OpenAI's first $10B quarter came with a $10.9B loss
OpenAI told investors on a call on Tuesday November 10 that its third-quarter 2026 revenue crossed $10 billion for the first time, up nearly 50% from about $6.7 billion in the second quarter and roughly triple the year-ago level, with Bloomberg putting its annual revenue run rate at about $50 billion. But the same figures show the loss widening: the adjusted operating loss grew to $10.9 billion in the quarter, from $10.1 billion in Q2 — more than the revenue itself.
The News
OpenAI told investors on a call on Tuesday November 10 that its third-quarter 2026 revenue crossed $10 billion for the first time, up nearly 50% from about $6.7 billion in the second quarter and roughly triple the year-ago level, with Bloomberg putting its annual revenue run rate at about $50 billion. The figures were first reported by The Information, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, and chief financial officer Sarah Friar confirmed the revenue figure and the growth rate on the record in a CNBC interview the same day.
The same figures show the loss widening. The adjusted operating loss grew to $10.9 billion in the third quarter, from $10.1 billion in the second quarter, though the adjusted operating margin improved from minus 150% to minus 109%. That margin improvement means the loss shrank relative to revenue — for every $1 of revenue, OpenAI lost $1.09 in Q3, against $1.50 in Q2 — but the total dollars lost still rose, because revenue grew. The $10.9 billion loss exceeded the $10 billion of revenue in the same quarter, so this is not a profitability milestone.
OpenAI has not published the numbers itself and did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on the loss figures, and as a private company it files no audited quarterly accounts, so every figure here is reported, not audited. For scale, the same reporting puts Anthropic at $17 billion in third-quarter revenue on an $81 billion run rate — ahead of OpenAI on both measures — but the two companies count revenue differently, with Anthropic including sales made by cloud partners, so the comparison is not like-for-like.
A $10 billion quarter that still lost $10.9 billion — the AI boom's growth is real, and so is its bill.
Why It Matters
An annual revenue run rate is a simple idea: take the latest month's revenue and imagine the company kept earning at that pace for a full year. Bloomberg puts OpenAI's at about $50 billion a year, which would put a company founded as a research lab among the largest software businesses in the world by revenue. Growing nearly 50% in a single quarter, and roughly tripling in a year, is the kind of growth that usually belongs to a company half this size. That is why the $10 billion figure travelled so fast.
The loss is the other half of the same picture, and it is just as large. An adjusted operating loss is the loss from running the business, before some costs are stripped out to show the underlying trend — and OpenAI's was $10.9 billion in the quarter, more than the $10 billion it took in. The main reason is computing power: every ChatGPT answer, every API call and every training run consumes expensive chips and electricity, and the bill grows with usage. The more people use OpenAI's products, the more it costs to serve them, which is why revenue and losses can rise together.
The margin improvement is the number that complicates the bear case. Moving from minus 150% to minus 109% means that for every $1 of revenue, OpenAI lost $1.09 in the third quarter, against $1.50 in the second. The loss is shrinking relative to the business — the company keeps more of each new dollar than it did. But the total dollars lost still rose, because the business grew faster than the margin improved. Whether that trend continues is the question the next few quarters will answer.
The Anthropic comparison shows how careful the numbers need to be. The same reporting puts Anthropic at $17 billion in quarterly revenue on an $81 billion run rate, ahead of OpenAI on both measures — but the two companies count revenue differently, with Anthropic including sales made by cloud partners. Comparing them head to head would flatter Anthropic and understate OpenAI, or the reverse, depending on the accounting. The honest statement is that both are growing very fast, both are very large, and the league table depends on whose counting you use.
Analyst's Take
Our call is Mixed. The $10 billion quarter is genuinely historic — revenue up nearly 50% in a single quarter and roughly triple the year-ago level, on a $50 billion run rate, with the CFO confirming the figures on the record. But the same quarter's loss, $10.9 billion, was larger than the revenue itself, and it grew from $10.1 billion in Q2 even as the margin improved. Growth this fast, at a loss this large, is both a triumph and a warning, and neither half of the story can be told without the other.
What to watch: whether the margin keeps improving — minus 150% to minus 109% in one quarter is real progress, and a few more quarters like it would change the shape of the business. Also watch what OpenAI says next about its costs, which are dominated by the computing power its models consume, and whether any audited figures ever appear. Until then, every number here is reported, not audited, and the Anthropic comparison is not like-for-like.
Are you bullish or bearish on this story?
By The Numbers
FAQ
Is the $10 billion figure official?
No. OpenAI has not published the numbers itself and declined to comment. The figures were reported by The Information, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, and CFO Sarah Friar confirmed the revenue figure and the growth rate on the record in a CNBC interview the same day. As a private company, OpenAI files no audited quarterly accounts, so every figure here is reported, not audited.
What is an annual revenue run rate?
It is the revenue a company would earn in a year if it kept earning at its current pace — the latest month's revenue multiplied by twelve, roughly. Bloomberg puts OpenAI's at about $50 billion a year, or a little over $4 billion a month — faster than the third quarter's roughly $3.3 billion a month average, because revenue accelerated within the quarter. It is not the quarter's revenue multiplied by four.
What is an adjusted operating loss?
It is the loss from running the business, before some costs are counted — in this case, it excludes some items the company strips out to show the underlying trend. OpenAI lost $10.9 billion on that measure in Q3, up from $10.1 billion in Q2.
How can the margin improve while the loss grows?
The adjusted operating margin improved from minus 150% to minus 109%, which means the loss shrank relative to revenue: for every $1 of revenue, OpenAI lost $1.09 in Q3, against $1.50 in Q2. But because revenue grew, the total dollars lost still rose, to $10.9 billion.
Why is Microsoft the ticker here?
OpenAI is private, so there is no OpenAI stock to buy. Microsoft is its largest partner and investor, so its shares are the listed read-through for OpenAI's fortunes.
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Source: TechCrunch