Episode summary
OpenAI’s Revenue Run Rate Tops $40 Billion Ahead of IPO | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 39 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Rachel Metz, Chris Kennedy, Clara Gillispie, Jason Leopold
Summary
The episode starts with OpenAI’s revenue surge, reporting that the company is on track for more than $40 billion in annualized revenue, up from about $20 billion at the end of 2025. The host and the guest say the growth is being driven by a mix of consumer usage, enterprise sales, the Codex coding product, subscriptions, and an emerging advertising business, while noting that OpenAI’s user base has passed a billion weekly active users.
The conversation then turns to the Trump administration’s threatened “unprecedented economic measures” against Iran. The analyst says new policy announcements are likely in the coming weeks, but argues the US already has most of the tools it needs and may still avoid hitting major financial nodes in China and the Gulf because of political and retaliatory risks. The guest says sanctions and blockade pressure can raise costs, but are unlikely to force Tehran into major concessions or change its posture quickly.
A second segment broadens the energy discussion to the Strait of Hormuz, where the guest says producers and buyers are increasingly planning for disruption rather than assuming the route will stay reliably open. The final segment shifts to Jason Leopold’s reporting on the Epstein files, where he says newly reviewed documents show a DOJ flag list and strange correspondence involving Sarah Ferguson, Victoria Hervey, and Cash Patel, highlighting how much remains opaque in the government’s handling of the files.
Key takeaways
- OpenAI’s annualized revenue is said to be above $40 billion, roughly double the level it was at the end of 2025, according to the guest.
- The host and the guest say OpenAI’s growth is coming from consumer demand, enterprise adoption, Codex, subscriptions, and advertising, not just one product line.
- The analyst says new US pressure on Iran is likely, but major sanctions escalation may still be constrained by politics and the risk of retaliation from China and Gulf partners.
- The guest argues economic isolation can impose costs on Iran, but is unlikely by itself to force a change in regime behavior or nuclear posture.
- Energy markets are increasingly planning around Strait of Hormuz disruption, with producers and buyers looking at alternative routes, storage, and redundancy.
- Jason Leopold says the Epstein files review contained a DOJ flag list and fresh correspondence that still leaves key decisions about redactions unexplained.
Notable quotes
“it is also still the biggest part of their business. So some of this is in consumer growth and you saw recently that their user numbers pushed above a billion active weekly users”
“We believe that the US already has the tools it needs to put additional pressure on Iran, but it has uh stopped short of targeting some of the key financial nodes”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens.
The Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenbec on Bloomberg Radio. Safe to say one of the most anticipated market events will eventually be when we get them the IPOs of Anthropic and Open AAI. On the latter, OpenAI is on track to generate annualized revenue of more than $40 billion based on its current performance.
That's according to people familiar with the matter, roughly doubling its run rate from the end of 2025. That sounds like a pretty good jump. Don't you think?
Yeah. But you know what? — What? — There's a lot of competition out there. — It's growing, right? — Yeah. — This market changes a lot. You know, — And they have to be very innovative, too. — Okay. — Yeah. — So, you caught up with Rachel Mets earlier.
I did. And I said we got to get her back. We didn't get enough time with Rachel Mets earlier. — I'm glad we we are doing more. Bloomberg News AI reporter Rachel Mets. She's out there in San Francisco. Rachel, it is good to uh have you back. We think this is our top story like as the AI trade and narrative continues trying to understand these companies as they change as their valuations grow. Um tell us about what we seem to know about uh Open AI and some of these numbers that are starting to come out.
Okay. So there's a bunch going on here, right? We have — Sorry. — Oh, I love it already.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- openai revenue run rate
- ai coding software
- subscription sales momentum
- nascent advertising business
- openai ipo plans
Companies and tickers mentioned
- OpenAI
Watch the episode
Watch “OpenAI’s Revenue Run Rate Tops $40 Billion Ahead of IPO | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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