There are companies that appear everywhere, which have millions of users, which seem unbeatable. But behind that dazzling popular there is a fact that is often overlooked: They are not profitable. Some have been growing at full speed without ever generating benefits.
Openai is one of those cases. His name is on everyone’s lips since Chatgpt went into the world in 2022. But the truth is that, economically, he is still far from quading the accounts. Spend much more than you enter. And it will not be profitable for several years, if their own calculations are fulfilled.
The paradox of success that does not give benefits
OpenAi is everywhere. And chatgpt too. In just over two years it has gone from being a technical rarity to get into mobiles, computers and conversations. But that something sounds a lot It does not mean that it gives money. In fact, the accounts are still in red.
Because the phenomenon is real, yes. But so is the expense. Training increasingly large models, keeping servers working and hiring talent is not cheap. According to The Information, Openai would have lost about 5,000 million dollars in 2024. And this year the thing does not look much better.
It is not a unique case. Spotify was founded in 2006 and took twelve years to see benefits for the first time. Twelve. And only in 2024 he managed to close a full year in positive. Have millions of users It does not guarantee May a company be profitable.
Openai does not seem to be close to balance, but there is an important difference compared to a year ago. According to Financial Times, your subscription income has shot. It has gone from generating $ 5.5 billion to approach 10,000. Half of that money comes from users who pay for chatgpt.
Telegram’s case also helps put things in perspective. The application was born in 2013 and for more than a decade operated without generating benefits. Only in 2024, after exceeding 900 million users, profitability finally reached. It took eleven years.
Openai aims to follow the same path, but at another pace. The company has already told its investors that it does not expect to be profitable before 2029. And for that to happen, it needs a very concrete figure: reach 125,000 million dollars in annual income.
The company has already told its investors that it does not expect to be profitable before 2029.
It is an ambitious objective, especially if we take into account that today is around 10,000 million. For multiply by more than ten Its turnover, OpenAi not only trusts that more users subscribe to Chatgpt, but that much of their income is related to their API.
When we talk about the API we are referring to the system that allows you to integrate OpenAI models into third -party applications. Companies of all kinds, from banking to health, which can use various models of the company, such as GPT-4.1, to improve their benefits.
Another important source, according to The Information, would be the calls Artificial Intelligence Agentsmore sophisticated tools that not only answer questions, but do complex tasks autonomously. Openai wants this to become its great premium product.
It should be noted that many of the great technology (Microsoft, Google, Tesla) quote on the stock market and publish each quarter accounts. That forces to generate official reports, audited data and financial transparency. Things are different in the startup led by Sam Altman.
OpenAi does not quote on a stock market and adopts a hybrid model: a non -profit entity (Openai, Inc.) controls a subsidiary with limited profittoday in the process of becoming a public benefit corporation to capture greater investments than those received.
Not being obliged to publicly audit your commercial accounts, OpenAi does not publish official figures. There are no quarterly reports of income, costs or losses. This is usual in many US private companies, which have greater financial confidentiality.
Therefore, when we talk about current Openai numbers, we do it supporting ourselves in leaks, in Media estimates such as The Information or in data that the company itself shares selectively with investors. There are no periodic official reports, because they do not exist.
There is no doubt that Openai has achieved something huge: he has put generative artificial intelligence in everyone’s mouth. But that does not guarantee income, much less benefits. Touch to wait to know if the company will meet its goals. For now, it seems to be on the right track.
Imágenes | Techcrunch (CC by 2.0) | Giorgio Found
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