OpenAI’s leaked financials show $39B loss ahead of IPO

OpenAI’s Leaked Financials Reveal $39 Billion Loss as Company Prepares for Blockbuster IPO

OpenAI lost roughly $39 billion in 2025 while spending $34 billion to maintain its lead in the artificial intelligence race, according to audited financial figures reported by the Financial Times on Monday, just over a week after the company confidentially filed for an initial public offering.cnbc

The leaked data, which offers the most detailed public look yet at the ChatGPT maker’s finances, shows the company allocated approximately $19 billion to research and development and nearly $6 billion to sales and marketing, with additional expenses making up the remainder. The net loss ballooned from roughly $5 billion in 2024, driven in part by a $41.5 billion accounting charge tied to OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit public benefit corporation.yahoo

Path to Public Markets

OpenAI submitted a confidential S-1 registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8, setting the stage for a potential listing as early as September. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan are leading the deal. The company was last valued at $852 billion in a March funding round that raised $122 billion in committed capital.cnbc

“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” OpenAI said in its announcement.abcnews

The filing follows Anthropic’s own confidential IPO paperwork and comes ahead of SpaceX’s planned debut, creating an unprecedented wave of trillion-dollar-scale listings. Reuters reported that OpenAI is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion.reuters

Financial Scrutiny Intensifies

The leaked figures will sharpen investor scrutiny of OpenAI’s path to profitability. Revenue tripled to about $13 billion in 2025 from $3.7 billion the prior year, but the company spent roughly three dollars for every dollar it earned. Internal projections previously reported by The Wall Street Journal showed OpenAI expects operating losses to reach $74 billion in 2028 before pivoting to profitability by 2029 or 2030.startupfortune

The company has also missed internal revenue and user growth targets, the Wall Street Journal reported in April, with CFO Sarah Friar expressing concern about the firm’s ability to fund upcoming computing commitments if growth does not accelerate. OpenAI’s reliance on Microsoft for computing infrastructure remains a key risk factor the company has flagged to prospective investors.cnbc