OpenAI missed ChatGPT 2025 targets
- The Wall Street Journal reported OpenAI missed internal 2025 goals for ChatGPT users and revenue, raising fresh questions about its spending plans before a possible initial public offering. - ChatGPT reached about 900 million weekly active users, below a 1 billion target, while finance chief Sarah Friar questioned future compute commitments, CNBC reported. - AI-linked stocks fell after the report, with the Nasdaq 100 down more than 1% by midday. (bloomberg.com)
OpenAI missed internal targets for ChatGPT user growth and revenue, according to a Wall Street Journal report that rattled AI-linked stocks on Tuesday. (cnbc.com) The report said ChatGPT reached about 900 million weekly active users, short of a 1 billion goal, and that finance chief Sarah Friar raised concerns about future compute spending. (cnbc.com) OpenAI pushed back publicly. “This is ridiculous,” Chief Executive Sam Altman and Friar said in a joint statement to CNBC, adding that they are “totally aligned” on buying more compute. (cnbc.com) The fight is about data centers, the warehouse-sized buildings packed with chips that run and train artificial intelligence systems. OpenAI has tied itself to huge computing contracts that only make sense if usage and revenue keep climbing. (cnbc.com) OpenAI had already told the market in late February that ChatGPT had reached 900 million weekly users and 50 million paying subscribers, up from 800 million weekly users in October 2025. (techcrunch.com) Those user gains came with a $110 billion private funding round that TechCrunch said included $50 billion from Amazon and $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank at a $730 billion pre-money valuation. (techcrunch.com) By March, OpenAI was already telling employees it could pursue an initial public offering as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026. CNBC reported the company was shifting harder toward enterprise and “high-productivity” use cases. (cnbc.com) That same March report said Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s chief executive of applications, told staff the company’s next task was turning those 900 million users into “high-compute users,” a more profitable group for a company with enormous infrastructure bills. (cnbc.com) Investors treated Tuesday’s report as a warning about the whole artificial intelligence buildout, not just one company. Bloomberg reported the Nasdaq 100 fell more than 1% by midday, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.7%, with Nvidia and Broadcom among the biggest drags. (bloomberg.com) The immediate question is whether OpenAI can keep signing ever-larger compute deals at the same pace while it argues the underlying growth story is still intact. (cnbc.com)
