OpenAI reportedly shares 20% of its revenue with Microsoft

Watch OpenAI reportedly shares 20% of its revenue with Microsoft - Rizzle on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00OpenAI reportedly shares 20% of its revenue with Microsoft.

00:04After a year of deal-making, IPO whispers, and AI hype,

00:08OpenAI is under the microscope for its money habits.

00:12A leak from tech blogger and professional Silicon Valley agitator Ed Zitron

00:16offers one of the clearest peaks into OpenAI's finances.

00:20According to documents Zitron obtained,

00:22Microsoft pocketed $493.8 million in revenue share payments from OpenAI in 2024.

00:30Fast forward to the first three quarters of 2025,

00:34and that number rockets to $865.8 million.

00:38That sounds like a lot, because it is.

00:41It supposedly reflects Microsoft's 20% cut from the now-legendary $13 billion for AI world domination deal.

00:47Neither side has publicly confirmed that percentage naturally.

00:51But here's where the accounting plot twists.

00:54Microsoft also pays OpenAI,

00:56sharing roughly 20% of revenue from Bing and from Azure's OpenAI service,

01:01which sells access to OpenAI's models.

01:04A source told TechCrunch the leak reflects Microsoft's net share

01:07after subtracting what it pays back to OpenAI.

01:11Gross numbers and Bing's real contribution remain shrouded in mystery,

01:14with details locked tighter than the GPT-6 training runs.

01:17By 20% revenue share math,

01:20OpenAI likely made at least $2.5 billion in 2024

01:24and $4.33 billion in the first three quarters of 2025.

01:30CEO Sam Altman says the annual run rate is already above $20 billion

01:34and could hit $100 billion by 2027.

01:38The claim has raised eyebrows across Silicon Valley.

01:41But revenue is only half the story.

01:43Zetron's analysis suggests OpenAI burned through about $3.8 billion

01:48on inference compute in 2024

01:51and a jaw-dropping $8.65 billion

01:54in the first nine months of 2025.

01:58Training costs are mostly covered by Microsoft credits,

02:01but the inference is paid in real cash.

02:04And if the numbers are even directionally right,

02:06OpenAI may be spending more to run its models than it's taking in.

02:13quarters of 2020

02:14A. onsite.

02:15paraprofing a large number of factories

02:16Enquire the