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How OpenAI uses complex and circular deals to fuel its multibillion-dollar rise

(www.nytimes.com)
387 points reaperducer | 1 comments | 31 Oct 25 13:03 UTC | HN request time: 0.292s | source
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nova22033 ◴[31 Oct 25 14:59 UTC] No.45772702[source]▶
Related

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1...

Microsoft seemingly just revealed that OpenAI lost $11.5B last quarter

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guywithahat ◴[31 Oct 25 15:07 UTC] No.45772839[source]▶
It's incredible how Tesla used to lose a few hundred million a year and analysis shows would freak out claiming they'd never be profitable. Now Rivian can lose 5 billion a year and I don't hear anything about it, and OpenAI can lose 11 billion in a quarter and Microsoft still backs them.

I do think this is going to be a deeply profitable industry, but this feels a little like the WeWork CEO flying couches to offices in private jets

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randomNumber7 ◴[31 Oct 25 15:10 UTC] No.45772879[source]▶
The winner takes it all, so it is reasonable to bet big to be the one.
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1. runarberg ◴[31 Oct 25 15:17 UTC] No.45772998[source]▶
Does the winner take it all?

I agree this is a reasonable bet though but for different reason, I believe this is a large scale exploitation where money is systematically siphoned away from workers and into billionaires via e.g. hedgefunds, bailouts, dividend payouts, underpay, wagetheft, etc. And the more they blow out this bubble the more money they can exploit out from workers. As such it is not really a bet, but rather the cost of business. Profits are guaranteed as long as workers are willing to work for yours.