OpenAI's Q3 run rate grew 77% as analyst slams FT's "missing $20B" misreading
firstadopter · x · 2026-10-12
Investor firstadopter pushes back on FT's OpenAI revenue story:
- Per CNBC, OpenAI touted 77% total run rate growth in Q3 and 107% enterprise run rate growth, with July-September a historic ramp on both net and gross revenue lines.
- He argues FT conflated net vs gross revenue, wrongly implying $20B went missing and possibly poisoning investor AI sentiment.
- An attached leaked-memo screenshot shows OpenAI CRO Denise Dresser alleging Anthropic's $30B run rate is inflated $8B via gross-up accounting on Google/Amazon partnerships (actual $22B vs OpenAI's $24-25B); Anthropic says its GAAP-compliant accounting is legitimate.
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