Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI, Microsoft Reach Deal on Restructuring Partnership

Published SEP 12 2025

Story

Above: OpenAI signage in Seoul, South Korea. Image credit: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Facts

OpenAI and Microsoft signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding on Thursday regarding the next phase of their partnership, with both companies actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement.
The Wall Street Journal
TechCrunch
Microsoft has invested approximately $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and serves as the startup's exclusive cloud provider while sharing in ChatGPT revenue and having access to OpenAI's latest technology.
FOX News
Verge
Reuters
OpenAI plans to restructure by converting its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation while maintaining nonprofit control, with the nonprofit receiving an equity stake worth more than $100 billion.
Openai
The Times (UK)
The restructuring requires approval from attorneys general in California and Delaware, who have opened investigations to ensure the plan doesn't violate charitable law and have expressed serious concerns about safety.
Financial Times
Verge
Microsoft and OpenAI's nonprofit are each expected to receive roughly 30% stakes in the proposed new company, with the remainder going to employees and investors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Financial Times
EuroNews
The Wall Street Journal
OpenAI has been seeking to reduce its dependence on Microsoft by signing deals with other providers, including a reported $300 billion contract with Oracle over five years starting in 2027.
The Wall Street Journal
TechCrunch

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The Spin

Techno-skeptic narrative

OpenAI's nonprofit mission was humanity's safeguard against unchecked AI development. Profit maximization inevitably corrupts safety protocols, rushing dangerous technologies to market while prioritizing shareholder returns over human welfare. When artificial general intelligence emerges — potentially reshaping civilization itself — we need guardians committed to humanity's benefit, not venture capitalists chasing trillion-dollar jackpots. Greed has no place governing our species' future.

Bloomberg.com

The Economic Times

Techno-optimist narrative

OpenAI's nonprofit charade has become unsustainable. Building artificial general intelligence demands billions in investment that only a for-profit structure can attract. The company's hybrid model created boardroom chaos and executive exodus, proving that idealistic governance cannot handle commercial realities. OpenAI must embrace capitalism openly to compete globally, fund crucial research, and deliver transformative AI technology that actually goes on to benefit humanity through innovation.