OpenAI Lost $38.5 Billion in 2025, Exclusive Financial Documents Reveal

Ed Zitron, host of Better Offline, obtained audited financial documents for OpenAI covering 2024 and 2025—verified independently by the Financial Times. The numbers are staggering: OpenAI lost roughly $38.5 billion in 2025, an increase of nearly 800% in losses year over year. Revenue was $3.7 billion in 2024 and grew to $11.6 billion in 2025, but costs exploded far faster. The company spent $34 billion total in 2025, with research and development alone consuming $19.18 billion. Zitron presents the data plainly, saving editorial commentary for later, because the figures speak for themselves.

The 2024 Baseline

In 2024, OpenAI reported $3.7 billion in revenue against $12.4 billion in total costs and expenses. Its cost of revenue was $2.65 billion, and R&D spending was $7.81 billion. The company recorded a net loss attributable to OpenAI of $5.09 billion. However, the raw loss at year-end was $8.84 billion; OpenAI reduced that figure by marking $3.74 billion as "net loss attributable to non-controlling members capital," a line item whose precise definition remains unclear. Zitron notes he does not have a breakdown of how these accounting terms are defined, but the effect is that the reported loss is substantially lower than the actual cash burn.

2025: Losses Multiply