OpenAI, which is pursuing an initial public offering this year, has missed major performance targets in 2025 and 2026, raising concerns ahead of the IPO, The Wall Street Journal reported April 27, citing sources.
The company failed to meet an internal goal of reaching 1 billion weekly active users for its AI model ChatGPT by the end of last year, the WSJ said, a shortfall that has worried investors. Sources also said OpenAI missed its annual revenue target last year as it lost ground to the rapid growth of Google’s competing AI model, Gemini. This year, OpenAI has also missed monthly revenue targets several times, sources said, attributing the weakness to customers shifting to Anthropic, the developer of the “Claude” model, in its coding and enterprise AI businesses.
The missed targets have added to scrutiny of OpenAI’s finances as it prepares for an IPO and signals large future spending. OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round last month — described as the largest in Silicon Valley history — and was valued at $852 billion. But it has also indicated it expects to spend $600 billion through 2030 to secure computing resources such as data centers, heightening funding concerns, the report said.
Sources said OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar recently told industry contacts that if revenue does not grow fast enough, the company may not be able to raise funding for future computing resources. The board has also closely reviewed OpenAI’s data-center contracts and questioned CEO Sam Altman’s push to secure more computing capacity despite a business slowdown, sources said.
Sources said the board is split between Altman, who wants to complete an IPO by the end of this year, and other executives who are prioritizing cost controls. Friar has taken a cautious stance in recent months on the plan to pursue an IPO by year’s end, sources said.
Altman and Friar, however, said in a joint statement that they are fully aligned on securing as much computing capacity as possible and working together daily to do so, the WSJ reported.
OpenAI has also taken steps to cut costs, including ending its video AI model service, “Sora.” Reuters reported the same day that OpenAI renegotiated contract terms with major shareholder Microsoft, allowing OpenAI to offer its products not only on Microsoft’s cloud but also on rival platforms including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Separately, 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 WSJ said OpenAI is also facing other challenges ahead of its planned 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, who co-founded OpenAI.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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