Hacker News front pageJun 18, 2026, 05:31 UTC+8

Leaked OpenAI financials: $13B revenue in 2025, but $20.9B operating loss

Leaked financial docs show OpenAI is losing billions of dollars a year

Audited financials obtained by journalist Ed Zitron show OpenAI's revenue hit $13.07B in 2025, but R&D alone cost $19.18B—$10.59B of that paid to Microsoft. Cost of revenue and sales/marketing pushed the operating loss to $20.92B. A one-time ~$30B accounting charge tied to the for-profit conversion inflated the net loss to $39B; stripping that out leaves roughly $8B. Operating loss improved from 237% to 160% of revenue, but the 2030 profitability target still looks distant. The post doesn't disclose user counts or per-customer pricing details.

Why it matters: Leaked audited financials reveal OpenAI's real numbers: $13.07B revenue but $20.92B operating loss in 2025, with over half of $19.18B R&D spend going to Microsoft. This is the financial transparency event the industry has been waiting for — all three HKR axes hit. Not scoring ...

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These audited financials, obtained by Ed Zitron, are the real thing. OpenAI pulled in $13.07B in 2025 revenue, up from $3.7B the year before. But R&D alone cost $19.18B, and $10.59B of that was paid to Microsoft. Add $7.5B in cost of revenue and $5.73B in sales and marketing, and the operating loss hit $20.92B.

A one-time ~$30B accounting charge tied to the for-profit conversion inflated the net loss to $39B. Strip that out and the real net loss is roughly $8B. The operating loss did improve from 237% to 160% of revenue, so the trend is heading the right way, but the 2030 profitability target still looks distant.

Two things I'd watch: first, what exactly that $10.6B to Microsoft covers—training compute or inference compute—because that determines whether costs scale down with volume. Second, monthly revenue reportedly hit nearly $2B by end of 2025. If that pace holds, the loss ratio keeps shrinking. But the post doesn't disclose user counts or per-customer pricing, so I can't judge revenue quality.

Source: Hacker News front page · arstechnica.com
Published: Jun 18, 2026, 05:31 UTC+8 · Jun 18, 2026