OpenAI, which is pursuing an initial public offering this year, has missed major performance targets in 2025 and 2026, raising concerns ahead of the planned listing, The Wall Street Journal reported April 27, citing sources.
According to the report, OpenAI failed to meet an internal goal of reaching 1 billion weekly active users for its AI model ChatGPT by the end of last year, a shortfall the Journal said has worried investors. Sources also said OpenAI missed its annual revenue target in 2025 as Google’s competing AI model Gemini grew rapidly. This year, OpenAI has also missed monthly revenue targets several times, the sources said, attributing the weakness to customers shifting in coding and enterprise AI to Anthropic, the developer of Claude.
The missed targets have added pressure to OpenAI’s finances as it prepares for an IPO and signals large future spending. OpenAI completed $122 billion in funding last month, described as the largest in Silicon Valley history, and was valued at $852 billion. But it has said it expects to spend $600 billion through 2030 to secure computing resources such as data centers, and the performance gaps have intensified funding concerns.
Sources said OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar recently told others that if revenue does not grow fast enough, the company may be unable to raise funds needed for future computing capacity. The board has also closely reviewed OpenAI’s data-center contracts and questioned CEO Sam Altman’s push to secure more computing resources despite a slowdown in the business, the sources said.
The sources said the board is split between Altman’s goal of completing an IPO by the end of this year and other executives who want to prioritize cost controls. Friar has taken a cautious stance in recent months about pursuing an IPO by year’s end, the sources said.
Altman and Friar, in a joint statement, denied reports of internal اختلاف, saying, “We are fully aligned on securing as much computing capacity as possible, and we work together every day to do so,” the Journal reported.
OpenAI has also moved to cut costs, including ending its video AI model service, Sora. Separately, Reuters reported that OpenAI renegotiated contract terms with major shareholder Microsoft and can now offer its products on rival clouds including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, not only Microsoft. In addition, Kuo Ming-chi, an IT analyst at Taiwan’s TF International Securities known for Apple supply-chain analysis, said the day before that OpenAI is pursuing development of its own smartphone.
The Journal said OpenAI is also facing other challenges ahead of the IPO, including a leadership gap after its No. 2 executive, product and business chief Fidji Simo, abruptly took health-related leave earlier this month, and litigation involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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