OpenAI is making its most deliberate move yet towards a public stock market listing. This week, the company confirmed it is raising an additional $10 billion from investors, bringing its total funding round to more than $120 billion. At the same time, it is cutting consumer products, refocusing on business customers, and signalling to Wall Street that it is serious about profitability. The pieces of an IPO are falling into place.
A Round That Keeps Growing
The latest tranche of investment comes from a broad group of firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, T. Rowe Price, TPG, D.E. Shaw Ventures, and Microsoft. OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, confirmed the raise in an interview this week and said the company expects to shift its revenue mix by the end of the year. Currently, around 60 per cent of revenue comes from consumers. Friar says that by the end of 2026, the split will be closer to 50-50 between consumers and enterprise clients. For investors watching the company's path to profitability, that shift matters considerably.
Sora Goes, Enterprise Stays
The clearest sign of OpenAI's strategic shift came on Tuesday, when the company announced it is shutting down Sora, its AI video-generation app. The product had attracted attention after its launch but also drew criticism over deepfakes and copyright concerns. With an IPO approaching, those liabilities become harder to justify. Fidji Simo, OpenAI's chief executive of applications, told staff in an all-hands meeting earlier this month that the company is pausing all "side quests" to focus on coding tools and business productivity. The message to potential investors is straightforward: this is a company that knows where its money will come from.
Infrastructure Ambitions Scaled Back
OpenAI is also adjusting its spending plans. Chief executive Sam Altman had spoken of $1.4 trillion in long-term infrastructure commitments last year. That figure has since been revised down to roughly $600 billion through 2030, in line with updated revenue forecasts. At BlackRock's US Infrastructure Summit earlier this month, Altman acknowledged the difficulties of building data centres at scale, pointing to operational failures at its Abilene, Texas campus as an example of the challenges involved. Analysts note that the revised spending plan sends a more credible message ahead of a listing than earlier, more ambitious targets did.
A Market Watching Closely
OpenAI is not alone in preparing for the public markets. SpaceX is reportedly filing IPO documents this week, with a potential raise of more than $75 billion. The two listings, if both proceed, would represent a landmark moment for the technology sector. For OpenAI, the immediate question is whether its enterprise pivot can deliver the revenue growth that public market investors will expect. The company is targeting a Q4 listing, though the timing remains subject to market conditions. With $120 billion raised and a clearer business model taking shape, the odds of that timeline holding are improving.
