OpenAI lost $1.22 per dollar earned in Q1 2026
openai's adjusted operating margin hit negative 122 percent in q1 2026 with $5.7 billion revenue, while rival anthropic posted a roughly $45 billion annualized revenue run rate.
financial reports from the first quarter of 2026 reveal openai is burning cash heavily, with a negative 122 percent adjusted operating margin on $5.7 billion in revenue. the losses persisted even after excluding stock-based compensation, attributed to aggressive scaling of the codex coding agent and enterprise initiatives, while chatgpt's user growth stalled at 905 million weekly active users. in contrast, competitor anthropic has surged ahead with an annualized revenue run-rate of $45 billion, significantly surpassing openai's $30 billion, and projects nearly $11 billion in q2 revenue alongside a $600 million operating profit. both companies are reportedly preparing for potential ipos in q4.