OpenAI's third-quarter revenue tops $10 billion for the first time as enterprise sales double

OpenAI told investors on November 10 that its revenue for the third quarter ended September 30 was about $10 billion, up nearly 50% from the second quarter and the first time the company has crossed $10 billion in a single quarter. Enterprise sales doubled and have become its largest source of revenue.

Enterprise and API demand drove the growth

The Information, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that growth was driven mainly by demand for OpenAI's application programming interfaces, in particular its newer GPT-5.6 and Astra models and its image models. Co-founder Greg Brockman said enterprise revenue doubled in the quarter and now accounts for more than half of total revenue, while chief financial officer Sarah Friar confirmed an annualized revenue run rate of about $50 billion. OpenAI posted revenue of $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and $6.7 billion in the second, reaching $10 billion in the third — roughly triple the year-earlier level.

Losses widened at the same time

Even as revenue surged, OpenAI's adjusted operating loss widened from $10.1 billion in the second quarter to $10.9 billion, while its adjusted operating margin improved from minus 150% to minus 109%. The adjusted figures exclude about $2.6 billion in share-based compensation and other expenses. OpenAI did not publicly comment on the figures and, as a private company, has not issued a full quarterly financial statement; the numbers come from an investor call.

The contrast with Anthropic

On the same day, Anthropic disclosed in an updated IPO filing that its third-quarter revenue was $16.96 billion. The company, which is marketing its initial public offering, plans to sell 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each, targeting a valuation of up to about $1.4 trillion, with trading on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT expected around November 19. OpenAI is raising funds at a valuation of about $1.25 trillion. The two figures are not strictly comparable: Anthropic's comes from a securities filing, while OpenAI's was disclosed to investors and is unaudited.

(Sources: The Information, November 10, 2026, as reported by Seeking Alpha and Dealroom; image is an illustration of ChatGPT.)