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compiled | wu langna

editor | mo ying

zhidongxi news on september 29. according to a report by the new york times on september 27, openai’s internal documents showed that the companymonthly revenue hit $300 million in august, up 1,700% since the beginning of 2023, is expected toannual sales will reach $3.7 billion this year,inchatgpt will bring in $2.7 billion in revenue. openai estimates that its revenue will beswells to us$11.6 billion next year,andreaching $100 billion by 2029。

the current subscription fee for chatgpt is us$20 per month. openai will increase the price of chatgpt by us$2 (i.e. us$22) before the end of this year, and will significantly increase it to us$44 within the next five years.this price has doubled from the current monthly subscription fee of $20. it is reported that thrive capital, as the main investor in openai’s new round of financing, enjoys a privilege, that is, it has the right to invest another $1 billion in openai at the same valuation of $150 billion before 2025.

the company's current ceo altman, technology giant musk and several other technical experts co-founded the non-profit ai research laboratory at the end of 2015, and its board of directors still controls the company's operations.

however, after musk and his money left in 2018, altman transformed the operation into a so-called caped-profit company in order to raise the billions of dollars needed to develop ai. this form of organization provides investors with returns, but these profits are subject to limits. moreover, it has been governed by a non-profit board of directors that is not accountable to investors.

1. it is predicted that openai will lose us$5 billion this year, and the monthly subscription fee of chatgpt will rise to us$44 within 5 years.

openai has been telling investors that its chatbot chatgpt is generating billions of dollars in revenue and expects to earn more in the coming years. however, openai has not clearly disclosed the specific amount of its losses.

however, openai expects to lose about $5 billion this year after paying other expenses such as operating service costs, employee salaries and office rent, according to an analysis by a financial professional who also saw the document. the figures do not include equity-based compensation paid to employees, one of the large expenses not fully explained in the filing.

openai has been sending the documents to potential investors as it hopes to raise $7 billion in a new funding round and boost its valuation to $150 billion, an unprecedented level for a private technology company. it is reported that this round of financing may be completed next week. this is a critical moment for openai, which is experiencing rapid development but has lost some important executives and researchers.

the documents provide the first detailed look at openai's financial results and how it presents itself to investors, but they don't clearly explain how much money the company lost. financing documents also show that openai's spending grows as the number of users of its products increases, so it will need to continue raising new funds over the next year.

openai declined to comment on the documents.

according to the document,openai's revenue more than tripled in august compared to a year ago，as of june this year，approximately 350 million people use its services each month,andin march this number was only about 100 million people。

this is mainly due to the continued popularity of chatgpt, which is scheduled to be released in november 2022. chatgpt saw a spike in user growth after it started allowing people to use the service without creating an account or logging in, according to the filing. the company expects chatgpt to bring in $2.7 billion in revenue this year, up from $700 million in 2023, with $1 billion of that coming from other businesses using its technology.

the document mentioned that approximately 10 million chatgpt users pay the company $20 per month. openai expects to increase that price by $2 by the end of this year and significantly increase it to $44 over the next five years, the document said. more than 1 million third-party developers use openai's technology to power their own services.

openai predicts that its revenue will reach $100 billion in 2029, which is roughly comparable to the current annual sales of nestlé or us retail giant target.

2. openai’s financing may be affected by the departure of senior executives, and thrive capital’s financing privileges have caused dissatisfaction

like other high-profile tech startups over the past few decades, openai is struggling to control costs.

its largest cost is the computing power gained through a partnership with microsoft, which is also a major investor in openai. microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in openai, but openai spends most of its money on microsoft's cloud computing systems, which host openai's products.

in addition to thrive capital, the lead investor in this round, openai is also in talks with microsoft, apple, nvidia, tiger global and mgx, a technology investment company controlled by the united arab emirates, according to three people familiar with the matter.

openai offers investors an unusual deal structure. thrive capital has invested $750 million in openai’s latest funding round, according to a person familiar with the matter. in addition to investing its own capital, the company plans to raise an additional $450 million from other investors using a financial vehicle called a special purpose vehicle.

as the main investor in the financing, thrive also enjoys an unusual privilege: according to the filing, it has the right to invest an additional $1 billion in openai at the same $150 billion valuation next year if openai meets its revenue targets. this could be lucrative for thrive, given that openai's valuation has soared rapidly from $30 billion a year ago to $150 billion today.

none of openai's other investors were offered the same terms, and some were unhappy with the privilege, according to two people familiar with the matter.

conclusion: openai has reached a crossroads of development

openai's financing may be affected by the recent departures of three senior executives. on wednesday evening local time, its cto mira murati resigned, followed by cro bob mcgrew and vice president of research barret zoph.

according to the documents, as part of this round of financing, openai needs to transform into a for-profit enterprise within two years, otherwise its financing will be converted into debt.

core personnel are leaving one after another, a new round of financing is imminent, the company is facing transformation, and openai, the leader in large-scale model reform, has reached a new crossroads. after this round of financing is completed, if the commercialization of openai progresses smoothly, it will provide reference for the industry.