There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes with being the CEO of the most talked-about AI company on Earth. The kind where someone asks you a pointed financial question and you respond by offering to find a buyer for their shares.
That’s essentially what happened when Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital and host of the BG2 podcast, pressed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the company’s revenue trajectory relative to its staggering infrastructure commitments. Rather than directly address the concern, Altman offered to help find a buyer for Gerstner’s shares.
The numbers that prompted the question
OpenAI has reportedly committed over $1.4 trillion toward AI infrastructure. The company’s disclosed annual revenue sits at approximately $13 billion.
During the podcast conversation, which aired in late October or early November 2025, Altman pushed back on the framing. He asserted that OpenAI’s actual revenue is significantly higher than the $13 billion figure and projected a trajectory that would see the company exceed $20 billion by the end of 2025, eventually reaching hundreds of billions by 2030.
