OpenAI Passes $10 Billion in Quarterly Revenue for First Time

OpenAI's quarterly revenue crossed $10 billion for the first time, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources — an almost 50% jump from the $6.7 billion the company reportedly booked in the second quarter.

The figure, if accurate, marks a sharp acceleration. OpenAI's growth rate between the first and second quarters of this year was about 18%, on top of $5.7 billion in quarterly revenue. A leap to $10 billion implies the pace roughly doubled in a single quarter.

The takeaway in plain words: OpenAI is growing faster again, and from a base most software companies would envy.

Is OpenAI getting closer to profitability?

Not yet — but the gap is narrowing. The company's adjusted operating margin improved from -150% in the second quarter to -109% in the third quarter, according to the Bloomberg report.

That still means OpenAI spends roughly $2 for every $1 it brings in. The direction, however, has changed: losses are shrinking as revenue scales, not widening.

The takeaway: OpenAI remains deeply unprofitable, but the burn is tightening rather than spiraling.

How did OpenAI engineer the rebound?

The company benefited from a combination of factors, according to the report:

• Tighter pricing and discounts
• Improving AI models
• A greater focus on enterprise-focused products
• AI agents that help users complete tasks

OpenAI's broader consumer focus helped it attract a large user base early — the company says it has over a billion users. The caveat: it is reasonable to assume most of those are free users or subscribers to its cheapest plans, meaning they contribute little to the $10 billion quarter.

The takeaway: the growth story now rests on enterprises paying more, not on headline user counts.

Does Anthropic still lead?

On revenue, yes — and by a wide margin. Anthropic reported third-quarter revenue of $17 billion against OpenAI's reported $10 billion. The Claude-maker has taken the lead in capturing the enterprise market for AI models, at least in terms of revenue growth.

Anthropic said yesterday that its annual revenue run rate climbed by $10 billion in a single month, reaching $81 billion as of the end of October. The company is seeking a $1.4 trillion valuation in an IPO likely to happen soon.

OpenAI, for its part, has now reached an annual revenue run rate of $50 billion, according to Bloomberg.

One methodological caveat matters when comparing the two: Anthropic counts sales made by its cloud partners, while OpenAI only reports its share of some sales through its partners. The numbers are not directly comparable, and neither company has spelled out the full difference in public filings.

The takeaway: Anthropic leads on the headline figures, though the measurement rules flatter its side of the ledger.

What comes next?

The market these two are fighting over is anything but a duopoly. OpenAI and Anthropic also compete with models from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, plus a range of cheaper but still highly capable models from open-source AI labs — especially those from China.

None of the reported figures are small. But with Anthropic's IPO reportedly approaching and OpenAI's growth rate re-accelerating, the next test will be whether OpenAI can convert its consumer scale into enterprise revenue fast enough to close a gap that, on the reported numbers, is still widening in Anthropic's favor.

The question investors will press: can OpenAI keep halving its losses each quarter while chasing a rival that just added $10 billion of annualized revenue in 30 days?

By Olivia Hart