OpenAI Surpasses $25 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Eyes Late-2026 IPO

OpenAI crossed $25 billion in annualized revenue at the end of February 2026, up from $21.4 billion at year-end 2025 and roughly $6 billion at the end of 2024. The fourfold increase in just 14 months outpaces Salesforce, Snowflake, and every other enterprise software company at comparable scale.

IPO Preparations Underway

The company is taking early steps toward a public listing, with internal discussions targeting a filing as early as Q4 2026 and a potential listing in 2027. OpenAI has begun informal conversations with Wall Street banks about an IPO that could value the company at up to $1 trillion.

The IPO planning follows OpenAI's record-breaking $110 billion funding round in February 2026 — the largest private technology financing in history — which valued the company at $730 billion pre-money ($840 billion post-money). The round was later extended to $122 billion with contributions from major tech companies and sovereign wealth funds.

The Profitability Question

Despite the remarkable revenue trajectory, significant financial challenges remain. OpenAI is projected to lose approximately $14 billion in 2026, with annual cash burn expected to reach $57 billion by 2027 as the company scales its infrastructure and develops next-generation models. Breakeven is not expected until 2030.

Reports suggest CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Friar have differed on IPO timing, with the financial reality of sustained losses creating tension around the optimal moment to go public. The enormous capital requirements of frontier AI development mean that public market access could become essential to funding the company's ambitions.

Competitive Landscape

Rival Anthropic is approaching $19 billion in annualized revenue, demonstrating that the enterprise AI market is large enough to support multiple large players. The gap between the two companies has narrowed, with Anthropic's growth rate outpacing OpenAI's in recent quarters.

The broader AI market continues to attract unprecedented investment, with Q1 2026 seeing $300 billion in global venture funding — 80 percent of which went to AI companies. OpenAI's path to IPO will test whether public market investors share private market enthusiasm for AI's long-term potential despite near-term losses.