The most anticipated IPO in tech history is entering its most consequential phase. OpenAI confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC on May 22, 2026, and the public version is expected to land on SEC EDGAR any day now — the first complete view of the company’s finances, Microsoft partnership terms, and unit economics ahead of a September listing target.
The Numbers: $2B Monthly Revenue, $14B Projected 2026 Loss
The S-1 will reveal details that have been closely guarded since OpenAI’s founding. The company is generating approximately $2 billion in monthly revenue on an annualized basis — roughly $25 billion in annual recurring revenue — but continues to burn cash at an extraordinary rate.
Projected losses for 2026 total approximately $14 billion, meaning OpenAI loses about $1.22 for every $1.00 of revenue it generates. The loss figure includes heavy investments in compute infrastructure, talent acquisition, and the ambitious Stargate project to build data centers across the United States.
The Microsoft Question
One of the most scrutinized aspects of the S-1 will be the Microsoft revenue-sharing arrangement. The partnership, which began with a $1 billion investment in 2019 and expanded to $10 billion in 2023, includes complex terms around Azure compute pricing, revenue splits on certain products, and equity dilution.
Investors will be looking for clarity on how much of OpenAI’s revenue actually flows through Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure — and what happens to those economics if OpenAI builds its own compute capacity through Stargate.
The $1 Trillion Question
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering, with a target valuation above $1 trillion. The number would make OpenAI the most valuable company in the world by a significant margin — dwarfing the largest tech IPOs in history.
The valuation math depends heavily on assumptions about future revenue growth, path to profitability, and the competitive landscape. OpenAI’s position as the creator of ChatGPT — now crossing 1 billion users — provides a consumer brand that no other AI company matches.
The Governance Structure
The S-1 will also detail OpenAI’s unusual governance structure. The company transitioned from a nonprofit board to a capped-profit structure under OpenAI LP, with significant oversight from the original nonprofit. Any changes to this structure — or the nonprofit’s ongoing role — will be closely examined by regulators and investors.
Why It Matters
OpenAI’s IPO will be the defining Wall Street event of 2026 — and likely one of the most significant tech public offerings in history. The S-1 disclosure will answer fundamental questions about whether frontier AI companies can build sustainable businesses at massive scale, and what the path to profitability actually looks like.
For the broader AI industry, the filing will provide a template for how investors should value AI companies — and what metrics matter most when evaluating companies that are simultaneously burning cash and growing revenue at unprecedented rates.