Leaked financial documents have unveiled the staggering scale of OpenAI's payments to Microsoft, revealing $865.8 million in revenue sharing for just nine months of 2025 - nearly doubling from $493.8 million for all of 2024. The leak exposes critical details about the AI giant's financials as it prepares for a potential IPO, raising serious questions about profitability in the booming AI sector.
The curtain has been pulled back on one of tech's most secretive financial relationships. Leaked documents obtained by tech blogger Ed Zitron reveal that OpenAI paid Microsoft a staggering $865.8 million in revenue sharing during the first three quarters of 2025 alone - a jaw-dropping increase from the $493.8 million paid for all of 2024.
The timing couldn't be more critical. As OpenAI prepares for what could be a trillion-dollar IPO, these numbers provide the first concrete glimpse into the company's actual financial performance beyond CEO Sam Altman's bullish projections.
According to Zitron's analysis, the leaked payments represent Microsoft's net revenue share - not the gross amount. This distinction matters because Microsoft also kicks back roughly 20% of revenues from Bing and Azure OpenAI Service to OpenAI, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to TechCrunch. The software giant deducts these royalties from its internal revenue share calculations.
If the widely reported 20% revenue-sharing agreement holds true, these payments suggest OpenAI's revenue hit at least $4.33 billion in the first nine months of 2025 - but the actual figure is likely much higher. Previous reports from The Information pegged OpenAI's 2024 revenue at around $4 billion, with first-half 2025 revenue at $4.3 billion.
Altman has been even more aggressive in his projections. The OpenAI CEO recently claimed the company's revenue is "well more" than $13 billion annually and will end 2025 above $20 billion in annualized revenue run rate. He's even floated the possibility of hitting $100 billion by 2027.
But here's where the story takes a concerning turn. The leaked documents also reveal OpenAI's massive inference costs - the compute power needed to run AI models and generate responses. According to Zitron's analysis, these costs may have reached $8.65 billion in the first nine months of 2025, up from roughly $3.8 billion for all of 2024.
