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Microsoft recorded $10 billion in revenue from OpenAI last quarter
Microsoft disclosed in a filing that it earned $10 billion from OpenAI in the July to September quarter. That is nearly 11 percent of its total.
Image: TechCrunch
Why it mattersMicrosoft and OpenAI loosened their partnership this year. The money moving between them did not shrink. It grew.
Microsoft and OpenAI spent the last year loosening the ties between them. The money moving between the two companies tells a different story. TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that Microsoft recorded $10 billion in revenue from commercial arrangements with OpenAI. The quarter ended September 30. Microsoft disclosed the figure in a regulatory filing.
That amount is nearly 11 percent of Microsoft's total quarterly revenue of $92.3 billion. For the full fiscal 2026 year, Microsoft said OpenAI-related revenue reached $24.1 billion. At the September quarter's pace, Microsoft would pull in about $40 billion a year from OpenAI arrangements.
What the $10 billion includes
Microsoft said the figure covers both Azure cloud fees and revenue-sharing payments from OpenAI. TechCrunch said Microsoft did not break the two apart. TechCrunch had reported in November 2025 that Microsoft received $865.8 million in net revenue-sharing payments from OpenAI. That covered the first nine months of 2025. The outlet cited leaked documents.
OpenAI shares 20 percent of its revenue with Microsoft under a prior deal, TechCrunch reported. The two companies have not publicly confirmed that figure. Under an April 2026 agreement, OpenAI must keep sharing revenue with Microsoft through 2030. The deal sets a cap.
Microsoft also said it had $7.2 billion in outstanding receivables from OpenAI at the end of September. That was up from $6 billion three months earlier. Those are amounts OpenAI owes for past transactions, not new revenue.
The split matters because the two paths earn different margins. Azure fees come with cloud costs attached. A revenue share from OpenAI's customers is closer to pure margin. TechCrunch said it had asked Microsoft for more detail.
How the ownership has moved
Microsoft's ownership stake in OpenAI has slipped. It was about 27 percent after an October 2025 recapitalisation. It was 25 percent in June and 24 percent in September. TechCrunch reported those figures. Microsoft did not state the cause of the latest dilution.
The two companies began to loosen their once-exclusive partnership in October 2025. Microsoft gave up its hold on OpenAI so the startup could partner with other cloud providers. In exchange, OpenAI committed to buying $250 billion in additional Azure services.
The money shows the two companies are still bound tightly. OpenAI now picks up other cloud partners. The two firms sell to the same enterprise buyers. The financial ties stay heavy and are set for years. A buyer picking cloud and model vendors in 2027 is picking one of two companies. The other one paid or earned billions from the first the quarter before.
Source
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
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