Internal rift: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar pumps the brakes on 2026 IPO

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has reportedly raised concerns internally about the company's plans for a stock market listing in 2026. According to The Information, cited by Reuters on April 6, 2026, Friar told colleagues that OpenAI may not be ready for an IPO in Q4 2026 — the timeline CEO Sam Altman has been pushing for.

Friar is said to have questioned the necessity of OpenAI's massive planned spending on AI servers, particularly given signs of slowing revenue growth. The company expects an operating loss of $8 billion in 2025 and plans to spend approximately $115 billion through 2029, primarily on data centers, proprietary AI chips, and model training.

OpenAI recently closed a $122 billion funding round and is now valued at $852 billion. However, Friar reportedly believes the organizational and procedural groundwork required to meet public market standards is not yet in place, and is said to favor 2027 as a more realistic IPO target.

The disagreement between Friar and Altman highlights tensions inside a company experiencing rapid growth while shouldering enormous costs and uncertainty about future revenue.

OpenAI has not officially confirmed any IPO timeline.