Microsoft’s OpenAI Arrangements Generated $10 Billion in Third-Quarter Revenue
Key Facts
Microsoft generated $10 billion in revenue from its commercial arrangements with OpenAI during the three months ended September 30, 2026, according to its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The amount included revenue-sharing payments, the filing said. The figure is not OpenAI revenue, but Microsoft revenue tied to its arrangements with the company. The disclosure comes as reports circulate about OpenAI’s revenue trajectory and annualized rate. The distinction separates revenue Microsoft recorded from the partnership from sales generated by OpenAI’s business.
In a comparison dating to the second quarter of 2026, OpenAI’s quarterly revenue was $6.7 billion, compared with $11.5 billion for Anthropic, according to Reuters. It was the first time Anthropic’s quarterly revenue exceeded OpenAI’s, the news agency reported. Microsoft’s $10 billion figure covers the three months ended September 30 and relates to the commercial arrangements between the two companies. It therefore should not be compared directly with the quarterly revenue OpenAI reported for the second quarter. The filing reflects revenue flowing to Microsoft under the commercial relationship, not OpenAI’s quarterly sales.
In an earlier report, Reuters cited sources as saying OpenAI had told investors its annualized revenue rate, calculated based on September, was approaching $50 billion. The sources said the company had previously indicated a level nearing $70 billion. Those figures describe a calculated annualized rate, not quarterly revenue or revenue for a completed year. Reuters reported that the company began 2026 with an annualized revenue rate of $20 billion, compared with $6 billion in 2024. These figures provide background on the revenue trajectory reported to investors, but do not change the nature of the Microsoft amount in its third-quarter filing.
Reuters cautioned that an annualized rate may give a misleading impression of actual sales because it can be calculated by multiplying one month’s revenue by 12. As a result, reading OpenAI’s reported annual figures on this basis differs from looking at revenue generated over a defined quarter. In a statement dated March 31, 2026, OpenAI said it was generating $2 billion in monthly revenue. The company said in the same statement that the enterprise segment accounted for more than 40% of its revenue, and that it expected the consumer segment to reach a revenue level by the end of 2026. These figures are dated to March and provide context on the business mix and forecasts the company announced at the time.
OpenAI’s March 31 statement also included metrics on the use of its products and services. The company said ChatGPT had more than 900 million weekly active users and more than 50 million subscribers. It added that its APIs processed more than 15 billion tokens per minute. In the same statement, OpenAI announced the close of a funding round with $122 billion in capital commitments, at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. These figures remain dated background from the company’s statement, while Microsoft’s report shows its own revenue from commercial arrangements with OpenAI during the quarter ended in September.
The financial disclosure takes on added significance as OpenAI and Anthropic may be moving toward public listings, which Reuters said could make private companies’ figures more transparent. But the news agency’s report on OpenAI’s annualized rate is based on sources describing what the company told investors, while Microsoft’s filing records a specific line item for revenue from commercial arrangements, including revenue sharing. The distinction between quarterly sales and an annualized rate remains essential when reading these figures. Microsoft’s figure alone also does not provide OpenAI’s third-quarter revenue. Comparisons between companies remain tied to the period and the type of measure each source discloses.