13 billion in revenue, 7.5 in cost of revenue. Can we finally put to bed the idea that inference is subsidized?
Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
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Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#12The R&D expenditure seems reasonable, and the revenue numbers seem realistic. I have no trouble believing they can be profitable by 2030 or much sooner. What I don't get is how you get from $30B in revenue to a nearly $1T valuation, but that seems almost level-headed compared to SpaceX, and it's not like any of the big tech companies' valuations make much sense in the context of their revenue.
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#13so they could stop development and research right now and be profitable, considering that gpt 5.5 is often regarded as one of the best models for writing code this is looking pretty good.
Let's take another example: If OpenAI grows to 10 times their current size and continue spending the same amount on research and development they would be profitable today without any other changes to their organizational structure.
This is shaping up to be a relatively good investment compared to a lot of other companies that have IPO'd in the ~2010 era, the only reason why it looks bad because the numbers are just insane.
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#14> OpenAI's spending mix shows why. The reported 2025 figures include $7.5 billion in cost of revenue, $19.18 billion in research and development, $5.73 billion in sales and marketing, and $1.57 billion in general and administrative expense How the hell did they spend 5.7 billion in "sales and marketing"?
Discounted contracts for big clients? Commissions? Both? If this can be trusted, they are selling $1 for ~95 cents, and are spending $3 on R&D. This is... Not an unsustainable business model as long as the money keeps flowing.
This is like Uber all over again.
OpenAI is selling $1 for $2 and spending ~$5 to make that happen. The question is if they get to selling $1 for $2 long enough to make they're investment back.
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#15> OpenAI's spending mix shows why. The reported 2025 figures include $7.5 billion in cost of revenue, $19.18 billion in research and development, $5.73 billion in sales and marketing, and $1.57 billion in general and administrative expense How the hell did they spend 5.7 billion in "sales and marketing"?
Baksheesh to keep Trump off their backs?
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#16ArsTechnica has a nice graph showing it https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/leaked-financial-docs-sho... And I believe this is the actual source https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/
One of these two should be the main link tbh
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#17How does this compare to SpaceX? I’m very much not an accountant, hard to know what numbers to compare directly
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#18In a surprise to no one.
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#19"OpenAI generated $13.07 billion in revenue in 2025"
Considering just four years ago they were a research lab with hardly any revenue at all, and no corporate muscles for earning revenue, I think that is a very impressive number.
(Sure, they're losing a whole lot of money too. Same goes for almost every other hyper-growth company in the history of tech.)
Re: Leaked OpenAI financials show $38.5B loss and compute burn
#20Companies losing that much money a year shouldn’t be allowed to IPO. It leaves the public markets holding the bag.
An IPO doesn't mean public is forced to buy the stock. There is a choice for funds or individuals and if they chose to buy it, they should be allowed to in an open market.
The other side of this are companies like Uber where (if we go by your logic), the public markets made a killing betting on a company that had massive losses. Should Uber also be blocked from an IPO even though objectively it turned out great?
Investing and markets will always decide between risk and reward. The risk of OpenAI is that it will never find profitablity but the potential rewards outweigh that in the current market perception.
In fact, the argument kind of shifts here, OpenAI can afford to IPO at this condition and still expect strong subscription precisely because its OpenAI. If it was some idk cooking appliance company with no exponential future payoff, the market would laugh and reject that IPO.
They can do that to OpenAI too but all signs say they wouldn't. You can still short the stock once it hits public if you really believe in the downfall of OAI in the future.