OpenAI's revenue run rate tops $40B ahead of IPO
OpenAI's business just crossed a milestone that reframes its IPO math: the company is now generating revenue at an annualized pace above $40 billion — roughly double its run rate at the end of last year.
OpenAI is on track to generate annualized revenue of more than $40 billion based on its current performance, roughly doubling the run rate it finished 2025 with, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The figure lands as OpenAI prepares for a much-anticipated IPO, and the timing is the story: the company named Wiz's Dali Rajic chief revenue officer earlier Thursday — OpenAI appoints Wiz's Dali Rajic as chief revenue officer — replacing Denise Dresser after just eight months, with both exits framed around building the commercial machinery for the public-market phase. Rajic's mandate, per OpenAI, is to "build the revenue operating system" for the next chapter; a $40 billion run rate is the raw material he'll be working with.
The number rewires the comparison set. OpenAI says it serves more than a billion weekly users and over two million business customers, making it the fastest-growing software business at this scale — and it carries the heaviest compute bill in the industry while doing it. A $7 billion tender offer valued the company at $852 billion not long ago — OpenAI closes $7B tender offer at $852B valuation — and doubling the run rate in roughly seven months is exactly the kind of growth curve the IPO narrative needs. It also takes air out of the "AI demand is a bubble" argument, at least on the revenue side: this is booked demand from paying customers, not projected.
The caveats are real. A run rate is not booked revenue — Bloomberg's sources describe the figure as based on current performance — and OpenAI's path to profitability still runs through enormous training and inference costs that no revenue multiple can wave away. But the direction of travel is unambiguous, and it explains the pre-IPO reshuffling visible all week, from the CRO hire to the broader executive churn. The revenue story was never the question mark hanging over OpenAI's debut; now it's the headline.
What to watch: whether OpenAI puts a revenue figure in its S-1 — and how the market prices a $40 billion run rate that doubled in under a year.
At a $40 billion annualized run rate, what multiple should OpenAI's IPO command — and does the number change your read on the AI bubble debate? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: Bloomberg via Techmeme · Investing.com · Yahoo Finance
