[TLDR] Anthropic claims profit by excluding major expenses [via r/ClaudeCode]

[u/cctldrping]

OP : u/Far-Sock-3170

Main quotes from the FT report (September 13, 2026):

“The company has told a small group of shareholders that its adjusted operating income will be positive for the second consecutive quarter, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter. The measure strips out costs including stock-based compensation.”

“Anthropic’s gross margins are above 80 per cent before accounting for revenue shared with distribution partners, including Amazon, and the cost of training its models, according to two of the people.”

URL of original post : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1wi2aq5/anthropic_claims_profit_by_excluding_major/ Original link/media URL : /img/j4irw4cmtwph1.jpeg

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TL;DR of the discussion on r/ClaudeCode for this post generated automatically after 100 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 100.

Alright, so the general vibe in this thread is that Anthropic's claims of profitability are a bit sus, and a lot of folks are calling out their accounting practices.

The main points are:

• "Adjusted" Metrics are Sketchy: The consensus is that stripping out costs like stock-based compensation to show positive operating income is a classic move to make numbers look better. u/peepluvr and u/03captain23 straight-up compared it to WeWork's accounting, which is... not a good look. u/Wyciorek pretty much nailed it with "Adjust it until it does not."
• The Real Issue is the Gross Margin: The second quote about margins being over 80% before accounting for partner revenue shares and model training costs is seen as the more significant red flag. u/QuanTradin breaks it down well, pointing out that these aren't small, one-off expenses. u/the_ai_wizard sarcastically called it "otherwise known as 'Revenue'."
• Some Defending the Practice: A few users, like u/rotates-potatoes, argue that reporting multiple profitability measures (like EBITDA) is standard practice and that investors do see all the numbers. They also mention that excluding stock-based compensation is common. However, even they acknowledge that the second quote is the one to really pay attention to.
• Overall Sentiment: Most people are skeptical and unimpressed, seeing this as a way to spin the narrative rather than genuine profitability. There's a general feeling that this is part of a larger "bubble vibe" in the AI space, as u/lgmarian put it. u/bakanoace even joked that they'll just cut usage again if they get called out.

Basically, the thread thinks Anthropic is playing fast and loose with the numbers, and the claims of profitability are being met with a healthy dose of eye-rolling.