Leaked paperwork shed gentle into how a lot 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 acquired $493.8 million in income share funds from OpenAI. Within the first three quarters of 2025, that quantity jumped to $865.8 million, in response to paperwork he seen.

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 folks in Redmond have publicly confirmed this proportion.)

Nonetheless, that is the place issues get a little bit 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 conversant in the matter informed TechCrunch. Bing is powered by OpenAI, and the OpenAI Service sells cloud entry to OpenAI’s fashions to builders and companies.  

The supply additionally informed TechCrunch that the leaked funds discuss with Microsoft’s web income share, not the gross income share. In different phrases, they don’t embody no matter Microsoft paid to OpenAI from Bing and Azure OpenAI royalties. Microsoft deducts these figures from its internally reported income share numbers, in response to this individual.

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.

Nonetheless, the leaked paperwork present a window into the most popular firm on the personal markets at the moment — and never simply how a lot it makes in income, but in addition how a lot it’s spending compared to that income.  

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

Altman additionally lately stated OpenAI’s income is “nicely extra” than stories of $13 billion a 12 months, will finish the 12 months above $20 billion in annualized income run price (which is a projection, not steering on precise income), and that the corporate might even hit $100 billion by 2027. 

Per Zitron’s evaluation, OpenAI might 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 nearly completely relied on Microsoft Azure to offer compute entry, although it has additionally struck offers with CoreWeave and Oracle, and extra lately with AWS and Google Cloud. 

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

A supply conversant in the matter informed TechCrunch that whereas OpenAI’s coaching spend is usually non-cash — which 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 a whole image, these numbers suggest that OpenAI may very well 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 crimson operating its fashions, what may 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.

Acquired a delicate tip or confidential paperwork? We’re reporting on the internal workings of the AI trade — from the businesses shaping its future to the folks impacted by their selections. Attain out to Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com or Russell Brandom at russell.brandom@techcrunch.com. For safe communication, you’ll be able to contact them through Sign at @rebeccabellan.491 and russellbrandom.49.