OpenAI Misses Revenue Target Ahead of IPO

OpenAI missed its revenue and user growth targets, according to media reports. This has sparked concerns about its ability to fund massive infrastructure ambitions.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, CFO Sarah Friar is privately raising concerns about OpenAI’s capacity to cover future compute agreements if the revenue slowdown persists. She is reportedly working with executives to tighten spending as the board of directors takes a harder look at the company’s computing deals.

CEO Sam Altman and Friar criticized the WSJ report. In a joint statement to CNBC, they apparently branded the claims “ridiculous” and said their computing purchasing strategy remained on track.

OpenAI is rumoured to be mulling an initial public offering later this year, but the potential revenue shortfall could raise uncomfortable questions about its financial position as it competes against Google and Anthropic. The company is committing billions of dollars to building data centers to keep pace with surging AI demand.

It secured a record $122 billion in fresh capital in March, lifting its valuation to $852 billion. The funding round was OpenAI’s largest to date and was co-led by SoftBank Group along with significant participation from Amazon, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Earlier this year, Nvidia finalized a $30 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a massive $110 billion funding round announced in 2025.

Last week, the company dropped an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft, which has poured more than $13 billion into the company since 2019. OpenAI explained that revised terms would offer greater freedom to expand by working with other cloud companies. Microsoft recently agreed a deal to rent data center capacity in Norway, which was originally allocated to OpenAI as part of its Stargate initiative.