Leaked documents shed light into how much OpenAI pays Microsoft

After a 12 months of frenzied dealmaking and rumors of an upcoming IPO, the monetary scrutiny into OpenAI is intensifying. Leaked paperwork obtained by tech blogger Ed Zitron present extra of a glimpse into OpenAI’s financials – particularly its income and compute prices over the previous couple of years.  

Zitron reported this week that in 2024, Microsoft obtained $493.8 million in income share funds from OpenAI. Within the first three quarters of 2025, that quantity jumped to $865.8 million, based on paperwork he considered.

OpenAI reportedly shares 20% of its income with Microsoft as a part of a earlier deal the place the software program large invested over $13 billion within the highly effective AI startup. (Neither the startup nor the individuals in Redmond have publicly confirmed this share.)

Nonetheless, that is the place issues get just a little sticky as a result of Microsoft additionally shares income with OpenAI, kicking again about 20% of the revenues from Bing and Azure OpenAI Service, a supply accustomed to the matter instructed TechCrunch. Bing is powered by OpenAI, and the OpenAI Service sells cloud entry to OpenAI’s fashions to builders and companies.  

The supply additionally instructed TechCrunch that the leaked funds check with Microsoft’s internet income share, not the gross income share. In different phrases, they don’t embrace no matter Microsoft paid to OpenAI from Bing and Azure OpenAI royalties. Microsoft deducts these figures from its internally reported income share numbers, based on this particular person.

Microsoft doesn’t escape how a lot it makes from Bing and Azure OpenAI in its monetary statements, so it’s tough to estimate how a lot the tech large is kicking again.

However, the leaked paperwork present a window into the most well liked firm on the non-public markets right this moment – and never simply how a lot it makes in income, but additionally how a lot it’s spending compared to that income.  

So, primarily based on that broadly reported 20% revenue-share statistic, we will infer that OpenAI’s income was at the very least $2.5 billion in 2024 and $4.33 billion within the first three quarters of 2025 – however very more likely to be extra. Earlier experiences from The Info put OpenAI’s 2024 revenue at round $4 billion, and its income from the primary half of 2025 at $4.3 billion.  

Altman additionally just lately mentioned OpenAI’s income is “effectively extra” than experiences of $13 billion a year, will finish the 12 months above $20 billion in annualized revenue run rate (which is a projection, not steering on precise income) and that the corporate may even hit $100 billion by 2027. 

Per Zitron’s evaluation, OpenAI could have spent roughly $3.8 billion on inference in 2024. That spend elevated to roughly $8.65 billion within the first 9 months of 2025. Inference is the compute used to run a skilled AI mannequin to generate responses.  

OpenAI has traditionally virtually completely relied on Microsoft Azure to supply compute entry, although it has additionally struck offers with CoreWeave and Oracle, and extra just lately with AWS and Google Cloud. 

Earlier experiences put OpenAI’s complete compute spend at roughly $5.6 billion for 2024 and its “value of income” at $2.5 billion for the first half of 2025.  

A supply accustomed to the matter instructed TechCrunch that whereas OpenAI’s coaching spend is generally non-cash – that means, paid by credit Microsoft awarded OpenAI as a part of its funding – the agency’s inference spend is basically money. (Coaching refers back to the compute assets wanted to initially prepare a mannequin.)

Whereas not an entire image, these numbers suggest that OpenAI could possibly be spending extra on inference prices than it’s incomes in income. 

And people implications promise so as to add to the incessant AI bubble chatter that has seeped into each dialog from New York Metropolis to Silicon Valley. If mannequin large OpenAI actually nonetheless is within the pink working its fashions, what would possibly this imply for the large investments at jaw-dropping valuations for the remainder of the AI world?

OpenAI declined to remark. Microsoft didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark.

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