OpenAI Says Anthropic's $30B Run Rate Is $8B of Hot Air

OpenAI CRO Denise Dresser sent an internal memo accusing Anthropic of inflating its $30B revenue run rate by roughly $8 billion — putting the real figure closer to $22B. The memo, fired off at the start of Q2, frames it as a distortion in the AI revenue leaderboard.

The dispute is really about accounting methodology. Anthropic books revenue from cloud partners (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) on a gross basis — counting the full amount billed, including the cut the cloud provider keeps. OpenAI uses net reporting, recognizing only what's left after the platform takes its share. Both are GAAP-compliant. Neither is technically wrong — they just produce very different headline numbers.

Timing matters here. Anthropic has been closing the enterprise gap fast, with customer-count crossover projected within months. Both companies are eyeing IPOs, and whoever controls the revenue narrative controls investor perception heading into public markets.

Why it matters: Accounting choices are becoming competitive weapons — this is a preview of how the OpenAI vs. Anthropic IPO story gets shaped.