OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently stated that the company’s annual revenue significantly exceeds the reported figure of 13 billion dollars. His comments came during a joint podcast interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where they discussed the partnership between their companies. When host Brad Gerstner mentioned the 13 billion dollar revenue reports and contrasted them with OpenAI’s massive spending commitments of over one trillion dollars for computing infrastructure, Altman responded with some frustration.
Altman first clarified that the company is doing well more revenue than that. He then directly addressed Gerstner, suggesting that if he wanted to sell his shares, a buyer could be found. Altman expressed that he has heard enough skepticism, noting that many critics who express concern about the company’s compute spending would be thrilled to purchase OpenAI shares. Gerstner interjected to include himself as a potential buyer.
Altman acknowledged that there are limited times when he finds the idea of OpenAI being a public company appealing. One such instance is when people write posts claiming OpenAI is about to go out of business. In those moments, he would love to tell them they could short the stock and see them lose money on that bet.
He recognized that the company could potentially fail, for example by not securing enough computing resources, but he emphasized that revenue is growing steeply. Altman explained that the company is making a forward bet that this growth will continue. He believes ChatGPT will keep growing, that OpenAI will become one of the important AI clouds, that its consumer device business will be significant, and that AI capable of automating science will create immense value.
Throughout Altman’s answer, Nadella was heard laughing and also claimed that OpenAI has surpassed every business plan it has presented to Microsoft as an investor.
Later in the interview, Gerstner returned to the topic of revenue and IPO plans, speculating about the company reaching 100 billion dollars in revenue in 2028 or 2029. Altman countered by asking, how about 2027. Simultaneously, he denied reports that OpenAI plans to go public next year. Altman stated there is nothing that specific planned, and he does not know why people write such reports. He said that while he is a realist and assumes an IPO will happen someday, the company does not have a date in mind or a board decision to proceed. He simply assumes it is where things will eventually go.