OpenAI cuts revenue forecast by $20 billion; IPO pushed to 2027

OpenAI has cut its revenue forecast by $20 billion and officially delayed its planned initial public offering to early 2027, according to a Financial Times report.

The company told investors its annualized revenue is approaching $50 billion, a sharp revision from the $70 billion figure that circulated just a week earlier. That higher number did not come from OpenAI itself; it originated with investors attempting to create a direct comparison with the run-rate reported by rival Anthropic.

The discrepancy stems from methodology. Anthropic includes sales made by its cloud partners in its revenue figure, while OpenAI does not. When investors tried to normalize the two, they produced an inflated number the company never endorsed. OpenAI did not respond to a TechCrunch request for comment.

The accounting gap is only part of the problem. In March the company raised $122 billion in a single round, a sum that demands a clear commercial justification. Leaked 2025 financials showed roughly $13 billion in revenue against significantly higher expenses, leaving a wide gap between the current run-rate and what would be needed to return that capital.

The IPO, originally slated for this year, is now formally targeted for early 2027. That means OpenAI must demonstrate a credible path to profitability, or at least a narrowing loss, before tapping public markets — while competitors continue to close the gap on both model performance and pricing.