Nasdaq Falls 1.3% in Worst Day Since Mid-August After Report Puts OpenAI Revenue $20 Billion Below Earlier Signal

The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3% on Thursday, its steepest one-day decline since mid-August, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%, according to coverage by CNN and Barron’s. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had set record closes earlier in the week.

The selloff accelerated at midday after the Financial Times reported that materials OpenAI shared with investors put the company’s annualized revenue near $50 billion, about $20 billion below a $70 billion figure previously reported in media coverage, according to CNN. CNN reported that the gap reflects different accounting approaches: OpenAI’s figure is based on net revenue, while the higher figure was tied to comparisons with Anthropic that include gross revenue passed through cloud providers. OpenAI declined to comment, according to CNN.

AI-linked shares lead the decline

Losses spread across chipmakers and other companies tied to the artificial intelligence buildout. Nvidia fell 2.9%, Intel dropped 5.3% and Oracle declined 5.5% on Thursday, according to CNN. Analysts quoted in the coverage said the report landed in a market that had become heavily dependent on a narrow group of AI stocks after recent record highs, making prices sensitive to any sign that demand or revenue growth might be slower than expected.

The move also came as other parts of the market faced pressure from elevated bond yields and higher oil prices earlier in the session, before yields pulled back and crude eased from its intraday highs, according to MarketWatch coverage cited in market reports.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN, Barron’s and MarketWatch.