OpenAI CFO Friar tells investors that enterprise bigger than consumer

Published: August 14, 2026 — CNBC

Key Points

• OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar met with investors following C-suite turmoil including revenue chief Denise Dresser’s departure
• Enterprise revenue now exceeds ChatGPT consumer revenue — crossover two quarters ahead of forecast
• Annualized revenue run rate hit $40 billion; July revenue up 20% MoM, business customers up 32%
• Advertising approaching $1 billion run rate; enterprise customers shifted from “tokenmaxxing” to cost-per-intelligence focus

At the end of a week of turmoil in OpenAI’s C-suite, finance chief Sarah Friar held a meeting with investors on Friday and touted the company’s growth in enterprise, which she said now accounts for more revenue than the ChatGPT-led consumer business.

“We entered the year at 60-40, but enterprise has accelerated much faster than expected and those lines have now crossed,” Friar said, according to a person who was in attendance but asked not to be named due to confidentiality. “The majority of our revenue is now enterprise.”

That puts OpenAI ahead of its previous forecast, as Friar told CNBC earlier this year that the company expected those businesses to reach parity by the end of 2026. OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate has hit $40 billion, CNBC has confirmed, after Bloomberg was first to report on the figure.

OpenAI’s run rate increased 20% month over month in July, and business customers “grew even faster,” up 32%, according to slides viewed by CNBC.

Friday’s meeting was planned before this week’s executive departures. Revenue chief Denise Dresser stepped down after eight months; Brad Lightcap also announced departure earlier in the week.

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, joined the meeting. He thanked Dresser and highlighted replacement Dali Rajic (former Wiz COO). Executives brushed off open-source Chinese model competition concerns. IPO timing questions were declined due to confidential SEC filing.

Friar emphasized enterprise customers have moved from “tokenmaxxing” to “focusing on cost per unit of intelligence,” citing the newest model being “54% more efficient” on agentic coding tasks and recent price reductions.

Friar also said advertising is approaching a $1 billion run rate. The company began testing ads in ChatGPT in February.

Revenue drivers cited by Bloomberg include AI coding products (Codex), ChatGPT Work agents, subscription growth, and early advertising.

OpenAI ended 2025 with more than $20 billion annualized revenue per Friar’s January business review — roughly doubled in under a year.