May 3, 2026 — OpenAI is navigating a critical juncture as internal disagreements surface regarding its public listing strategy, coinciding with reports of slowing user growth and a loss of revenue leadership to rival anthropic.
IPO Strategy: altman vs. Friar
A significant strategic divergence has emerged between openai’s leadership. While CEO Sam Altman advocates for an aggressive Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the fourth quarter of 2026 to secure market dominance, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has privately advised delaying the listing until 2027.
Friar’s caution stems from concerns that the company has not yet met the rigorous financial reporting Standards required for public markets. Despite a joint public statement asserting "complete alignment" on compute procurement, sources indicate deep friction regarding the company's financial readiness and spending pace.
Revenue and User Growth Slowdown
The push for a delay is underpinned by decelerating growth metrics:
User Stagnation: OpenAI missed its internal target of 1 billion weekly ACTive users for ChatGPT by the end of last year. As of February 2026, weekly active users stood at 900 million, showing a marked deceleration from the 800 million recorded in December 2025.
Revenue DeFicit: OpenAI’s annualized revenue is currently estimated at APProximately $25 billion. In a major shift, competitor Anthropic surpassed this figure in April, reaching over $30 billion in annualized recurring revenue (ARR).
Market competition: Growth has been dampened by Google’s Gemini capturing consumer market share and Anthropic’s Claude Code gaining significant traction in the developer sector.
Compute Spending and Financial Warnings
The financial dispute also extends to capital expenditure. While Altman previously presented a slide indicating a $1.4 trillion commitment to new compute infrastructure, Friar clarified to investors that the actual plan involves a $600 billion expenditure through 2030.
Friar has issued warnings to management that if revenue growth does not accelerate, the company may face challenges in fulfilling future data center contracts. This financial prudence is Informed by her experience during Square’s 2015 IPO, where market conditions forced a Valuation cut, a scenario she aims to avoid repeating.
Market Implications
Investment banks have signaled that the first mover in this sector will likely define the industry and capture significant capital. Goldman Sachs is expected to serve as the lead underwriter for OpenAI. While OpenAI executives have initiated preliminary discussions with exchanges, the formal IPO process has not yet commenced.
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