KIANEWS 
HMD Global today unveiled its latest smartphone, the HMD Fusion, an affordable device whose idea is to change functions and style with a shell. This is how the HMD Fusion will initially be distributed, but additional devices will be available later this year.
ChatGPT Now Has 700 Million Weekly Users
05. 08. 2025 Tuesday / By: Robert Denes / Generic / Exact time: BST / Print this page
A ortificial intelligence company OpenAI has confirmed that its ChatGPT service surpassed 700 million weekly active users this week. The number of users was recently reported in connection with OpenAI’s new funding. ChatGPT continues to grow rapidly. In March alone, the service had 500 million weekly users. In the past year, the number of users has more than quadrupled.
The user count includes all ChatGPT users, both paid subscribers and free users. Users send more than three billion messages to ChatGPT every day. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT now has five million business users using the paid version of the service, up from three million in June.
OpenAI’s revenue has also been growing rapidly. On July 31, The Information reported that OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue had risen to $12 billion. The New York Times, however, reports that recurring revenue is now closer to $13 billion, and forecasts suggest it will reach nearly $20 billion by the end of the year.
OpenAI itself projects that its reported revenue will grow to $12.7 billion by 2025, up from $3.7 billion in 2024. OpenAI derives most of its revenue from paid ChatGPT subscriptions. Despite the rapid revenue growth, OpenAI’s cash flow remains significantly negative, and the company continues to need new funding on a recurring basis.
OpenAI recently raised $8.3 billion in funding at a valuation of $300 billion. The new funding is part of a $40 billion funding package that OpenAI announced in late March and early April.
OpenAI originally raised $2.5 billion from various venture capitalists in the spring, with contributions from SoftBank. The intention was to raise a further €7.5 billion by 2025, but this funding has already been realised to a slightly higher extent than planned.
Japan’s SoftBank initially contributed $7.5 billion of the $40 billion funding package announced in the spring, with a further $22.5 billion by the end of 2025. Other significant investors in the spring included Microsoft and private equity firms Coatue, Altimeter and Thrive.
The additional $8.3 billion was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, which invested $2.8 billion in OpenAI. In addition, Blackstone, TPG, T. Rowe Price, Altimeter Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, and Thrive Capital also contributed to the funding.
Previously, OpenAI's funding from Japan's SoftBank came with the condition that OpenAI must change its structure to be for-profit by the end of 2025, otherwise SoftBank's contribution could be reduced to $20 billion.
Currently, OpenAI remains managed by the nonprofit OpenAI, Inc., under which the for-profit subsidiary OpenAI Global LLC operates. According to reports, OpenAI plans to become a for-profit company in which investors and a separate nonprofit arm would hold shares in the future.
However, in early May, OpenAI was forced to announce that it was partially abandoning its plans to become a for-profit company and was planning to change its structure in a different and smaller way than previously planned. OpenAI is still in talks with its main funder and contractual partner, Microsoft.
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