Athira Sethu
Kochi, 13 September 2025
OpenAI is set to alter the manner in which it pays revenue to its commercial partners, particularly Microsoft. A report by The Information states that OpenAI aims to lower the rate at which it pays revenue to Microsoft from 20% to 8% towards the end of this decade. This would translate into an additional $50 billion in revenue that OpenAI gets to retain for itself. It’s not, however, clear if this is a one-off figure or an annualized amount.
OpenAI is now ironing out the terms of paying for servers from Microsoft, a key component of their alliance. The two are negotiating the terms on which OpenAI will pay Microsoft for server use under their new deal.
Along with these changes, OpenAI and Microsoft have also signed a new, non-binding agreement. This agreement would allow OpenAI to modify its structure so that it becomes a for-profit entity. This transformation would enable OpenAI to retain more of its profits and potentially alter how it works in the future.
As part of this deal, OpenAI’s nonprofit branch will still receive over $100 billion, or about 20% of the $500 billion that OpenAI is hoping to be valued at in private markets. If this happens, OpenAI’s nonprofit division will become one of the world’s best-funded nonprofit organizations.
This new agreement marks a significant change in OpenAI’s business model and its relationship with Microsoft. However, since the deal is non-binding, both companies still need to finalize the terms before moving forward.
Both OpenAI and Microsoft did not comment immediately when asked for more details about the discussions, according to the report.
