OpenAI Ad Business Hits $1B Revenue Milestone

OpenAI announced its advertising business, launched roughly 200 days ago within ChatGPT, has crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue. The company is expanding ads to over 40 new countries and targeting $2.5 billion in ad revenue by year-end, with total annualized revenue projected to exceed $40 billion. The milestone comes as OpenAI faces pressure to justify its $852 billion valuation ahead of a potential IPO. Despite $6.7 billion in Q2 sales, the company posted a $12.3 billion operating loss and trailed rival Anthropic, which reported $11.6 billion in revenue and a small profit over the same period.