OpenAI's path to an initial public offering (IPO) is experiencing internal conflict regarding its timing. While CEO Sam Altman had previously aimed for a public debut as early as fall 2026 and reportedly wants to list the company in Q4 2026, CFO Sarah Friar is reportedly advocating for a delay until 2027. This internal debate is driven by concerns over public-company reporting readiness and the company's financial outlook.
Key financial challenges include projected annual losses of $14 billion for 2026, primarily due to intense compute and infrastructure costs. The company has accumulated approximately $600 billion in future spending commitments for data centers and computing capacity. Friar has flagged that if revenue growth does not accelerate, these capital commitments could strain the company's finances before an IPO, despite OpenAI's annualized revenue reaching $25 billion, up from $6 billion fourteen months prior.
Observers have also pointed to a report based on audited financial information that showed losses surging from $5 billion in 2024 to almost $39 billion in 2025. This raises concerns about the company's path to sustainability or profitability, particularly as costs ran at roughly 260% of revenue, a much higher rate than other tech leaders at comparable revenue stages. Some analysts suggest that the high spending on R&D and compute, with over $19 billion for R&D and over $10 billion to Microsoft for R&D-related expenses, is a core issue.
The delayed timeline would provide an additional year to close the gap between infrastructure commitments and revenue, satisfy public reporting requirements, and address any ongoing legal battles, such as the one with Elon Musk. This decision is further complicated by competitor Anthropic, which appears set to go public in the coming weeks and reportedly has $30 billion in annualized revenue, surpassing OpenAI's $25 billion in that metric, and is seeking a valuation of $900 billion, potentially exceeding OpenAI's current $852 billion valuation.
