Microsoft made more from Anthropic in one quarter than from OpenAI all year
A fresh set of earnings figures shows Microsoft's bet on Anthropic is paying off fast, while its older stake in OpenAI had a rough three months.
Key points
- Microsoft recorded a $3.2 billion gain on its Anthropic investment in the quarter ending 30 June 2026.
- That single-quarter gain nearly matched the $5 billion full-year gain Microsoft reported on its OpenAI stake for the same fiscal year.
- Microsoft wrote down, meaning reduced the stated value of, its OpenAI investment by roughly $600 million in the final quarter.
- Microsoft invested $5 billion in Anthropic in November 2025, tied to a deal where Anthropic agreed to buy $30 billion of Microsoft's Azure cloud services.
- Microsoft reported $90 billion in revenue and $35.8 billion in net income for the quarter.
Microsoft had a very good quarter. $90 billion in revenue, $35.8 billion in profit, and buried in the earnings report, a striking detail about its bets on two rival AI labs.
What actually happened?
The Anthropic gain, at $3.2 billion in a single quarter, nearly matched what Microsoft earned from OpenAI across the entire year. Microsoft invested $5 billion in Anthropic in November 2025 as part of an unusual circular deal: Anthropic also agreed to spend $30 billion buying Microsoft's Azure cloud computing services. That kind of arrangement makes both companies dependent on each other, which is worth keeping in mind when reading the headline number.
The $3.2 billion gain added 33 cents to Microsoft's diluted earnings per share, a standard measure of profit divided across all shares. Microsoft's diluted earnings per share for the quarter came in at $4.81.
How did the OpenAI stake do?
Not as well, at least not this quarter. Microsoft owns roughly 27% of OpenAI and marks the value of that stake up or down each quarter based on how OpenAI is valued. In the April-to-June quarter, Microsoft wrote the investment down by about $600 million, shaving around 7 cents off earnings per share.
Zoomed out, the full-year picture looks better. Over fiscal 2026, the OpenAI stake generated a $5 billion gain and added $0.67 to annual earnings per share. Microsoft's full-year earnings per share came in at $17.95.
| Period | Investment | Gain / (Loss) | EPS impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 FY2026 | Anthropic | +$3.2 billion | +$0.33 |
| Q4 FY2026 | OpenAI | -$600 million | -$0.07 |
| Full year FY2026 | OpenAI | +$5 billion | +$0.67 |
| Full year FY2026 | Anthropic | Not reported | Not reported |
Microsoft does not disclose the value of its Anthropic investment every quarter the way it does with OpenAI, which is partly why the Q4 figure stood out enough for the company to flag it separately, as TechCrunch AI first reported.
Should ordinary people care about any of this?
Directly, not much. But it does tell you something about where Microsoft is putting weight. The company is backing both of the biggest names in AI, OpenAI (the maker of ChatGPT) and Anthropic (the maker of the Claude assistant), at the same time. Both tools are available to consumers and businesses today, often for free at a basic level, with paid tiers for heavier use.
What is worth watching is whether Microsoft's financial interest in Anthropic starts shaping which AI tools show up more prominently in Windows, Office, and Azure. For now, that is speculation. What is not speculation is that Microsoft's $600 million quarterly dip on OpenAI was, in the company's own context, a rounding error on a $35.8 billion profit.
Rich problems, as they say.
Common questions
Does Microsoft use my data from Office or Windows to value these investments?
No. The investment valuations are accounting calculations based on what outside investors pay for shares in Anthropic and OpenAI, not on user data.
Is Claude or ChatGPT free to use?
Both offer free tiers with limits on how much you can use them each day. Paid plans for Claude (Anthropic) and ChatGPT Plus (OpenAI) each cost around $20 per month at current pricing, though business tiers cost more.
