Home
OpenAI internal letter: Anthropic overstated revenue by $8 billion, still less than OpenAI's

A leaked four-page internal memo from Denice Drescher, OpenAI's Chief Revenue Officer, reportedly obtained by Readhub, sharply questions the revenue figures recently released by rival Anthropic, calling them "heavily inflated" and alleging that Anthropic's products cannot sustain platform-level competition.
The Core Dispute: Financial Gimmicks Behind the $30 Billion Figure
A week ago, Anthropic announced that its annualized revenue had hit $30 billion, seemingly surpassing OpenAI at a stroke. But the memo claims those numbers are inflated:
Statistical Differences: OpenAI accuses Anthropic of using the "gross method" for revenue sharing with cloud providers, padding its revenue by $8 billion.
True Ranking: If recalculated using the "net method" standard for public companies, Anthropic 's actual annualized revenue would be around $22 billion — still below OpenAI 's $25 billion.
Compute Bottleneck: The memo claims Anthropic has been unable to secure sufficient compute capacity, resulting in a subpar user experience for its flagship model Claude in real-world use.
Strategic Battle: A Niche Developer Tool vs. an Enterprise Platform
Beyond the financial accusations, OpenAI took a swipe at Anthropic's overall product strategy:
Product Specialization: It criticized Anthropic for being overly focused on coding use cases — while technically deep, such specialization makes it hard to win the broader platform battle.
System Building: OpenAI portrays itself as building a full enterprise AI ecosystem, devoted to "democratizing AI," rather than just a single-purpose tool.
Talent Acquisition: On the same day, OpenAI announced it had acquired the AI finance app company Hiro Finance. The move is seen as a deliberate "learning" effort — by absorbing financial talent to bolster its presence in lifestyle and professional use cases, it aims to counter Anthropic 's vertical push.
Industry Perspective: The Anxiety Beneath an $85.2 Billion Valuation
Beneath the public sparring lies the capital market's growing caution about the AI bubble:
Valuation Discount: Although OpenAI's valuation has reached $85.2 billion, investors are increasingly skeptical about its strategic pivot and revenue authenticity.
Market Trends: In contrast, Anthropic shares have been eagerly bought in the secondary market, while OpenAI shares have been largely ignored — a dynamic that may explain the aggressive tone of this internal memo.
Conclusion: The Model Crisis Behind the Revenue Race
That OpenAI would leak an internal memo to damage a competitor's credibility signals just how brutal the AI race has become. For users, the real question isn't who reports higher revenue — it's who, in an era of compute scarcity, can deliver true AGI without compromising intelligence or cooking the books.
Related article
Doubao Unveils Skills, Connectors, and Work Partners to Transform Chat Assistant Into Smart Office Platform
Doubao has recently upgraded its task mode with three new features—skills, connectors, and work partners—significantly boosting its collaborative office capabilities. With over 200 skills and connectors already available, the platform also empowers u
Apple HomePod mini 2 Set for Autumn Debut, Powered by Custom AI Chip After Six-Year Development
It has been nearly six years since the Apple HomePod mini launched, and an update is finally on the horizon. Recent reports suggest the second-generation model could arrive this fall, with the extended wait attributed to the need for next-generation
OpenAI Adds Independent Safety Checks to Early AI Model Development
As worries about AI risks intensify, OpenAI has unveiled new safety governance measures. The company plans to move beyond its traditional internal testing loop by engaging independent third-party organizations earlier in the development cycle for sys
Related Special Topic Recommendations
Comments (0)
0/500

A leaked four-page internal memo from Denice Drescher, OpenAI's Chief Revenue Officer, reportedly obtained by Readhub, sharply questions the revenue figures recently released by rival Anthropic, calling them "heavily inflated" and alleging that Anthropic's products cannot sustain platform-level competition.
The Core Dispute: Financial Gimmicks Behind the $30 Billion Figure
A week ago,
Statistical Differences:
True Ranking: If recalculated using the "net method" standard for public companies,
Compute Bottleneck: The memo claims
Strategic Battle: A Niche Developer Tool vs. an Enterprise Platform
Beyond the financial accusations, OpenAI took a swipe at Anthropic's overall product strategy:
Product Specialization: It criticized
System Building:
Talent Acquisition: On the same day, OpenAI announced it had acquired the AI finance app company Hiro Finance. The move is seen as a deliberate "learning" effort — by absorbing financial talent to bolster its presence in lifestyle and professional use cases, it aims to counter
Industry Perspective: The Anxiety Beneath an $85.2 Billion Valuation
Beneath the public sparring lies the capital market's growing caution about the AI bubble:
Valuation Discount: Although OpenAI's valuation has reached $85.2 billion, investors are increasingly skeptical about its strategic pivot and revenue authenticity.
Market Trends: In contrast,
Conclusion: The Model Crisis Behind the Revenue Race
That OpenAI would leak an internal memo to damage a competitor's credibility signals just how brutal the AI race has become. For users, the real question isn't who reports higher revenue — it's who, in an era of compute scarcity, can deliver true AGI without compromising intelligence or cooking the books.
Doubao Unveils Skills, Connectors, and Work Partners to Transform Chat Assistant Into Smart Office Platform
Doubao has recently upgraded its task mode with three new features—skills, connectors, and work partners—significantly boosting its collaborative office capabilities. With over 200 skills and connectors already available, the platform also empowers u
Apple HomePod mini 2 Set for Autumn Debut, Powered by Custom AI Chip After Six-Year Development
It has been nearly six years since the Apple HomePod mini launched, and an update is finally on the horizon. Recent reports suggest the second-generation model could arrive this fall, with the extended wait attributed to the need for next-generation
OpenAI Adds Independent Safety Checks to Early AI Model Development
As worries about AI risks intensify, OpenAI has unveiled new safety governance measures. The company plans to move beyond its traditional internal testing loop by engaging independent third-party organizations earlier in the development cycle for sys











