Microsoft expects $92b from OpenAI investment

Microsoft sought a US$92 billion return on its early OpenAI investments, according to 2023 planning documents disclosed in federal court in Oakland, California, where CEO Satya Nadella testified in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft.

Microsoft invested about US$13 billion in OpenAI through early 2023 and later received a 27% stake in the AI company as part of its restructuring.

Musk sued in 2024, accusing OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of abandoning the startup’s nonprofit mission by shifting toward a for-profit model and alleging Microsoft helped that move, while OpenAI, its leaders, and Microsoft deny wrongdoing.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The financial relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI goes both ways

The Microsoft and OpenAI deal sends money in both directions 1.
OpenAI paid Microsoft US$493.8 million in net revenue share in 2024. That climbed to US$865.8 million in the first three quarters of 2025 1.
The earlier 20% revenue-share deal also sent money back to OpenAI. Microsoft paid OpenAI about 20% of revenue from Bing. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine. It also paid about 20% of revenue from Azure OpenAI Service. Azure OpenAI Service lets companies use OpenAI models on Microsoft’s cloud platform 1.
OpenAI and Microsoft said OpenAI’s payments will continue through 2030 under a total cap. Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI 2.

Microsoft’s AI plan is moving past a single OpenAI focus

Legal scrutiny has risen as Microsoft and OpenAI step away from an exclusive arrangement 3.
Under the revised agreement, OpenAI can offer its products through any cloud provider, including Amazon and Google. Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud provider. OpenAI products will launch first on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, unless Microsoft decides otherwise 2.
OpenAI’s CRO, the executive who oversees sales, wrote that the partnership had “limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are.” The executive also praised OpenAI’s deal with Amazon, which could bring up to US$50 billion in investment 4.
This change means Microsoft must compete for OpenAI workloads on performance, price, and service. It also fits a wider shift toward using several cloud providers for AI infrastructure to avoid vendor lock-in, or overdependence on one provider 5.