Why Is OpenAI Losing Money? The Real Reason Sora Shut Down/Why Sora died

Why is OpenAI losing money, and why was Sora shut down? In October 2025, Sora was the No. 1 app on the US App Store. Six months later OpenAI switched it off, and one week after that it raised $122 billion. This video opens the case file. IN THIS VIDEO • How Sora hit No. 1 and 1 million downloads in under five days • The warning from Sora's own boss: "the economics are currently completely unsustainable" • Deepfakes, copyright fights, and Disney's $1 billion deal that didn't stop the slide • Inside OpenAI's audited books: $13.07B in revenue vs about $34B in costs in 2025, roughly $57M lost a day • Why the $38.5B loss headline is real, but inflated by a $41.5B paper charge • 900 million weekly users, 50 million paying: the free-rider problem • The FT's $278B cash-burn projection, and why the $122B round is on track to run out by 2028 • The four words Sam Altman used to explain it all Genius, or bubble? Tell me in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 The case file 0:45 The hit 1:27 The warning 2:15 Deepfakes and copyright 3:17 Disney, and the slide 4:20 The shutdown 5:20 Inside OpenAI's books 6:28 The myth and the free riders 7:09 The $278 billion bill 8:28 Four words SOURCES TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/ope... TechCrunch: https://www.techcrunch.com/2026/01/29... CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/09/opena... TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/ope... TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/sor... Bill Peebles on X: https://x.com/billpeeb/status/1984011... Digital Trends: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computi... Yahoo Tech: https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/chatgpt/art... TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/ope... Deadline: https://deadline.com/2025/10/openai-p... Tom's Guide: https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/openai-t... WinBuzzer: https://winbuzzer.com/2025/10/20/open... CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/11/disne... CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/tech/d... Dataconomy: https://dataconomy.com/2026/04/02/alt... Consequence: https://consequence.net/2026/03/disne... The Decoder: https://the-decoder.com/openai-sets-t... OpenAI on X: https://x.com/OpenAI/status/203908516... Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl... Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/tec... Where's Your Ed At: https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive... Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/sto... TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/cha... Reuters: https://www.investing.com/news/econom... Bloomberg Law: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environ... Fortune: https://fortune.com/2026/09/12/sam-al... iHeartMedia: https://www.iheartmedia.com/press/vet... Hollywood Reporter: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bus... Deadline: https://deadline.com/2026/04/sam-altm... Gulf News (AFP/WSJ): https://gulfnews.com/technology/compa... Per-day, ratio and comparison figures are my own maths from these sources. Subscribe to Million Dollar Mistakes for more breakdowns of AI, business and the money behind it. A channel by Agent Forja. #OpenAI #Sora #AI