OpenAI lost $38.5 billion in 2025, according to audited financial documents obtained by blogger Ed Zitron and independently verified by the Financial Times, as the company moves toward a public listing.
The documents show revenue reached $13.07 billion in 2025, more than tripling from $3.7 billion in 2024. Total costs and expenses came to $34 billion, driven by $19.18 billion in research and development spending and $5.73 billion in sales and marketing. The operating loss for 2025 was $20.92 billion. The net loss widened to $38.5 billion after accounting for charges related to OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity, which produced a $41.55 billion loss tied to changes in the fair value of convertible interests and warrant liability.
In 2024, OpenAI posted a net loss attributable to the company of $5.09 billion on $3.7 billion in revenue, with total costs and expenses of $12.48 billion.
The 2025 documents also detail OpenAI’s financial relationship with Microsoft. OpenAI paid Microsoft $10.59 billion for research and development expenses, $6.047 billion in cost-of-revenue charges, and additional amounts for sales, marketing, and administrative expenses, bringing total payments to Microsoft to $17.2 billion for the year. Microsoft, in turn, paid OpenAI $303 million in 2025. SoftBank paid OpenAI $867 million. At year end, OpenAI held just over $50 billion in assets, with roughly half in cash.
According to The Next Web, the $13 billion in 2025 revenue came in ahead of OpenAI’s internal target of $10 billion. OpenAI declined to comment on the leaked figures.
OpenAI submitted a confidential S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, moving toward a potential public listing with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the process. The company is currently valued at $852 billion following a $122 billion funding round closed earlier this year. ChatGPT supports more than 900 million weekly active users, the company said.
Investor communications reviewed by the outlet indicate OpenAI has pledged approximately $600 billion toward AI infrastructure spending between now and 2030. Because OpenAI has never released audited financials to the public, the documents offer prospective investors their clearest view yet of the company’s books before what analysts expect could rank among history’s most significant stock market debuts.
