Athira Sethu
Kochi, 7 May 2025
OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, is set to give Microsoft, its largest corporate investor, a smaller percentage of its revenue. The news comes as OpenAI is working on transforming how it’s structured, a report by The Information said on Tuesday.
Earlier, OpenAI had a more extensive restructuring plan on the table, but now the company has toned it down. Its nonprofit mother will still be in charge. The action is supposed to keep CEO Sam Altman’s power under control and make sure that OpenAI is still driven by its initial nonprofit mission.
OpenAI has reported new financial projections to existing and prospective investors. The projections indicate that the revenue percentage given to Microsoft will be reduced by over half in this decade. Currently, OpenAI is obligated to give Microsoft around 20% of its revenue until 2030. But under the new filings, OpenAI could cut that down to 10% by then.
Microsoft has been one of OpenAI’s primary partners in growth. Aside from their financial investment, Microsoft also employs OpenAI’s models within its own services such as Azure and Microsoft 365. Yet, the tech giant is said to be keen on maintaining access to OpenAI’s technology beyond the current contract expiration in 2030.
Earlier this year, Microsoft revised certain sections of its deal with OpenAI. This came as Microsoft collaborated with Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank Group on a gargantuan AI data center project in the U.S., which may be worth as much as $500 billion.
In spite of the anticipated changes, Microsoft indicates that the fundamental elements of its agreement with OpenAI will continue until 2030. The company also indicated that its contracts with OpenAI have revenue-sharing going both ways.
The spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed to The Information that they are continuing to work closely with Microsoft and hope to wrap up the new structure in due course.
Neither OpenAI nor Microsoft replied to Reuters’ requests for comment outside of normal business hours.
