OpenAI’s Microsoft Payments Revealed in Leaked Docs
▼ Summary
– Microsoft received $493.8 million in revenue share payments from OpenAI in 2024, which increased to $865.8 million in the first three quarters of 2025.
– OpenAI shares 20% of its revenue with Microsoft as part of a deal where Microsoft invested over $13 billion, while Microsoft also shares about 20% of revenues from Bing and Azure OpenAI Service with OpenAI.
– Based on the 20% revenue share, OpenAI’s revenue was at least $2.5 billion in 2024 and $4.33 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, with reports suggesting higher figures and projections up to $100 billion by 2027.
– OpenAI’s inference compute costs were approximately $3.8 billion in 2024 and rose to about $8.65 billion in the first nine months of 2025, potentially exceeding its revenue.
– The leaked financial data suggests OpenAI may be operating at a loss, raising concerns about the sustainability of high AI industry investments and valuations.
Financial scrutiny surrounding OpenAI has intensified following a year of active dealmaking and persistent IPO speculation. Recently leaked documents obtained by tech blogger Ed Zitron offer a rare look into the company’s financial performance, particularly its revenue streams and substantial computing expenditures over recent years.
Zitron’s reporting indicates Microsoft received $493.8 million in revenue share payments from OpenAI during 2024. That figure reportedly surged to $865.8 million for just the first three quarters of 2025, according to the documents he reviewed. This financial arrangement stems from a prior agreement where Microsoft invested over $13 billion into the AI startup, with OpenAI reportedly sharing 20% of its revenue in return. Neither company has publicly confirmed this specific percentage.
The financial relationship, however, is not one-sided. A source familiar with the matter informed TechCrunch that Microsoft also returns approximately 20% of revenues generated from its Bing search engine and the Azure OpenAI Service back to OpenAI. Bing utilizes OpenAI’s technology, while the Azure OpenAI Service provides developers and businesses with cloud-based access to OpenAI’s models.
The source further clarified that the leaked payment figures represent Microsoft’s net revenue share. This means the numbers do not include the royalties Microsoft pays to OpenAI from Bing and Azure OpenAI revenues. According to the insider, Microsoft deducts these outgoing payments from its internally reported revenue share totals. Since Microsoft does not publicly itemize Bing or Azure OpenAI Service earnings in its financial reports, estimating the precise amount being returned to OpenAI remains challenging.
Despite these complexities, the leaked data provides valuable insight into the financial dynamics of one of today’s most watched private companies. It reveals not only revenue generation but also how those earnings compare to operational spending.
Assuming the widely cited 20% revenue-sharing rate is accurate, one can infer that OpenAI’s revenue reached at least $2.5 billion in 2024 and approximately $4.33 billion through the first nine months of 2025. These figures are likely conservative; previous reporting from The Information placed OpenAI’s 2024 revenue closer to $4 billion, with first-half 2025 revenue reported at $4.3 billion. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has recently stated the company’s revenue is “well more” than reported figures of $13 billion annually. He projected an annualized revenue run rate exceeding $20 billion for this year, a forward-looking projection, not a guarantee, and suggested the firm could potentially achieve $100 billion by 2027.
On the expenditure side, Zitron’s analysis suggests OpenAI may have spent around $3.8 billion on inference computing in 2024. Inference refers to the computational power required to operate a trained AI model and generate responses. That spending apparently ballooned to roughly $8.65 billion during the first three quarters of 2025. Historically, OpenAI has depended almost entirely on Microsoft Azure for its computing needs, though it has also entered agreements with CoreWeave, Oracle, and more recently, with AWS and Google Cloud.
Previous reports estimated OpenAI’s total compute spending at about $5.6 billion for 2024, with a “cost of revenue” reaching $2.5 billion in the first half of 2025 alone. A source indicated that while the company’s model training costs are largely non-cash, covered by credits granted by Microsoft as part of its investment, its inference spending is predominantly a cash expense.
When pieced together, these numbers suggest a startling possibility: OpenAI might be spending more on inference costs than it earns in revenue. This prospect fuels ongoing debate about a potential AI market bubble. If the leading model company is still operating at a loss to run its models, it raises serious questions about the sustainability of enormous investments and staggering valuations seen across the broader AI sector.
Both OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment on these leaked documents and the financial details contained within.
(Source: TechCrunch)
