OpenAI enterprise revenue now tops consumer business, CFO says
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told investors that the company’s enterprise business now generates more revenue than its consumer business, led by ChatGPT. The shift comes as OpenAI deals with a week of executive departures.
Summary
OpenAI’s enterprise business now generates more revenue than its consumer business, led by ChatGPT, CFO Sarah Friar told investors. The claim was reported by CNBC from a person who attended the meeting and marks a change from the company’s earlier forecast that the two segments would only reach parity by the end of 2026.
In practice
Friar said OpenAI started the year with an approximate 60% consumer and 40% enterprise revenue split, but that enterprise sales accelerated faster than expected. CNBC also reported that the company’s annualized revenue run rate had reached $40 billion and increased 20% month over month in July; business customers reportedly grew 32% over the same period, according to slides viewed by the publication.
The CFO said enterprise customers are moving away from unrestricted token use and focusing instead on the cost per unit of intelligence. OpenAI also highlighted improved efficiency on agentic coding tasks, recent price reductions and an advertising business approaching a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate.
Context
The meeting had been scheduled before a turbulent week for OpenAI’s leadership. Revenue chief Denise Dresser left the company eight months after taking the role, while longtime executive Brad Lightcap said he was ending an eight-year stint at OpenAI. President and co-founder Greg Brockman also attended the meeting, discussing cybersecurity, competition from open-weight models and Dresser’s replacement, Dali Rajic, formerly chief operating officer at Wiz.
The financial figures were presented during an investor meeting, and some are attributed to an attendee or to slides seen by CNBC rather than to a public financial filing cited in the article. OpenAI also did not publicly disclose, in this context, a timetable for a possible initial public offering.
Why it matters
- It suggests OpenAI is relying increasingly on enterprise contracts, not only on ChatGPT user growth.
- Cost, efficiency and measurable returns are becoming central to how businesses evaluate AI spending.
- Faster enterprise growth may increase pressure to stabilise leadership and turn adoption into recurring contracts.
- Limitation: CNBC’s figures are not audited accounts and do not show the margin or composition of that revenue.