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- Futures point higher after AI sell-off hits major U.S. tech names.
- Investors are spooked by a perceived $20 billion shortfall in OpenAI’s revenue statement.
- Oil prices are retreating after President Donald Trump says U.S. forces will not strike Iran again before the midterm elections.
- There is significant travel and domestic disruption in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, amid escalating Houthi attacks.
A pop-up shop for “dots” a personal assistant agent at the OpenAI developers conference allows attendees to design stickers of their agents at Fort Mason on Sept. 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Heather Diehl | Getty Images
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
When you are justifying a valuation of over $850 billion, every metric matters.
OpenAI’s latest annual revenue estimate, confirmed by CNBC, has spooked investors by falling short of previous statements, and the market has taken it out on technology stocks.
Read on for more.
What you need to know today
A $20 billion differential from month-to-month is bound to draw negative attention.
OpenAI has told investors that annualized revenue hit $50 billion at the end of September, in a statement confirmed by CNBC. That falls significantly short of the $68 billion figure widely reported last month.
First revealed by the Financial Times, the discrepancy spooked investors, who flocked to sell AI stocks from Nvidia to Oracle to CoreWeave.
It comes at a sensitive time for OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman has confirmed the group will not try to IPO this year, but the company is still looking to justify a valuation that tops $850 billion.
You can watch CNBC’s full interview with Altman and CNBC’s Kate Rooney from the group’s DevDay last week here.
For now, futures are bouncing back from Thursday’s declines, with all three major markets set to open higher on Friday.
Public problems
Meanwhile, Anthropic is reportedly seeking a $2 trillion valuation in its upcoming listing on the Nasdaq. In a recent note, research firm New Constructs described it as “the most ridiculous IPO of 2026,” adding that it “presents far bigger risks and is positioned to be a far bigger rip-off of U.S. capital markets.”
In other IPO news, a Nvidia-backed AI group in Australia, Firmus, has withdrawn its IPO, citing market volatility. It would have been the second-largest new share sale in Australia’s history.
Iran on hold
Oil prices are retreating on Friday, following a steep drop on Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said that America will not attack Iran before the midterm elections. Earlier in the week, his comments about renewed strikes had driven Brent back above $104 a barrel.
Saudi travel disruptions
An escalation in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia‘s capital Riyadh has prompted flight cancellations and disruption to workplaces and schools. Yemen’s Iran-backed group claimed to fire missiles at the Saudi capital’s airport, and threatened to shut Saudi airspace.
CNBC is continuing to monitor the situation, which now looks set to impact two major events due to take place in Riyadh over the coming weeks.
— Leonie Kidd
And Finally…
‘Real boss of India?’: Elon Musk takes aim at Indian billionaire Ambani as Starlink launch stalls
SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Thursday took a shot at Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, a day after he accused certain “oligarchs” of stalling the launch of his company’s Starlink internet service in the country.
Musk said Starlink was not being allowed to launch in India despite having spent “five years complying with every single law and requirement” of the government.
“Is Ambani the real boss of India?” Musk questioned in a post, having blamed a day earlier “oligarchs” in the country for maintaining a “monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people.”
— Priyanka Salve
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