OpenAI losses widened as revenue surged, leaked financials show
Audited financial statements show OpenAI’s revenue climbed in 2025, while research, compute and sales costs kept the company far from profit.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
OpenAI’s revenue grew rapidly in 2025, but leaked audited financial statements show its costs rose even faster. The figures matter because the company has submitted confidential SEC paperwork ahead of an expected initial public offering, according to OpenAI.
The statements, obtained by independent journalist Ed Zitron and also reviewed by the Financial Times, put OpenAI’s revenue at $13.07 billion in 2025, up from $3.7 billion in 2024. The Financial Times reported that monthly revenue was close to $2 billion by the end of 2025, indicating that sales continued to build through the year.
OpenAI’s spending remained far above those sales. The audited statements show research and development costs of $19.18 billion in 2025, compared with $7.81 billion a year earlier. That category alone exceeded revenue in both years.
The documents show $10.59 billion of OpenAI’s 2025 research and development spending went to Microsoft, its major technology partner. Ars Technica reported that the line likely reflects the expense of training new AI models.
Other costs also rose sharply. The company’s cost of revenue, which covers the expense of providing its products, increased to $7.5 billion in 2025 from $2.65 billion in 2024, according to the statements. Ars Technica reported that this figure likely includes the computing costs incurred when OpenAI’s systems respond to user prompts.
Sales and marketing expenses climbed to $5.73 billion in 2025 from $1.11 billion in 2024, according to the same financial records. Taken together, the figures show a company spending heavily to acquire users, operate its services and build new models.
OpenAI’s operating loss widened to $20.92 billion in 2025 from $8.78 billion in 2024, the statements show. As a share of revenue, however, the operating loss improved, falling to 160% of revenue from 237% a year earlier.
The company’s reported net loss was nearly $39 billion in 2025, up from just over $5 billion in 2024, according to the documents. The Financial Times, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the 2025 figure included an accounting charge of about $30 billion tied to investor valuations during OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure. Excluding that one-time charge, the person told the Financial Times, the 2025 net loss was about $8 billion.
OpenAI has told investors it aims to become profitable by 2030, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company faces pressure on several fronts, including high model-training costs, compute expenses tied to usage and customer scrutiny of AI spending. Forbes reported that some executives have questioned the return they are getting from AI investments, while The Wall Street Journal has reported that competition from Anthropic could put pressure on OpenAI’s subscription pricing.
OpenAI has also pulled back in some areas. Ars Technica reported that the company shut down its Sora video generation model in March. Around the same time, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI applications chief Fidji Simo told employees the company would reduce work on “side quests” and focus on core coding and business users.
OpenAI said in March that it raised $122 billion in financing at an $852 billion valuation. The company has reported more than 900 million weekly active ChatGPT users, though Ars Technica reported that about 50 million are paid subscribers.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.