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Report: Nearly Half of OpenAI's Quarterly Costs Went to Related Parties

June 23, 2026 at 14:03 EDT

Funding & M&A
Policy & Regulation

Nearly half of OpenAI's costs in its most recent quarter (Q1 2026) went to "related parties" that are simultaneously investors, suppliers and customers, according to a report. As IPO preparations advance, the complexity of the company's circular financial ties with Microsoft and others is again in focus.

Q1 2026 · OpenAI Financials

Money That Circles: Investors Are Also OpenAI's Suppliers and Customers

Roughly 45% of total costs in Q1 2026 flowed to "related parties" that simultaneously invest in, supply and buy from OpenAI — sharpening scrutiny ahead of a planned IPO.

45%

of total costs to related parties

72%

of cost of revenue to related parties

12×

YoY jump in related-party revenue ($758M)

$5.7B

quarterly revenue

Revenue vs. Cash Burn — Q1 2026

Burn consumed more than half of every dollar of revenue.

$5.7B

Revenue

$3.7B

Cash burn

The Overlapping-Roles Loop

Counterparties play three roles at once — so part of revenue recirculates as payment.

Invests
Microsoft ~27%

→

Supplies compute
Azure / hyperscalers

→

Buys / shares revenue
Bing, Azure OpenAI

↺

$488M

OpenAI stock used as a non-cash payment for compute

~$5B

of quarterly loss allocated to external partners (incl. Stargate)

$17.2B

paid by OpenAI to Microsoft across full-year 2025

The bull case

Scalable, near-guaranteed compute access
Fast-growing enterprise revenue

The skeptics

"Gross revenue" ≠ "real economics" when cash recirculates
Heavy Microsoft payments may inflate reported losses

The long view

OpenAI anticipates compute spending on the order of $600 billion by 2030 — making the durability of this circular structure a central question for its profitability and independence.

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