What changed in the second quarter
Anthropic's quarterly sales topped OpenAI's for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal and reported on August 19. Anthropic more than doubled its revenue to $11.6 billion in the second quarter and reported a small adjusted profit, while OpenAI recorded $6.7 billion in revenue, an 18% increase from the first quarter's $5.7 billion. The figures reverse a long-standing gap between the two rivals and put Anthropic ahead on reported revenue alongside its higher private valuation.
The widening financial gap
OpenAI's operating loss, including stock-based compensation, widened to $12.3 billion in the second quarter from $9.3 billion in the first quarter, according to the Journal. Anthropic, by contrast, told investors it had made progress using computing resources more efficiently, though its methodology for calculating the adjusted profit was not disclosed. The shift leaves OpenAI carrying a larger loss while its rival reports a profit, even as both companies continue to spend heavily on talent and infrastructure.
How the two business models differ
The result highlights how each company converts AI research into sales. Rob Collie, a former Microsoft executive and founding engineer on Power BI who now leads consulting firm P3 Adaptive, said paying corporate customers matter more than free users. "Hundreds of millions of free chatbot users represent OpenAI's head start, but they don't generate revenue. They only generate cost," Collie told the New York Post. "A paying business customer with AI wired into their workflow is a revenue engine. Same core AI technology, two very different businesses — and this quarter, we found out which one is a better business." Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of product design firm RKS Design, credited Anthropic with recognizing earlier that the market was shifting from raw capability to usable products, pointing to its Claude Code tool. "They didn't simply build another powerful model; they focused on a very specific problem where AI could create immediate, measurable value," Sawhney said.
A rivalry rooted in OpenAI's own alumni
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei, OpenAI's former vice president of research, and several colleagues who left in late 2020 amid disagreements over direction, governance and AI safety. His sister Daniela Amodei serves as president, and the company has positioned safety as central to its approach. The two firms have since competed for AI talent, corporate customers and investor dollars, with the personal relationship between Sam Altman and Dario Amodei described as increasingly contentious. OpenAI said in March it had closed a financing deal with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation, while Anthropic followed in May with a $65 billion funding round at a $965 billion post-money valuation, lifting the rival's announced private valuation above OpenAI's.
Other developments
Separately, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told employees at an August 19 all-hands meeting that the company "will be a public company in 2027," and could move this year if "our business continues to inflect," according to a CNBC report cited by PYMNTS. Friar said OpenAI's revenue run rate is up 35% so far this quarter, its enterprise run rate is up 50%, and its AI coding and work product has reached 20 million weekly active users. She added there is no reason for concern if Anthropic goes public first, saying OpenAI "is running our own race." Both companies have filed confidential IPO paperwork; Bloomberg reported on August 13 that Anthropic could reach the market as soon as this fall, and OpenAI said on June 8 it had submitted a confidential S-1 to the SEC.
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