OpenAI Misses Revenue and User Targets as CFO Raises Concerns Over Compute Spending Ahead of IPO

OpenAI has missed multiple internal targets for revenue and user growth in recent months, raising concerns among company leaders about whether the ChatGPT maker can fund its massive data center spending commitments ahead of a planned IPO. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI pushed back on the report. CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Friar said in a joint statement to Reuters: "This is ridiculous. We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day."

The Targets OpenAI Missed

According to the WSJ report, OpenAI fell short on several fronts:

• 1 billion weekly active users: OpenAI missed an internal goal to reach 1 billion weekly active users for ChatGPT by the end of 2025. The company has still not announced that milestone, which has unnerved some investors.
• Monthly revenue targets: OpenAI missed multiple monthly revenue targets earlier this year after losing ground to Anthropic in coding and enterprise markets.
• Annual ChatGPT revenue target: OpenAI missed its yearly revenue target for ChatGPT after Google's Gemini saw significant growth in late 2025 and captured market share.
• Subscriber retention: The company has also grappled with subscriber defection rates, according to people familiar with those figures.

Internal Tension Over Computing Spending

Bloomberg reported that CFO Sarah Friar has told company leaders she is worried OpenAI may not be able to fund future computing contracts if revenue does not grow fast enough.

Board directors have also more closely examined the company's data center deals and questioned CEO Sam Altman's efforts to secure additional computing power despite the business slowdown. Friar and other executives are now seeking to control costs and instill more financial discipline, at times putting them at odds with Altman.

The scale of the concern becomes clear when looking at the numbers:

• Altman's dealmaking spree last year put OpenAI on the hook for approximately $600 billion in future spending commitments
• OpenAI raised $122 billion in its most recent funding round at an $852 billion valuation
• The company expects to burn through that amount within three years if it meets its ambitious targets

Market Reaction

CNBC reported that the Nasdaq composite fell more than 1% following the WSJ report. OpenAI's closest infrastructure partners were hit hardest:

• Oracle, which has a $300 billion five-year computing partnership with OpenAI, dropped 4%
• Broadcom and AMD each declined approximately 4% and 3%, respectively
• CoreWeave dropped more than 5%
• SoftBank Group, which has committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI, fell 9.9% in Tokyo trading
• NVIDIA was the worst-performing Magnificent 7 component on the day

Oracle defended OpenAI's trajectory, saying it is seeing firsthand how quickly adoption of OpenAI's technology is accelerating and that it remains focused on delivering the capacity OpenAI needs.

What OpenAI Is Doing in Response?

OpenAI has taken several steps to address the shortfalls:

• Its coding tool, Codex, is growing quickly and is seen as a key driver for enterprise revenue
• The company recently released GPT-5.5, which topped several industry benchmarks
• OpenAI is cutting costs by eliminating projects, including its video generation app Sora
• In a memo to investors viewed by the WSJ, OpenAI said it has secured more computing capacity than Anthropic, giving it an advantage in reaching users

Also Read

• OpenAI Closes Record $122 Billion Funding Round at $852 Billion Valuation
• OpenAI Prepares to Make a Historic Public Market Debut Eyeing Up to $1 Trillion Valuation
• Anthropic Tests Higher Pricing for Claude Code as Usage Surges
• Google Commits Up to $40 Billion in Anthropic as Tech Giants Race to Lock In AI Infrastructure
• Microsoft Copilot Adds Multi-Model AI Comparison