Differences in OpenAI and Anthropic’s revenue definitions spark market concerns: annualized revenue may overstate actual revenue by as much as 2x
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AT A GLANCE
The report says OpenAI and Anthropic use different revenue definitions, and annualized revenue may also be significantly higher than actual full-year revenue.
Article
Differences in OpenAI and Anthropic’s revenue definitions spark market concerns: annualized revenue may overstate actual revenue by as much as 2x
Dongcha Beating AI flash news: According to Bloomberg, OpenAI and Anthropic use significantly different revenue definitions, making the two AI giants’ reported annualized revenue difficult to compare directly and intensifying investors’ concerns about the AI industry’s growth prospects.
The report says Anthropic counts the total sales generated through cloud service partners such as Amazon as revenue, while OpenAI recognizes only its net revenue share received from partners such as Microsoft. As neither company has published standardized financial statements, investors currently find it difficult to accurately convert the two companies’ actual business scales.
Annualized revenue (ARR) also has limitations. People familiar with the matter said OpenAI expects 2026 actual revenue for the full year of 35000000000 USD, approximately half of its year-end 70000000000 USD annualized revenue target. Documents seen by Bloomberg showed that Anthropic’s actual revenue for 2025 was approximately 4600000000 USD, while its announced annualized revenue at the time had already exceeded 9000000000 USD.
Analysts said annualized revenue is generally extrapolated from short-term performance or contract value and cannot be equated with revenue actually recognized over the full year. Against a backdrop of high valuations for AI giants and technology stocks trading at elevated levels, uncertainty surrounding revenue growth and reporting definitions could further affect the market’s assessment of the investment returns of AI investments.
Original link https://m.theblockbeats.info/flash/371096
Key points
01
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI and Anthropic use different revenue definitions.
02
The report says Anthropic counts the total sales generated through cloud service partners such as Amazon as revenue.
03
The report says OpenAI recognizes only its net revenue share received from partners such as Microsoft.
04
Neither company has published standardized financial statements.
05
People familiar with the matter said OpenAI expects 2026 actual revenue for the full year of 35000000000 USD, with a year-end annualized revenue target of 70000000000 USD。
06
Documents seen by Bloomberg showed that Anthropic’s actual revenue for 2025 was approximately 4600000000 USD, while its announced annualized revenue at the time had already exceeded 9000000000 USD。
07
Analysts said annualized revenue is generally extrapolated from short-term performance or contract value and cannot be equated with revenue actually recognized over the full year.
AI-assisted interpretation
The following is analysis, separate from reported facts. Verify important claims independently.
The two companies calculate revenue differently: the definition attributed to Anthropic in the report includes total sales generated by partners, while OpenAI’s definition counts only the net revenue share it receives. Therefore, even if both companies report “revenue,” the figures cannot be compared directly. Annualized revenue is an extrapolation of short-term performance or contract value to a full-year level and does not mean that an equivalent amount of revenue has actually been recognized for the full year.
Why it matters to readers
If the market directly compares revenue or annualized metrics based on different definitions, it may misjudge a company’s actual business scale, growth rate, and investment returns, affecting assessments of AI companies’ valuations.
When beginners see “annualized revenue,” they should not automatically treat it as actual full-year revenue; before comparing company data, they should also confirm whether the figure represents gross sales or net revenue share.
Risks and unknowns
The content was relayed by a Telegram channel and attributed to Bloomberg, but the full Bloomberg report or relevant documents were not provided.
Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has published standardized financial statements, making the relevant figures and accounting definitions difficult to independently verify at present.
The OpenAI data came from unnamed people familiar with the matter, while the Anthropic data came from documents seen by Bloomberg; the underlying evidence is not presented in the article.
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It remains unclear how the annualized revenue and actual revenue figures in the article were calculated and what they cover.
Related concepts
Revenue definition
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