Leaked financial documents show OpenAI's 2025 revenue reached $13.07 billion, but R&D costs alone hit $19.18 billion, leading to an operating loss of $20.92 billion. The company aims for profitability by 2030, but massive infrastructure costs remain a persistent financial burden.
Audited financial documents leaked from OpenAI reveal the company's financial situation. In 2025, revenue grew to $13.07 billion, more than tripling year-over-year, but R&D costs reached $19.18 billion and cost of revenue hit $7.5 billion, resulting in an operating loss of $20.92 billion. Net loss was $39 billion, though $30 billion of that was a non-recurring accounting charge.
OpenAI is preparing SEC filings ahead of a potential IPO, and the documents were obtained by independent journalist Ed Zitron. The company converted to a for-profit structure in 2025, triggering accounting charges related to investor valuations. The operating loss as a percentage of revenue improved from 237% in 2024 to 160% in 2025, but absolute losses remain large.
While OpenAI targets profitability by 2030, the massive computing costs for model training and inference continue to pressure finances. R&D payments to Microsoft alone totaled $10.59 billion in 2025, highlighting the heavy dependence on cloud infrastructure. Investors will likely focus on long-term growth potential despite short-term losses.
The HN comment points out that this article is a duplicate of a previously posted story, directing readers to the existing discussion thread. No substantive debate or key issues are raised in the comment itself.