• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Big TechOpenAI

OpenAI’s ‘flatlining’ subs in Europe: The AI boom’s poster child may be struggling to recruit new subscribers, Deutsche Bank warns

Jim Edwards
By
Jim Edwards
Jim Edwards
Executive Editor, Global News
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 14, 2025, 10:53 AM ET
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAIFlorian Gaertner—Photothek/Getty Images

User spending on ChatGPT has “stalled” and “the value of OpenAI subscriptions, which surged from a standing start in January 2023, has flatlined in the major European markets over the past four months,” according to new data published by Deutsche Bank.

Recommended Video

OpenAI made a $500 billion commitment to buy 10 gigawatts of custom-designed chips from Broadcom yesterday, and has previously committed to spending $1 trillion with Nvidia, AMD, and Oracle. But “the poster child for the AI boom may be struggling to recruit new subscribers to pay for it,” said analysts Adrian Cox and Stefan Abrudan in a note to clients today.

Their data was drawn from transactions processed by third-party financial institutions in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, representing 15% of ChatGPT users.

OpenAI has previously said it had 20 million paying subscribers and 1 billion weekly active users, and will generate $13 billion in revenue this year. More Europeans pay for ChatGPT than subscribe to Disney Plus, Cox and Abrudan wrote.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
About the Author
Jim Edwards
By Jim EdwardsExecutive Editor, Global News
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jim Edwards is the executive editor for global news at Fortune. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Business Insider's news division and the founding editor of Business Insider UK. His investigative journalism has changed the law in two U.S. federal districts and two states. The U.S. Supreme Court cited his work on the death penalty in the concurrence to Baze v. Rees, the ruling on whether lethal injection is cruel or unusual. He also won the Neal award for an investigation of bribes and kickbacks on Madison Avenue.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Big Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

Latest in Big Tech

LawAmazon
Amazon is cutting checks to millions of customers as part of a $2.5 billion FTC settlement. Here’s who qualifies and how to get paid
By Sydney LakeJanuary 6, 2026
13 hours ago
musk
AISocial Media
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot draws global backlash for generating sexualized images of women and children without consent
By Kelvin Chan and The Associated PressJanuary 6, 2026
14 hours ago
AINvidia
A year ago, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said the ‘ChatGPT moment’ for robotics was around the corner. Now he says it’s ‘nearly here.’ But is it?
By Sharon GoldmanJanuary 6, 2026
16 hours ago
AIX
Elon Musk ex Ashley St. Clair says she’s considering legal action after xAI produced fake sexualized images of her
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 6, 2026
22 hours ago
Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman
AIChips
After Nvidia’s Groq deal, meet the other AI chip startups that may be in play—and one looking to disrupt them all
By Sharon GoldmanJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
AItech stocks
Is the AI boom a bubble waiting to pop? Here’s what history says
By Henry Ren, Carmen Reinicke and BloombergJanuary 4, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Janet Yellen warns the $38 trillion national debt is testing a red line economists have feared for decades
By Eva RoytburgJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Blackstone exec says elite Ivy League degrees aren’t good enough—new analysts need to 'work harder' and be nice 
By Ashley LutzJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Experienced software developers assumed AI would save them a chunk of time. But in one experiment, their tasks took 20% longer
By Sasha RogelbergJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, January 5, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Mark Cuban on the $38 trillion national debt and the absurdity of U.S. healthcare: we wouldn't pay for potato chips like this
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 6, 2026
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
'Employers are increasingly turning to degree and GPA' in hiring: Recruiters retreat from ‘talent is everywhere,’ double down on top colleges
By Jake AngeloJanuary 6, 2026
14 hours ago

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.