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Despite CEO Sam Altman reportedly in line for a whopping $70 billion payday following the company's IPO filing, the tech giant OpenAI is facing massive losses.
Recently, it was revealed that the company actively discourages users from getting full value out of their ChatGPT subscription because a power user on the $200-a-month plan could theoretically cost OpenAI as much as $14,000 if they push the platform to its limits.
Now, leaked financial statements obtained by blogger Ed Zitron and the Financial Times reflect a company burning through money at an astonishing rate.
According to OpenAI's 2025 financial statements, as reported by Fortune, the company's revenue rose from $3.7 billion in 2024 to $13.07 billion in 2025. That sounds impressive at first, but the expenses paint a different picture.
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According to OpenAI's 2025 financials versus 2024, as shared by Fortune, the company went up $13.07 billion from $3.7 billion.
In terms of numbers, OpenAI's total costs and expenses climbed from $12.48 billion to $34 billion with research and development alone jumping from $7.81 billion to $19.18 billion.
Sales and marketing rose from $1.11 billion to $5.73 billion while the cost of revenue increased from $2.65 billion to $7.5 billion. Meanwhile, the resulting operating loss for 2025 came in at an eye-watering $20.92 billion which is up from $8.78 billion the previous year.
But the ChatGPT creator hasn't appeared to have much impact on losses, as seen in the profit and expense ratios. In 2024, the company spent $2.37 to generate every $1 in revenue, and in 2025, that ratio declined to $1.60 in expenses for every dollar it took in.
It's also worth noting that OpenAI took a $41.55 billion charge when it transitioned from a non-profit to a for-profit entity, and it landed in hot water with co-founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
OpenAI is also facing regulatory scrutiny after New York Attorney General Letitia James served the company with a subpoena on behalf of a 42-state coalition, investigating how ChatGPT behaves.
According to the Financial Times, the race between OpenAI and Anthropic is still on, as the latter raised $65 billion at a valuation of $900 billion, making it currently more valuable than OpenAI.
But things could still change, as OpenAI is set to go public later this year, so its financial situation will become clearer as the year goes on.
