OpenAI calls WSJ report 'outdated,' disputes its user-growth and revenue figures

OpenAI is fighting back against a Wall Street Journal report that said the company missed internal goals for user growth and revenue. Sam Altman and finance chief Sarah Friar told CNBC the report was “ridiculous.” (cnbc.com) The Journal report, as described by CNBC and Reuters, said OpenAI had recently fallen short of its own targets and that some leaders were worried about whether revenue could keep up with data-center spending. Reuters said the concerns centered on recent months and OpenAI’s ability to support extensive compute commitments. (cnbc.com) (reuters.com) CNBC reported that Friar was said to be working with other executives to control costs while the board scrutinized computing deals more closely. Altman and Friar answered with a joint statement saying they were “totally aligned” on buying as much compute as possible. (cnbc.com) The dispute is landing at a sensitive moment because OpenAI has tied its business case to massive infrastructure spending. CNBC reported in February that OpenAI had reset investor expectations to roughly $600 billion in compute spending by 2030. (cnbc.com) OpenAI’s own filings and blog posts show why the company is pushing back so hard on any slowdown narrative. On March 31, OpenAI said it had closed a $122 billion funding round at an $852 billion post-money valuation. (openai.com) In that same March 31 post, OpenAI said it was generating $2 billion in revenue per month and was nearing 1 billion weekly active users. Those are the company’s numbers, not independently audited public filings, but they are the figures OpenAI is using to frame the argument. (openai.com) OpenAI has also spent April highlighting new products and business tools rather than retrenchment. Its newsroom shows GPT-5.5 launched on April 23, workspace agents in ChatGPT on April 22, and a post on scaling Codex to enterprises worldwide on April 21. (openai.com) The company also reshaped a key financial relationship this week. CNBC reported on April 27 that OpenAI and Microsoft changed their partnership so revenue-share payments from OpenAI continue through 2030 but are subject to a cap. (cnbc.com) That matters because OpenAI is trying to convince investors it can fund huge compute bills while still growing consumer, enterprise, and developer revenue fast enough for a possible initial public offering later in 2026. CNBC reported in March that OpenAI had hired investor-relations leadership and was preparing for a potential listing by year-end. (cnbc.com) Markets reacted as if the Journal report mattered even with OpenAI’s denial. CNBC said Oracle and several chip stocks fell after the story, and SoftBank shares dropped about 10% in Asia. (cnbc.com) The immediate question is no longer just whether OpenAI hit one set of internal targets. It is whether investors believe OpenAI’s latest picture of demand, revenue, and compute appetite more than the Journal’s account of missed goals. (cnbc.com) (openai.com)