SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 11, 2026 | OpenAI's revenue rose about 50% to roughly $10 billion in the third quarter, but its adjusted operating loss grew to about $10.9 billion, more than the company brought in, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and reported by Forbes. Revenue in the second quarter was about $6.7 billion, and the adjusted operating loss was $10.1 billion.
What Drove OpenAI's Third Quarter
The gain came mostly from businesses. Enterprise sales became OpenAI's largest source of revenue in the quarter, ahead of consumer subscriptions, driven largely by demand for AI coding tools, OpenAI President Greg Brockman said, according to Forbes. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said enterprise revenue doubled from the prior quarter while consumer sales rose 20%. OpenAI also cut prices, hired new sales leadership and signed distribution partnerships to win corporate customers, Forbes reported.
"Our enterprise business doubled quarter over quarter," Friar told Deirdre Bosa on Tuesday, Yahoo Finance reported. "What's driving that is products like Coding, Cyber, starting to get more virtual assistants like Dots into the enterprise." She put OpenAI's annual revenue run rate at roughly $50 billion, said revenue is now split 50/50 between enterprise and consumer, and said consumer subscriptions top 100 million users. The quarter's growth compares with the 18% OpenAI reported for the second quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The losses improved only in relative terms. OpenAI's adjusted operating margin narrowed to negative 109% from negative 150% a quarter earlier, Forbes reported, citing the same Journal documents. In dollars, the loss was about $800 million larger than the prior quarter's. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, Forbes said.
How OpenAI Compares With Anthropic Ahead of Both IPOs
The figures arrive as rival Anthropic markets its own stock. Anthropic reported third-quarter revenue of $16.96 billion, up 47% from the prior quarter, and an operating loss of $567 million, according to Forbes. By that comparison, OpenAI's quarterly revenue was about 59% of Anthropic's and its operating loss roughly 19 times larger. Forbes cautioned that OpenAI's numbers are adjusted figures from internal documents, while Anthropic's come from an SEC prospectus. Anthropic has set a price range of $70 to $78 a share, with trading expected as soon as Nov. 19. Our OpenAI vs. Anthropic comparison covers how the two companies differ.
OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO in June, Forbes reported, and Friar told employees in August that the company "will be a public company in 2027." In the Tuesday interview, she said OpenAI had been "really stuck" on its Microsoft Azure contract and that it needs distribution deals with third-party cloud providers, Yahoo Finance reported. "Anthropic showed me just the power of that model," she said, adding that "for us that can be a very big tailwind in 2027."
For business buyers, the numbers explain OpenAI's recent behavior. A company whose enterprise sales doubled in one quarter, and which still loses more than it earns, has every reason to keep cutting prices and adding sales staff to win corporate contracts. That gives buyers some leverage today. It also means today's prices are being offered by a company running at a loss, so multiyear contracts deserve a close look at renewal terms. Until OpenAI files a public prospectus with audited numbers, the reported figures remain unaudited internal data. Our OpenAI statistics page tracks the company's revenue and user figures over time.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much revenue did OpenAI make in the third quarter of 2026?
OpenAI's third-quarter 2026 revenue was about $10 billion, up roughly 50% from about $6.7 billion in the second quarter, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. CFO Sarah Friar said enterprise revenue doubled from the prior quarter.
Is OpenAI profitable?
No. OpenAI's adjusted operating loss grew to about $10.9 billion in the third quarter of 2026 from $10.1 billion in the second quarter, according to the Journal's reporting. Its adjusted operating margin improved to negative 109% from negative 150%.