OpenAI Pivots to Enterprise as It Targets Q4 IPO

OpenAI is accelerating its path to a public offering, potentially launching an IPO as soon as Q4 2026, as the company shifts focus to enterprise and productivity to convert its massive user base into high-value compute customers. The company, which kicked off the generative AI boom with ChatGPT in 2022, now has over 900 million weekly active users. But CEO of Applications Fidji Simo told employees in an all-hands meeting last week that the next phase is converting those casual users into high-compute users. Our opportunity now is to take those 900 million users and turn them into high-compute users. We will do that by transforming ChatGPT into a productivity tool. The shift comes as OpenAI races to capture enterprise market share from rivals like Google and Anthropic, which is also weighing an IPO. In December, OpenAI declared a code red effort to improve ChatGPT, pulling back on investments in areas like health, shopping, and advertising. The company is building out its finance team ahead of the public offering. CFO Sarah Friar hired Ajmere Dale, former chief accounting officer at Block, and Cynthia Gaylor, former CFO of DocuSign, earlier this year. Gaylor will oversee investor relations. OpenAI has also recalibrated its spending targets. Instead of the $1.4 trillion figure CEO Sam Altman had been touting, the company now projects roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030. The company is projecting total revenue of more than $280 billion in 2030, with nearly equal contributions from consumer and enterprise businesses. The IPO timeline is subject to change, according to a person familiar with the matter. Primary source: CNBC