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Shares of OpenAI’s investors and partners fell in early trading on Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the AI company missed internal revenue and user-growth projections. The report also raised concerns among executives that OpenAI may struggle to fund future computing contracts.
The Journal reported that OpenAI missed an internal goal of one billion weekly active users for ChatGPT by the end of 2025, as well as several monthly revenue targets earlier this year. The shortfalls were attributed, in part, to OpenAI losing some market share to Anthropic, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, reportedly told other leaders that the company may be unable to pay for future computing contracts if revenue growth does not accelerate.
Friar also reportedly expressed caution about OpenAI’s plan to go public by the end of the year, warning that the company may not be able to meet the reporting standards required of public firms. CEO Sam Altman, by contrast, reportedly prefers an aggressive timeline.
Adam Crisafulli, an analyst for Vital Knowledge, said the report raises questions about whether OpenAI can fulfill its infrastructure obligations.
The Journal’s report pulled back shares of several of OpenAI’s largest investors and partners, including:
OpenAI spokesperson Steve Sharpe said the Journal’s report was clickbait in a statement to Forbes. Sharpe said OpenAI’s business is “firing on all cylinders,” adding that consumer strength is beginning to show up in revenue and that its enterprise business is in the best position it has ever been.
OpenAI’s post-money valuation rose to $852 billion after a $122 billion funding round in March, following a $110 billion funding round a month earlier.
The Journal reported that OpenAI now plans to spend roughly $600 billion on computing by 2030, a lower projection than the $1.4 trillion estimate first shared by Altman. Revenue is expected to exceed $280 billion.
Investors are focused on OpenAI’s long-awaited IPO filing. Friar signaled earlier this month that there was strong demand from individual investors, and that OpenAI plans to reserve a portion of shares for retail traders once it goes public.
Reuters reported in October that OpenAI is preparing for an IPO that would value the company at more than $1 trillion, which would make it one of the largest stock debuts ever.
The Journal placed OpenAI’s situation within a wider shift in the AI market, where megacap firms have announced plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure to meet demand. Last year, several firms announced large deals and partnerships with OpenAI, including a $500 billion “Stargate” deal between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.
Other reported agreements included a $300 billion contract between OpenAI and Oracle, a $100 billion partnership between OpenAI and Nvidia, a more than $22 billion deal reached between CoreWeave and OpenAI, and a $38 billion partnership between Amazon and OpenAI.
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