OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit dedicated to promoting friendly Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Due to the massive capital requirements, it transitioned in 2019 to a "capped-profit" structure (OpenAI Group) governed by the non-profit Foundation.

This structure allowed for huge capital raising, notably a multi-billion dollar strategic partnership with Microsoft beginning in 2019. Microsoft is an investor (with a 27% stake as of late 2025) and its exclusive cloud provider (Azure), though this exclusivity is now being eased.

The public release of ChatGPT in late 2022 triggered explosive revenue growth:

• 2024 Revenue: Generated approximately $5.5 billion in annual revenue (loss of $\sim\$5$ billion).

• 2025 Revenue Run Rate: Surged to an estimated $10 billion as of June 2025, and $\sim\$13$ billion by July 2025, with CEO Sam Altman projecting a run rate of $20 billion by the end of 2025.

• Revenue Sources: The bulk of revenue (up to 75%) comes from ChatGPT subscriptions and its API platform, which allows businesses to integrate its models (like GPT-4o) into their products.

• Valuation: The company's private valuation has soared, reaching $157 billion in a late 2024 funding round and $500 billion in a subsequent share sale in late 2025.

OpenAI is currently focusing on achieving technological dominance, exemplified by its massive compute infrastructure commitments (such as the multi-trillion dollar Stargate project), despite the high operational costs.