 2026, and that OpenAI is closing the gap with Anthropic in the enterprise segment. OpenAI has not issued a public statement confirming these figures, which means the numbers rest on sourced but unverified reporting.

The figures, if accurate, mark a significant acceleration in commercial adoption. Annual recurring revenue of nearly $70 billion would place OpenAI among the fastest-growing software companies on record, and the doubling of enterprise sales in roughly two months suggests the growth is not simply consumer-driven but increasingly embedded in corporate infrastructure. The competitive framing around Anthropic is also notable, since Anthropic has been widely regarded as the stronger player in regulated and enterprise-focused deployments. Whether OpenAI is genuinely narrowing that gap in revenue quality, customer retention and contract size, or simply in raw volume, is a distinction the available figures do not resolve.

None of the three camps have published reactions to this story yet. The Pro-AI camp would typically treat revenue at this scale as validation that the technology has moved well past the experimental phase and is delivering measurable business value. The Anti-AI camp would likely focus on what the revenue growth does not show, particularly questions about profitability, the energy and labor costs behind the products, and whether rapid enterprise adoption is outpacing safety evaluation. The Middle Ground camp would probably acknowledge the commercial momentum while pressing for more transparency around margins, governance changes tied to OpenAI's ongoing restructuring, and the terms under which enterprise clients are deploying the technology.

The clearest thing to watch is whether OpenAI confirms or revises these figures in an official disclosure, and whether Anthropic responds with its own revenue data. OpenAI's ongoing conversion from a nonprofit structure to a for-profit entity also means formal financial reporting requirements could change, which would eventually put numbers like these to a harder test.

Pro-AI4

What Pro-AI voices are sayingOpenAI's revenue growth is unprecedented, with enterprise adoption of coding agents driving numbers that indicate clear product-market fit.

Quote 1 of 4

companies started blowing millions of dollars on coding agent tools that hardly existed a year ago

Simon Willisonvia Bluesky

Anti-AI45

What Anti-AI voices are sayingCritics argue the underlying economics are unsustainable and that OpenAI and Anthropic have proven themselves unfit to govern their own models, making rapid growth a liability rather than a success. A minority frames the entire narrative as deliberate hype to attract investment.

Quote 1 of 13

AI companies would need $725 billion in annual revenue for them to have both 10% operating margins and hyperscalers to have a 10% ROIC. We are not even close. None of the economics make sense for either side of the

Ed Zitronvia Bluesky

Middle Ground7

What Middle Ground voices are sayingObservers note that coding agents have emerged as the actual business model, but skeptics question the revenue figures and warn that customer concentration and lack of long-term contracts make the growth fragile.

Quote 1 of 7

Anthropic said nearly a quarter of its revenue came from two customers last year, and as part of its risk factors, warned that many of its largest clients were not locked into long-term contracts and could cut or stop spending.

Lora Kolodnyvia Bluesky

Add your take

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More Pro-AI reactions (3)

“OPENAI B2B REVENUE GROWS MORE THAN 100% IN Q3 - SOURCE”
FinTwitter, Bluesky · 15:36 UTC
“I've never seen a company with revenue in the billions with an 1100% increase in revenue year over year.”
Paul Graf, Bluesky · 16:17 UTC
“I wrote about why I think they've hit product market fit back in May”
Simon Willison, Bluesky · 13:58 UTC

More Anti-AI reactions (12)

“'we ought to be very concerned about the fact the AI companies we’re meant to trust to keep their models in check seem unable to do so. Worse than that, they don’t seem to know what their products are even”
Margot Finn, Bluesky · 06:04 UTC
“AI companies have shown themselves to be unqualified to keep track of their models - so why are we letting them be custodians of reporting incidents?”
Chris Stokel-Walker, Bluesky · 06:18 UTC
“Hope this goes on the history books as the 1st day the AI bubble started popping.”
Luis Alis・ルイス, Bluesky, skeptic · 12:04 UTC
“AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will probably go out of business, and other companies like Google, Meta, Oracle, and Microsoft that went all in on the slop will take a huge hit they may never recover from.”
Sasquatch, Bluesky · 13:08 UTC
“I'm genuinely wondering whether the current Stop Me Before I Train Again drama is because both OpenAI and Anthropic have been forced to the realisation that their costs are impossible and they desperately want it to look like "they made”
EssayWells, Bluesky, skeptic · 16:49 UTC
“OpenAI is doing live tool calls during long-horizon RL training runs?!? That might explain some of the external cyber attacks.”
Mark Riedl, Bluesky · 11:42 UTC
“if your product is shit gibbons throwing typewriters, just pretend it can end the world. The rubes will see your Phenomenal Cosmic power and FOMO will definitely make them give you more money.”
ninjamonkky.bsky.social, Bluesky, skeptic · 11:37 UTC
“Wonder if all the people their products have killed already matter to them? Nah, of course not. They’re techbros. This is just PR for “how powerful our new stuff is!”.”
Ben Templesmith, Bluesky · 03:41 UTC
“First Thing: Anthropic warns of AI ‘existential risk’ as concerns emerge over Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s model #TheGuardian”
#TuckFrump, Bluesky · 11:31 UTC
“"Move fast and break things"”
Ko van Huissteden, Bluesky · 15:30 UTC
“They want a cartel. They want defense industry positions. They want their businesses to be protected by the state.”
animal from the international network, Bluesky · 04:21 UTC
“I think they blow a lot more hot air (which is saying a lot)”
Simon Willison, Bluesky · 05:11 UTC

More Middle Ground reactions (6)

“Ed's schtick of "well, 2025 losses should be indicative", are easily rebutted. I'd believe that spending has increased modestly for 2026, but revenue? you can look to the public statements about annualised revenue made by Anthropic execs under penalty of”
Liz Fong-Jones (方禮真), Bluesky, skeptic · 05:28 UTC
“every story about Anthropic or OpenAI makes me feel like I'm tripping on something”
Desarrayed, Bluesky · 17:00 UTC
“This year they found a business model, and it's not "AGI", it's coding agents”
Simon Willison, Bluesky · 05:06 UTC
“not sure it comports with whatever the index below is meant to measure; token costs "collapsed"....to ruinously unprofitable late-2025 levels?”
YARDCG, Bluesky, skeptic · 05:37 UTC
“Their top models are the best but open source models can match them at significantly lower costs and better ownership.”
Vignesh NV, Bluesky · 12:28 UTC
“The 🐿️ does not believe that a PARMAP™ - ‘Pick a Revenue Multiple and Pray’ - approach to valuing the foundation model companies is going to get OpenAI and Anthropic public. So lets think through some scenarios 2/6”
Blind Squirrel Macro, Bluesky, skeptic · 16:32 UTC