OpenAI’s Fler advocates a 2027 IPO, while Altman supports a Q4 2026 listing

OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar’s cautious stance on the company’s IPO timeline within 2026 has diverged from the Q4 2026 listing plan publicly backed by CEO Sam Altman. Citing the Wall Street Journal, CNBC reported that Friar raised concerns with colleagues—OpenAI has already signed compute and infrastructure contracts totaling nearly $1 trillion, but its annualized revenue is currently only about $25 billion. If revenue growth cannot keep pace, she worries future compute bills may be difficult to pay. OpenAI previously issued public denials of internal disagreements twice within three weeks.

The core numerical gap: a $1 trillion compute contract vs. $25 billion in annualized revenue

In multiple internal meetings, Friar voiced concerns to other executives: the value of OpenAI’s cumulative compute and data center contracts is approaching $1 trillion (covering service periods over the coming years), but current annualized revenue is only about $25 billion. This commitment-to-revenue gap of more than 40 times is the core reason Friar is cautious about the IPO schedule—public companies must have predictable revenue growth that can cover existing commitments; otherwise, the market will reflect the risk of default through discounting.

This outlet reported on 4/28 that OpenAI’s 2025 ChatGPT failed to meet revenue targets, and that Friar publicly warned the company’s compute spending may not be sustainable. This WSJ report is the concrete IPO-timeline implication of that concern—Friar favors a 2027 listing, giving the company another year to build financial discipline.

Altman’s position: Q4 2026 listing, with valuation commitments made public

Altman, meanwhile, has publicly expressed a preference for listing in Q4 2026 and has mentioned expected valuations in multiple meetings. The gap between the CFO and CEO’s stances has taken shape as a scheduling choice—an extra year affects both internal financial governance at OpenAI and external market expectations. At the company level, OpenAI has issued statements twice denying internal disagreements, but WSJ’s disclosure that the two senior executives hold different views has continued to persist.

Observers note that during the transition from a research institution to a commercial entity, it is common for tensions to arise when the CFO and CEO are not aligned on how they define “maturity.” On 5/2, OpenAI released strong commercial data one week after launching GPT-5.5, but the gap between a $1 trillion commitment and $25 billion in revenue still needs to be filled over the next few years.

What to watch next: finalizing the IPO timeline and the revenue-growth trajectory

The next point to watch is whether OpenAI publicly selects an IPO timing in the first half of 2026. If it follows Friar’s recommended 2027 timeline, the market will interpret it as prioritizing governance discipline; if it follows Altman’s Q4 2026 plan, OpenAI will need to spell out in its S-1 filing the installment structure of the $1 trillion compute commitment and the revenue-growth assumptions. Another point to watch is whether OpenAI’s annualized revenue can keep rising in 2026 from the current $25 billion level, especially across the three main pillars: Codex, ChatGPT subscriptions, and enterprise APIs.

This article, with Friar at OpenAI advocating a 2027 IPO while Altman supports a Q4 2026 listing, first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.