The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI's Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, has privately suggested delaying the company's initial public offering (IPO) from the currently planned 2026 to 2027. This recommendation stems from a close examination of OpenAI's spending commitments and concerns that the company is not yet fully prepared to meet the rigorous reporting standards required of public entities. The Journal previously noted that OpenAI had missed its recent revenue targets.
Friar brings significant experience, having overseen the IPO for Jack Dorsey's payments company Square and the SPAC-enabled public shift for Nextdoor. Her tenure at OpenAI comes as the company is under immense pressure to establish itself as a world-leading colossus poised to reshape technology and the global economy. However, confidence in its ability to realize this vision has reportedly been shakier since the release of ChatGPT.
OpenAI is spending at a historic pace. A report late last year, based on internal documents, highlighted the company's commitment to spending $1.4 trillion over eight years on data centers, projecting a loss of $74 billion in 2028 alone. In contrast, its main rival, Anthropic, is on track to break even in the same year, largely due to its rapid acquisition of revenue-generating enterprise customers. Banks have explicitly told both OpenAI and Anthropic that they are in a "winner-take-all" race to IPO, with the first to market defining the new industry.
Recent reports indicate that Friar has grown concerned about OpenAI's financial outflows in the absence of higher revenue and has sought to curb the company's extensive spending on data centers. This stance reportedly contrasts with CEO Sam Altman's push for an earlier IPO. OpenAI faces the challenge of balancing financial prudence with the strategic imperative of securing a market-defining public offering.