Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI no longer just a non-profit, Microsoft takes 27% for 135 billion

The agreement, announced in these very hours, closes a complex chapter that lasted almost a year and draws new market balances

by Biagio Simonetta

28 October 2025

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft, OpenAI reach new deal valuing OpenAI at $500 billion/File Photo

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Elon Musk predicted it. And today it has happened. OpenAI has completed its transformation into a for-profit company, and has done so with a deal that redraws - once again - the power relations within global artificial intelligence. After months of negotiations, the San Francisco-based company that created ChatGPT has awarded Microsoft a 27 per cent stake, valued at around $135 billion. In return, the Redmond group gets exclusive access to OpenAI's technology until 2032, including any models that will reach general artificial intelligence (AGI), a threshold many experts still consider far off.

The deal, announced in these very hours, closes a complex chapter that has lasted almost a year. Microsoft, which had invested a total of USD 13.75 billion in the then Sam Altman-led start-up, had remained somewhat at the window in the last period, with companies such as SoftBank and Nvidia moving their chips on the OpenAI box.

With the agreement signed today, however, OpenAI becomes a public benefit corporation - a public benefit corporation, under the name OpenAI Group PBC, controlled by a non-profit foundation renamed the OpenAI Foundation. A round of red tape to open up ChatGPT's parent company to fresh capital. Or to shower it with gold.

The foundation will keep a 26 per cent stake for itself and will also receive a warrant which, if the company's value grows more than tenfold over the next fifteen years, will enable it to obtain additional shares. Part of these assets, estimated at around $130 billion on the basis of the latest $500 billion valuation, will be allocated to projects in the fields of health and scientific research, San Francisco said.

Foundation aside, the real news is Microsoft's coup, which puts Nadella's company back at the top of the burgeoning AI industry.

In a joint post, OpenAI and Microsoft explained that the partnership remains strong, but with a different structure. Microsoft will continue to receive 20 per cent of the revenues generated by OpenAI until an independent committee of experts certifies the achievement of AGI. From then on, the revenue share will be reduced to zero. And another game will begin.

The agreement, it should be noted, has already been overseen by the attorneys general's offices of Delaware and California, and according to Bloomberg got the go-ahead after a lengthy review process. Kathy Jennings, Delaware's attorney general, said she was pleased with the new arrangement, which 'prioritises safety and the protection of the public interest'.

On the operational side, OpenAI will maintain a strong link to Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, to which it has promised $250 billion in new commitments on Azure. However, the Windows parent company will no longer have the right of first refusal on any new cloud partnerships. In other words, OpenAI will also be able to turn to other providers, such as Oracle, to expand its technology network.

A not insignificant detail, then, is the one about Sam Altman: the ceo and founder of OpenAI will not receive any stake in the new company structure. A choice that seems to respond to fears about the potential conflict between profit and ethical mission.

From a financial point of view, the news was greeted with some enthusiasm in the markets. Microsoft's shares rose as much as +4.2% to $553.72. For investors, the clarity of the new framework evidently removes one of the main uncertainties about the balance between the two partners.

Microsoft's real winning point is that Nadella's company will retain the intellectual property rights to the OpenAI models until 2032, being able to integrate them into its own Copilot products, while it will be able to develop stand-alone solutions.

In other words, the alliance between OpenAI and Microsoft does not break up, but changes skin. The former San Francisco start-up becomes a fully commercial player, with the ambition to get closer to the - still theoretical - goal of general artificial intelligence. While the giant founded by Bill Gates secures a leading position in the global AI race, without the uncertainties that had been shaking the market for months.

Biagio SimonettaRedattore
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Lingue parlate: italiano, inglese
Argomenti: Finanza, Fintech, Silicon Valley, Tecnologia
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