OpenAI burned through $1.22 per dollar earned even after stripping out stock-based compensation

May 22, 2026

OpenAI's adjusted operating margin hit minus 122 percent in the first quarter of 2026, meaning the company lost $1.22 for every dollar of revenue, even after stripping out big items like stock-based compensation. Total revenue came in at about $5.7 billion, roughly a billion more than rival Anthropic, The Information reports. Growth came from the Codex coding agent, enterprise sales, and early ad tests inside ChatGPT. ChatGPT averaged 905 million weekly users, short of the one-billion target.

Anthropic is closing the gap fast, though. Its annualized revenue reportedly sits at nearly $45 billion, compared to OpenAI's roughly $30 billion. Anthropic expects close to $11 billion in Q2 revenue and an operating profit of nearly $600 million. Both companies are eyeing possible IPOs starting in Q4.

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