- OpenAI’s adjusted operating margin in Q1 2026 was −122% — the company lost $1.22 for every dollar of revenue even after stripping out stock-based compensation, per The Information.
- Q1 revenue was approximately $5.7 billion, roughly $1 billion ahead of rival Anthropic.
- ChatGPT averaged 905 million weekly users, short of the 1 billion target.
- Anthropic’s annualized revenue reportedly sits near $45 billion versus OpenAI’s roughly $30 billion; Anthropic expects Q2 revenue near $11 billion with ~$600M operating profit.
What Happened
OpenAI’s adjusted operating margin in the first quarter of 2026 was minus 122 percent — meaning the company lost $1.22 for every dollar of revenue even after stripping out major items like stock-based compensation, The Decoder reported on Thursday, citing The Information. Total Q1 revenue came in at about $5.7 billion, roughly $1 billion ahead of rival Anthropic over the same period.
Why It Matters
The −122% adjusted margin is one of the cleanest external data points on OpenAI’s near-term economics ahead of its planned September IPO. Stock-based compensation is the standard adjustment that typically narrows a tech company’s reported losses; OpenAI’s loss profile remains substantial even after that adjustment.
The comparison to Anthropic sharpens the narrative. Anthropic’s annualized revenue reportedly sits near $45 billion versus OpenAI’s roughly $30 billion. Anthropic expects approximately $11 billion in Q2 revenue with an operating profit near $600 million — its first profitable quarter, disclosed earlier this week. Both companies are eyeing possible IPOs starting in Q4 2026.
Technical Details
OpenAI Q1 2026 specifics per The Information’s reporting: revenue approximately $5.7 billion, adjusted operating margin minus 122 percent, ChatGPT weekly active users averaging 905 million (against an internal target of 1 billion). Growth drivers were the Codex coding agent, enterprise sales, and early ad tests inside ChatGPT.
The math of −122% on $5.7 billion implies approximately $7 billion in adjusted operating loss for Q1 alone. Annualised, that maps roughly to the $30 billion combined cash-burn estimate The Information has previously published for OpenAI and Anthropic together. The 905-million-WAU figure for ChatGPT versus the 1-billion target reflects continuing strong growth in consumer adoption — the Similarweb data published on May 14 showed ChatGPT at 53.7% of AI-chatbot web traffic share — but the gap to the internal target suggests Operations and product teams may be re-pacing user-acquisition spending.
Who’s Affected
OpenAI’s institutional investor base — Microsoft, SoftBank, Nvidia, Tiger Global, Sequoia, Thrive Capital, plus sovereign-wealth participants — gains visibility on the near-term loss profile ahead of S-1 disclosure. The September IPO timing (per WSJ reporting earlier this week) gives underwriters Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley about four months to construct a narrative around the loss profile. Anthropic’s investor base reads its competitive narrative validation. Competing model providers — Google, Mistral, xAI, Cohere — gain external benchmarks against which to position their own financial disclosures.
What’s Next
OpenAI’s confidential S-1 filing within days or weeks (per the WSJ reporting earlier this week) will eventually translate into a public filing with substantially more disclosure. Q2 financials will be a critical comparable to Anthropic’s projected $11 billion revenue and $600 million operating profit. Industry watchers should expect refined commentary from Anthropic and OpenAI on how each frames its path to sustained profitability through the IPO road show.
