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Leaked documents reveal details about the payments OpenAI makes to Microsoft

Leaked documents reveal details about the payments OpenAI makes to Microsoft

Bitget-RWA2025/11/15 07:07
By:Bitget-RWA

Following a year marked by intense deal activity and speculation about a potential IPO, OpenAI is facing growing financial examination. Documents leaked to tech writer Ed Zitron have shed more light on OpenAI’s financial situation—particularly its income and computing expenses over recent years.  

According to Zitron’s recent report, Microsoft received $493.8 million in revenue share from OpenAI in 2024. That figure rose to $865.8 million during the first three quarters of 2025, based on the documents he reviewed.

Reportedly, OpenAI gives Microsoft 20% of its revenue as part of an earlier agreement, in which Microsoft invested over $13 billion in the AI company. (Neither OpenAI nor Microsoft has officially confirmed this percentage.)

However, the arrangement is more complex, as Microsoft also shares a portion of its revenue with OpenAI—returning about 20% of the earnings from Bing and Azure OpenAI Service, according to a source familiar with the details who spoke to TechCrunch. Bing uses OpenAI’s technology, and the Azure OpenAI Service offers cloud-based access to OpenAI’s models for developers and businesses.  

The same source told TechCrunch that the leaked figures refer to Microsoft’s net revenue share, not the gross amount. In other words, these numbers exclude what Microsoft pays OpenAI as royalties from Bing and Azure OpenAI. Microsoft subtracts those payments from its internal revenue share calculations, according to this individual.

Microsoft does not separately disclose its earnings from Bing and Azure OpenAI in its financial reports, making it challenging to determine exactly how much is being returned to OpenAI.

Still, the leaked documents offer a rare look inside one of the most talked-about private companies today—not only showing its revenue, but also revealing its spending relative to that income.  

Based on the widely cited 20% revenue-sharing figure, it can be estimated that OpenAI’s revenue reached at least $2.5 billion in 2024 and $4.33 billion in the first nine months of 2025—though the actual numbers are likely higher. Earlier reporting by The Information suggested OpenAI’s 2024 revenue was around $4 billion, with $4.3 billion generated in the first half of 2025.  

Recently, Altman stated that OpenAI’s revenue is “well above” the reported $13 billion annually, expects to surpass a $20 billion annualized run rate by year-end (not a guarantee of actual revenue), and that the company could potentially reach $100 billion by 2027. 

Zitron’s analysis suggests OpenAI may have spent about $3.8 billion on inference in 2024, with that expense rising to approximately $8.65 billion in the first three quarters of 2025. Inference refers to the computational resources needed to operate a trained AI model and produce outputs.  

Historically, OpenAI has depended almost entirely on Microsoft Azure for computing power, though it has also formed partnerships with CoreWeave and Oracle, and more recently with AWS and Google Cloud. 

Previous accounts estimated OpenAI’s total compute spending at about $5.6 billion for 2024, with its “cost of revenue” reaching $2.5 billion in the first half of 2025.  

A person familiar with the situation told TechCrunch that while most of OpenAI’s training expenses are non-cash—covered by credits from Microsoft as part of its investment—the company’s inference costs are primarily paid in cash. (Training involves the computational effort required to initially develop a model.)

Although these figures do not provide a complete picture, they suggest that OpenAI’s inference expenses could exceed its revenue. 

Such findings are likely to fuel ongoing discussions about an AI bubble, which have become common from New York to Silicon Valley. If OpenAI, a leader in the field, is still operating at a loss to run its models, what does this mean for the enormous investments and sky-high valuations seen elsewhere in the AI sector?

OpenAI chose not to comment. Microsoft did not reply to TechCrunch’s request for a statement.

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Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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