OpenAI’s revenue run rate nears $50 billion, short of the numbers investors expected

OpenAI is now bringing in revenue at an annualized pace of approximately $50 billion, according to figures reported by Bloomberg. By almost any normal standard, that is an enormous number. The problem is that investors had been working with a bigger one. Estimates of roughly $70 billion had circulated in late September, so the actual figure landed about $20 billion lower. What OpenAI actually reported As of late September 2026, OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate sat at approximately $50 billion. That is up from over $40 billion in August 2026. Go back a little further and the climb looks steeper. At the end of 2025, the run rate stood at around $20 billion. A quick note on terminology. A run rate takes current revenue and projects it across a full year. It is a snapshot of momentum, not a tally of cash already in the bank. OpenAI reported that its overall run-rate growth hit 77% in the third quarter. Enterprise revenue also more than doubled since July 2026. That matters because business customers tend to sign larger, stickier contracts than individual subscribers do. Why the estimates ran so hot The roughly $20 billion difference comes down to how two rival AI labs count their m...