OpenAI Says Business Customers Now Outspend Consumers, Months Ahead of Plan

OpenAI's enterprise business now generates more revenue than the consumer subscriptions that made ChatGPT a household name, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told shareholders Friday, months earlier than the company had projected.

Friar said the company's annualized revenue run rate has reached $40 billion, roughly double what it was a year ago, according to a person who attended the meeting. Business customer revenue climbed 32% in July alone, outpacing the company's overall 20% month-over-month increase.

"We entered the year at 60-40, but enterprise has accelerated much faster than expected and those lines have now crossed," Friar said, according to the attendee.

The crossover arrives about two quarters ahead of the company's own forecast. Friar had told CNBC earlier this year that the two businesses were expected to reach parity by the end of 2026.

The meeting closed a turbulent week for OpenAI's executive ranks. Revenue chief Denise Dresser stepped down Thursday after eight months in the role, days after Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap also departed. Dali Rajic has been named to succeed Dresser. OpenAI said the enterprise business grew to 2 million customers under Dresser's leadership, doubling from a year earlier.

The session had been scheduled before the departures and was held with current shareholders, the person said. President Greg Brockman, who joined Friar at the meeting, thanked Dresser for building the company's enterprise foundation and told investors that cybersecurity remains a critical part of the business. He dismissed concerns about competition from open-source models developed in China, the person said.

The timing complicates an already delicate moment. OpenAI has filed a confidential prospectus for an initial public offering with the SEC but has not set a timeline for the offering. Departures at the chief operating officer and chief revenue officer level within a single week fall squarely into the category of material changes that a registration statement must disclose to prospective investors.

The revenue mix has shifted sharply over two years. As recently as late 2024, consumer subscriptions accounted for roughly three-quarters of the company's revenue, with the remainder coming from API access and business contracts. Growth in enterprise has been driven by ChatGPT Enterprise, the newer ChatGPT Work product and usage-based pricing for developers building on the company's models.