OpenAI narrows revenue gap with Anthropic, but losses increase to $10.9 billion

Price cuts and a new revenue chief drive growth - but not profit

OpenAI grew quarterly revenue by roughly 50% to $10 billion, narrowing the gap with Anthropic, but its adjusted operating loss widened to $10.9 billion as it pushes into the enterprise market ahead of a planned IPO.

OpenAI grew revenue by roughly 50% to $10 billion from the second to the third quarter, but continued to report heavy operating losses, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

The ChatGPT creator shared its latest results with investors on Tuesday, just as Anthropic prepares its much-anticipated IPO next week. Anthropic recently disclosed third-quarter revenue of $17 billion and a smaller operating loss of $567 million.

OpenAI has boosted revenues, growing approximately 50% to $10 billion from the second to the third quarter. This compares to revenue of $3.9 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

OpenAI’s adjusted operating margin improved from minus 150% to minus 109% between the second and third quarters, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Even so, adjusted operating losses ticked up from $10.1 billion to $10.9 billion. Those figures exclude stock-based compensation, which rose to $2.6 billion in the third quarter, according to a person familiar with the matter. Anthropic’s operating loss includes stock-based compensation, so the two figures should not be viewed as a like-for-like comparison.

Push for enterprise market

The increased revenues could be viewed as vindication of OpenAI's strategy of focusing sales and marketing activity on the enterprise market for AI models. The company has pushed to grow market share by cutting the prices of its newest models. It recently hired a new chief revenue officer, Dali Rajic, to focus on this segment, which is steadily accounting for a larger share of overall sales.

Third-party data showed that OpenAI gained ground on Anthropic in the third quarter as some businesses sought more cost-efficient alternatives to Claude. At the WSJ Tech conference in Napa Valley earlier this month, OpenAI President Greg Brockman said the first two quarters were rough but that the third saw an “incredible revenue inflection" citing a new partnership with JPMorgan Chase.

Paying ChatGPT users grew to roughly 100 million, or 8.5% of total weekly active users, slightly higher than the previous quarter. OpenAI also launched advertising on ChatGPT earlier this year, which it expects to improve margins.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic have been damaged by the tech stock sell off and jumpy market conditions over the last few weeks which accelerated following the US midterm results. The Democrats winning of previously ruby red state legislatures – perhaps most surprisingly in Texas – potentially put a great deal of planned datacentre build out in jeopardy.

OpenAI’s latest financing round raised less than half of its initial $30 billion target, though it is still seeking new backers. The company is preparing to list shares publicly next year having postposed a potential IPO claiming that it was focusing on the safety of its models.

Anthropic is targeting a valuation of $1.33 trillion in its public listing which is due at some point in the next week down from the roughly $2 trillion figure floated months ago.