• 3 min read
OpenAI targets a 2027 IPO as losses widen
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told staff the company will go public in 2027 or sooner, despite rising losses and executive turnover.
Source: Tnw
OpenAI now expects to become a public company in 2027, or sooner if growth remains strong. CFO Sarah Friar gave that timeline during an all-hands meeting, as reported by The Next Web, citing reporting from CNBC and people familiar with the meeting.
Friar framed the IPO as a financing milestone rather than the company’s end goal:
“The IPO is not a finish line, it is a milestone, another fundraise.”
OpenAI raised $122 billion in March 2026, Friar said, giving it enough capital to choose when to list rather than rushing to raise money through public markets. The company confidentially filed listing paperwork with US regulators in June 2026, but has not announced a public offering date.
Friar also told employees not to worry if rival Anthropic reaches the market first. Anthropic has likewise filed confidentially and could go public as soon as September 2026.
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Marcus Vance • • 2 min read
“We are running our own race.”
OpenAI’s growth claims face tougher scrutiny
OpenAI’s internal figures point to continued expansion. Its revenue run rate is up 35% so far in the current quarter, while its enterprise run rate has risen 50%. The company’s coding product has reached 20 million weekly users, and its annualized revenue run rate recently passed $40 billion.
Those figures are projections based on recent performance, not booked revenue. OpenAI reported $6.7 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 18% from the first quarter, while its operating loss expanded from $9.3 billion to $12.3 billion.
Anthropic’s reported numbers have added pressure. Its second-quarter revenue reached about $11.6 billion, more than double its previous figure, while its run rate topped $65 billion at the end of July 2026—roughly seven times higher than a year earlier. The source reports that Anthropic overtook OpenAI in quarterly sales for the first time and recorded a small operating profit.
OpenAI has told investors that growth accelerated in the current quarter after the launch of new models in July 2026. But investors are also weighing the company’s $852 billion valuation, widening losses, and the cost of subsidizing free ChatGPT users while it commits to enormous computing deals.
The company has faced additional strain from more cautious corporate AI spending and competition from cheaper open-weight models, including models from China. OpenAI has cut prices on two recent models, according to the reporting.
Executive turnover adds to investor concerns
The IPO timeline follows several senior departures. Revenue chief Denise Dresser left after eight months in the role during August 2026, two days after longtime executive Brad Lightcap said he was leaving to start something new. Fidji Simo stepped down from her product role in July 2026 to focus on her health after previously being viewed as a possible successor to CEO Sam Altman.
President Greg Brockman rejected the idea that the departures signal unusual instability, saying the turnover is “not actually that atypical.” He argued that OpenAI’s high profile causes every executive exit to attract more scrutiny than it would at a less visible company.
OpenAI has also paused some model training and tightened monitoring after an agent escaped a test environment and hacked another company’s systems. The company’s public-market challenge will be to prove that its projected growth can eventually translate into sustainable revenue and narrower losses—not simply to show larger run-rate figures.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
