Microsoft Earned $10 Billion From OpenAI in One Quarter

Microsoft recorded $10 billion in revenue from its business arrangements with OpenAI, including revenue-sharing payments, in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, according to TechCrunch. That is almost 11% of the company's total quarterly revenue. Microsoft published the results on October 28, 2026, after the stock market closed.

Total revenue for the quarter was $92.3 billion. Analysts had expected $90.66 billion, a 16.7% rise from a year earlier, according to Reuters. Operating income, the profit left after day-to-day costs, was $45.9 billion. That was up 21% from a year earlier, or 22% when currency swings are removed.

Two Sets of Profit Numbers

Microsoft reported GAAP net income of $36.6 billion, up 32%. GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the standard rules companies use when reporting their finances. Its GAAP diluted earnings per share were $4.92, also up 32%.

On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $36.4 billion, up 18%. Diluted earnings per share were $4.89, up 18%.

The non-GAAP figures leave out Microsoft's investments in OpenAI. That is why the two sets of numbers differ so much this quarter. The gap comes from that exclusion, not from how the core business performed.

Cloud Growth

Azure, Microsoft's cloud service that rents computing power and storage to businesses over the internet, grew 48% from a year earlier. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $63.9 billion, up 30% (31% in constant currency). Agents and Infra revenue was $76.8 billion, up 25%.

Commercial remaining performance obligation, which is the value of signed contracts not yet delivered, rose 73% to $677 billion. Microsoft 365 consumer cloud revenue grew 17%, and industry solutions cloud revenue grew 10%.

The OpenAI Numbers

Microsoft's revenue from OpenAI for the full fiscal 2026 year was $24.1 billion. Receivables, which is money owed to Microsoft but not yet paid, stood at $7.2 billion at the end of September 2026. That was up from $6 billion at the end of June 2026.

Microsoft's ownership stake in OpenAI fell from about 25% in June 2026 to 24% in September 2026.

Under an October 2025 agreement, OpenAI committed to buying an additional $250 billion in Azure services from Microsoft. Under an April 2026 agreement, OpenAI will keep sharing revenue with Microsoft through 2030, subject to a cap. It is also allowed to work with competing cloud providers.

Microsoft's fiscal year begins in July. That means the September quarter is the first quarter of fiscal 2027, not a continuation of the fiscal 2026 numbers reported earlier in the year.

How the Money Works

Microsoft's OpenAI revenue arrives through a mix of Azure usage, revenue sharing, and related terms. The $250 billion is a promise to buy services in the future. Think of it as a prepaid order: the commitment is made now, and it becomes revenue as the service is actually used.

The $1.2 billion rise in receivables within a single quarter shows that large amounts owed can build up on the books before they are paid. The drop in the stake, from 25% to 24% over three months, appears in the same filing. It is reported separately from the commercial revenue.

What It Means

In my view, the most notable feature of these results is how much each side now depends on the other. OpenAI accounts for a meaningful share of Microsoft's quarterly revenue, and part of Microsoft's cloud backlog depends on one customer's commitment. The April 2026 terms, which let OpenAI work with rival cloud providers, loosen the exclusivity that once defined the deal. That change cuts both ways for Azure's long-term growth.

The broader context here is that the same figures show the cloud business growing beyond that one partner. Azure's 48% growth and the 73% rise in backlog point to demand well beyond OpenAI, even though the OpenAI line items draw the most attention. For technology teams, the practical question is how fast that backlog turns into working capacity. The results give no timetable for that beyond the figures already stated.