Microsoft to Stop Paying Revenue Share to OpenAI

Microsoft announced on Monday the amendment of its cooperation agreement with OpenAI, no longer paying revenue share to OpenAI, and confirming that their future cooperation will not be exclusive.

Under the new agreement, Microsoft remains the primary cloud partner for OpenAI, and OpenAI products will also be released on Azure first unless Microsoft is unable to support the related capabilities or chooses not to provide support.

The core of the change lies in openness—OpenAI can now provide its full range of products to customers through any cloud service provider, which provides space for its greater computing needs and allows potential opportunities for Microsoft's competitors like Amazon. Microsoft stated in the blog:

“The rapid pace of innovation requires us to continue evolving our partnership for the benefit of our customers and both companies.”

From a financial relationship perspective, Microsoft stops paying revenue share to OpenAI, but OpenAI's revenue share payments to Microsoft will continue until 2030, unchanged in proportion, with a total amount cap. Microsoft will also continue to hold intellectual property licenses for OpenAI models and products until 2032, only this license will become non-exclusive.

The market divergence lies in whether this agreement strengthens Microsoft's financial certainty or undermines its exclusive advantage in the AI cloud ecosystem. Microsoft, which holds a 27% stake in OpenAI after it restructured into a for-profit company, remains an important beneficiary, but OpenAI's multi-cloud openness will change the pricing of Azure growth narratives for external investors.

After the announcement, Microsoft fell about 3% pre-market on Monday, while Amazon rose about 1% pre-market.