OpenAI’s 2025 loss jumped to about $38.53 billion, according to audited documents reviewed by the Financial Times, even as revenue rose to $13.07 billion. The numbers highlight the cost of scaling an AI business at breakneck speed while preparing for a possible IPO.
That loss did not come from nowhere. OpenAI’s 2025 spending reached about $34 billion, and the biggest chunk went into research and development, which accounted for $19.18 billion. Sales and marketing added $5.73 billion, while administrative costs came to $1.57 billion. The result was an operating loss of $20.92 billion, a figure that says more about the company’s current appetite for growth than any tidy narrative about artificial intelligence paying for itself just yet.
Microsoft payments dominated the cost base
One of the largest moving parts in the 2025 accounts was Microsoft. OpenAI paid the company about $10.59 billion for R&D services, and related obligations reached $17.2 billion, according to the documents. At the same time, money flowing the other way was far smaller: Microsoft contributed about $303 million. For a company still trying to prove the economics of frontier AI, that asymmetry is hard to ignore.
SoftBank also appears in the picture, with about $867 million sent to OpenAI as part of investments. Taken together, the figures show a business being financed, reshaped, and partially underwritten by strategic partners while it keeps spending at a pace most public companies would treat as a fire alarm.
OpenAI accounting changes were almost as important as the cash burn
A significant slice of the 2025 result came from structural changes, including OpenAI’s move toward a more commercial model and the revaluation of convertible obligations. Those adjustments created large accounting effects, which is a reminder that AI company losses are not just about servers and staff; they also reflect how aggressively these firms are being reorganized before they face public investors.
OpenAI ended the year with assets above $50 billion, with a large share in cash. That gives it room to keep spending, but it also gives would-be shareholders a clear question to ask: if costs are already running ahead of growth at this scale, what does a profitable version of the business actually look like?
IPO scrutiny will focus on the gap between revenue and spending
The core tension is simple. OpenAI is growing fast, but spending is growing faster. In 2024, the company reported revenue of $3.7 billion against $12.48 billion in total expenses; in 2025, revenue rose to $13.07 billion, but costs still climbed to $34 billion. That is the kind of ratio that may be tolerated in private markets, especially in AI, but public investors usually demand a cleaner story.
If the IPO route remains on track, OpenAI will need to sell more than ambition. It will need to convince the market that these losses are a temporary consequence of building an infrastructure-heavy platform, not a permanent feature of the model. And that, as any investor knows, is where the questions get expensive.