OpenAI valuation under investor scrutiny

Some OpenAI investors are pressing the company to justify an $852 billion valuation just two weeks after its record $122 billion fundraise. (reuters.com) Reuters reported on April 14 that the pushback is tied to OpenAI’s turn toward enterprise customers as it tries to blunt competition from Anthropic. OpenAI said the round was oversubscribed and reflected “strong conviction” in its direction, business momentum, and long-term value. (reuters.com) The valuation in question was set on March 31, when OpenAI said it had closed a $122 billion financing at an $852 billion post-money value. CNBC called it a record-breaking private round and said OpenAI opened part of the raise to individual investors through bank channels. (cnbc.com) OpenAI has been building business products for years, starting with ChatGPT Enterprise in August 2023 and later adding a smaller-company plan now called ChatGPT Business. OpenAI says those products offer admin controls, centralized billing, and a promise not to train on customer business data. (openai.com) (help.openai.com) That product mix matters because OpenAI’s revenue has been climbing alongside its enterprise push. Reuters reported on March 4 that OpenAI had topped $25 billion in annualized revenue at the end of February, up from $21.4 billion at the end of 2025, citing The Information. (reuters.com) The pressure is sharper because Anthropic has been growing fast in the same market. Bloomberg reported on April 6 that Anthropic’s revenue run rate had topped $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025, with more than 1,000 business customers spending over $1 million a year. (bloomberg.com) The Financial Times report, as described by Reuters, said some backers now see OpenAI as less focused as it tries to defend consumer products, coding tools, and enterprise sales at the same time. OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told the Financial Times that claims investors do not support the strategy “defy the facts.” (reuters.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The dispute is not over whether OpenAI can sell software; it is over how much future growth is already priced into an $852 billion number. For now, the company has fresh capital, rising revenue, and investors asking whether the next phase will look more like a research lab, a software vendor, or both. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com)