Here’s one way to handle a tough question about your company’s finances: don’t answer it, and instead offer to help the person asking cash out their position.
That’s essentially what OpenAI CEO Sam Altman did during a November 2 appearance on the BG² podcast, hosted by investor Brad Gerstner. When Gerstner pressed Altman on how OpenAI plans to fund over $1.4 trillion in multi-year compute spending against its current revenue base, Altman sidestepped the math and offered to find a buyer for Gerstner’s shares.
The trillion-dollar question that didn’t get an answer
Gerstner cited OpenAI’s annual revenue at roughly $13 billion. Altman pushed back on that number, claiming the company generates “well more” than $13 billion. He projected that OpenAI is on track to surpass $20 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2025.
OpenAI’s revenue has grown from approximately $1 billion in 2023 to about $13 billion in 2025. Altman’s longer-term vision is even more ambitious. He suggested OpenAI aims to reach “hundreds of billions” in annual revenue by 2030.
