Leaked Documents Shed Light Into How Much Openai Pays Microsoft

After a twelvemonth of frenzied dealmaking and rumors of an upcoming IPO, nan financial scrutiny into OpenAI is intensifying. Leaked documents obtained by tech blogger Ed Zitron supply much of a glimpse into OpenAI’s financials – specifically its gross and compute costs complete nan past mates of years.  

Zitron reported this week that successful 2024, Microsoft received $493.8 cardinal successful gross stock payments from OpenAI. In nan first 3 quarters of 2025, that number jumped to $865.8 million, according to documents he viewed.

OpenAI reportedly shares 20% of its gross pinch Microsoft arsenic portion of a erstwhile woody wherever nan package elephantine invested complete $13 cardinal successful nan powerful AI startup. (Neither nan startup nor nan group successful Redmond person publically confirmed this percentage.)

However, this is wherever things get a small sticky because Microsoft besides shares gross pinch OpenAI, kicking back about 20% of nan revenues from Bing and Azure OpenAI Service, a root acquainted pinch nan matter told TechCrunch. Bing is powered by OpenAI, and nan OpenAI Service sells unreality entree to OpenAI’s models to developers and businesses.  

The root besides told TechCrunch that nan leaked payments mention to Microsoft’s nett gross share, not nan gross gross share. In different words, they don’t see immoderate Microsoft paid to OpenAI from Bing and Azure OpenAI royalties. Microsoft deducts those figures from its internally reported gross stock numbers, according to this person.

Microsoft doesn’t break retired really overmuch it makes from Bing and Azure OpenAI successful its financial statements, truthful it’s difficult to estimate really overmuch nan tech elephantine is kicking back.

Nevertheless, nan leaked documents supply a model into nan hottest institution connected nan backstage markets coming – and not conscionable really overmuch it makes successful revenue, but besides really overmuch it’s spending successful comparison to that revenue.  

So, based connected that wide reported 20% revenue-share statistic, we tin infer that OpenAI’s gross was astatine slightest $2.5 cardinal successful 2024 and $4.33 cardinal successful nan first 3 quarters of 2025 – but very apt to beryllium more. Previous reports from The Information put OpenAI’s 2024 revenue astatine astir $4 billion, and its gross from nan first half of 2025 astatine $4.3 billion.  

Altman besides precocious said OpenAI’s gross is “well more” than reports of $13 cardinal a year, will extremity nan twelvemonth supra $20 cardinal successful annualized gross tally rate (which is simply a projection, not guidance connected existent revenue) and that nan institution could moreover deed $100 cardinal by 2027. 

Per Zitron’s analysis, OpenAI whitethorn person spent astir $3.8 cardinal connected conclusion successful 2024. That walk accrued to astir $8.65 cardinal successful nan first 9 months of 2025. Inference is nan compute utilized to tally a trained AI exemplary to make responses.  

OpenAI has historically almost exclusively relied connected Microsoft Azure to supply compute access, though it has besides struck deals pinch CoreWeave and Oracle, and much precocious pinch AWS and Google Cloud. 

Previous reports put OpenAI’s full compute walk astatine roughly $5.6 cardinal for 2024 and its “cost of revenue” astatine $2.5 cardinal for nan first half of 2025.  

A root acquainted pinch nan matter told TechCrunch that while OpenAI’s training walk is mostly non-cash – meaning, paid by credits Microsoft awarded OpenAI arsenic portion of its finance – nan firm’s conclusion walk is mostly cash. (Training refers to nan compute resources needed to initially train a model.)

While not a complete picture, these numbers connote that OpenAI could beryllium spending more connected conclusion costs than it is earning successful revenue. 

And those implications committedness to adhd to nan incessant AI bubble chatter that has seeped into each speech from New York City to Silicon Valley. If exemplary elephantine OpenAI really still is successful nan reddish moving its models, what mightiness this mean for nan monolithic investments astatine jaw-dropping valuations for nan remainder of nan AI world?

OpenAI declined to comment. Microsoft did not respond to TechCrunch’s petition for comment.

Got a delicate extremity aliases confidential documents? We’re reporting connected nan soul workings of nan AI manufacture — from nan companies shaping its early to nan group impacted by their decisions. Reach retired to Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com or Russell Brandom at russell.brandom@techcrunch.com. For unafraid communication, you tin interaction them via Signal at @rebeccabellan.491 and russellbrandom.49.