After a year of frenzied transactions and Rumors of an upcoming IPOfinancial scrutiny to openai is intensifying. Leaked documents obtained by Tech Blogger Ed Zitron provide a closer look at Openai’s financials – specifically its costs and computing costs over the past few years.
Linglang reported This week in 2024, Microsoft received $493.8 million to pay profits from Openai. In the first three quarters of 2025, the number jumps to $865.8 million, according to the documents reviewed.
Openai reported The 20% revenue share with Microsoft is part of a previous deal in which the software giant invested more than $13 billion in the powerful AI startup. (Neither the startup nor anyone in Redmond has publicly confirmed this percentage.)
However, where the request is a little sticky because Microsoft also shares revenue with Openai, Nyepak Come back About 20% of revenue comes from openai bing and azure services, sources familiar with the matter told techcrunch. Bing is powered by Openai, and the openai service sells cloud access to the Openai model for developers and businesses.
The source also told Techcrunch that the leaked payment refers to Microsoft’s share of net income, not gross revenue share. In other words, they don’t include anything Microsoft pays to Openai Royaltii Bing and Azure. Microsoft called that figure from the revenue share numbers it reported internally, according to this person.
Microsoft won’t break down openai bing and azure in its financial statements, so it’s hard to estimate how much the tech giant will spend.
However, the leaked documents provide a window into the hottest companies in the private market today – and not just how they generate revenue, but also how their spending compares to that revenue.
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So, based on adjusted revenue-share-share of 20%, we can exclude Openai’s revenue of at least $2.5 billion in 2024 and $4.33 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 – but more likelySee rank-. Previous reports from posted information Result 2024 Openai around $4 billion, and revenue from the first half of 2025 in $4.3 BillionSee rank-.
Altman also recently said Openai’s revenue is “more” than reported $13 billion a yearwill end the year above $20 billion in revenue levels (i.e. reflect, not guidance on actual revenue) and the company may hit $100 billion by 2027.
According to Zitron’s analysis, Openai can wait for $ 3.8 billion in 2024. That adds up to approximately $ 8.65 billion in the first nine months of 2025. Inferer is AI computing that is trained to generate responses.
Openai has almost historically relied on Microsoft Azure to provide computing access, although it has previously competed with Coreweave and OreBoes, and Google Cloud.
Previous reports put openai computing at estimated at $5.6 billion by 2024 and “cost” value “in $2.5 billion for the first half of 2025See rank-.
A source familiar with the matter told Techcrunch that Openai’s training spend is mostly non-cash – paid, which is paid with Microsoft credits as part of the investment – the company’s inference fund is mostly cash. (Training shows the computing resources needed to first train the model.)
While not the full picture, these numbers show that openai may be spending more on inference costs than they are earning.
And its implications promise to add to the incessant ai bubble chatter that every New Yorker is drinking into Silicon Valley. If the giant giant model is really still in the red, what does it mean for such a huge investment in the price of gold for the rest of the world?
Openai declined to comment. Microsoft did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Got a tip or a sensitive document? We report on the inside of the AI industry – from the companies discussing the future to the people affected by these decisions. Reach out to Rebecca Bellan rebecca.blan@techCrunch.com or russell brandom in it Russell.brandom@stechCrunch.comSee rank-. For safe communication, you can contact him via signal at @ rebeccababellan.491 and russellbrandom.49.