OpenAI's Revenue Rose 50%. So Did Its Loss.

Two companies, one quarter, and a scoreboard that points in opposite directions.

On 10 November OpenAI reported third-quarter revenue of **$10 billion**, up almost 50$10.1 billion to $10.9 billion**. Anthropic, for the same three months, reported **$17 billion of revenue and an operating loss of $567 million — and is expected to price its initial public offering within days.

The arithmetic of a growth story

OpenAI's revenue is accelerating: 18% growth in the second quarter, nearly 50% in the third. That is what a company displacing a competitor looks like at the top line.

The cost line is not keeping the same shape. An operating loss of $10.9 billion against$10 billion of revenue means the company spends more than two dollars for every dollar it brings in. Improved operating margin, in the company's own account, is a matter of degree rather than direction.

The comparison that matters is on the next line of the table.

How Anthropic got ahead

Anthropic's lead did not come from consumer scale. It came from a developer tool: Claude Code, which pulled enterprise coding budgets toward Anthropic early in the year and has kept them there.

The revenue gap opened before this quarter. What is new is the quality of the gap: Anthropic is earning more and losing less at the same time, while OpenAI is buying growth with price cuts and hiring. OpenAI has cut prices on its newest models to win enterprise share and has appointed Dali Rajic as chief revenue officer to push the segment that is becoming a larger part of its revenue.

There is also advertising. OpenAI began allowing ads on ChatGPT this year, and expects them to improve margins rather than to define the product. Ads are what a consumer business reaches for when subscription revenue per user plateaus.

The listing question

OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO in June. In September, Sam Altman said the company would not list this year, citing concerns about AI safety. The expectation now is next year — with this quarter's numbers as the pitch.

The private market has already voted differently on the two companies. On 6 November, Reuters reported that OpenAI closed a new round raising $11 billion** at a valuation of **$1.25 trillion. Anthropic may be valued at $1.4 trillion in its offering.

A company can be worth more than its larger-loss rival and still be the one under pressure. That is the position OpenAI is in: it must convert revenue growth into a smaller loss before the public market applies the same test Anthropic is about to face.

What to watch

Three numbers, in order of importance.

The loss, not the revenue. Revenue growth of 50% is impressive and, at this scale, expected. Whether the operating loss stops widening is the question the listing depends on.

The enterprise mix. Anthropic's advantage came from selling tools to developers. OpenAI's response — price cuts plus a new revenue chief — is an enterprise strategy run at consumer speed, and price cuts are the easiest thing for a competitor to match.

The consumer conversion rate. Roughly 100 million paying users is 8.5% of weekly actives, slightly better than the previous quarter. It is the number that decides whether advertising is a margin lever or a necessity.

The race is no longer about who has the better model. It is about which company can make the model pay — and, on this quarter's numbers, Anthropic is closer.

Source: VnExpress, "OpenAI tiếp tục lỗ nặng", 11 November 2026, citing Reuters; OpenAI third-quarter investor results, 10 November 2026; Anthropic third-quarter figures; Reuters, 6 November 2026.

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