The Information's TITV OpenAI’s Vision of 220 Million Paid Users by 2030, Crypto Winter Will Be Different | Nov 26, 2025
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Nov 26, 2025 Sri Muppidi, a tech reporter at The Information, discusses OpenAI's ambitious goal of achieving 220 million paid ChatGPT users by 2030, emphasizing competition with Google's Gemini. Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments, analyzes market movements in big-tech stocks and debates if the AI sector is in a bubble. Ken Brown, a finance editor, unpacks crypto market dynamics, focusing on stablecoin risks and potential contagion impacts. Finally, sports reporter Sara Germano reveals how AI-generated music is shaping figure skating amid complex licensing challenges.
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OpenAI's Ambitious User And Revenue Targets
- OpenAI projects 2.6 billion weekly users by 2030 and expects at least 8.5% (≈220 million) to pay.
- Sri Muppidi cautions this is ambitious given competition like Google's Gemini catching up.
Free Users Strain OpenAI's Margins
- Non-paying users drive heavy inference costs while only paying users generate revenue for OpenAI.
- Sri Muppidi notes OpenAI's gross margins are roughly 50% because of these free-tier costs.
Leverage Freemium For Enterprise Sales
- Use consumer freemium adoption as a bottoms-up sales channel into enterprise deals.
- Sri Muppidi explains OpenAI upsells individuals to Plus/Pro, then enterprises adopt enterprise plans.