Microsoft is close to getting a giant new equity stake in OpenAI. It could be worth at least $150 billion. (www.businessinsider.com)

OpenAI is restructuring into a for‑profit public benefit corporation and will issue traditional equity, and Microsoft is poised to receive a very large new stake as part of that conversion. Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI began with a $1 billion 2019 pledge and expanded with roughly $12–13 billion more through early 2023; analysts now estimate Microsoft could receive about a 30% stake in a company valued near $500 billion — roughly $150 billion or more, depending on the final percentage. That would represent more than a tenfold return on Microsoft’s cash in just a few years. The shift matters because it converts OpenAI’s unusual profit‑sharing and nonprofit structure into standard stock, resolving fundraising frictions and enabling large outside investments. For Microsoft it clarifies ownership and economics around Azure credits and massive compute capacity used to train and run OpenAI models, and could materially boost Microsoft’s AI strategic position and market cap. The deal — negotiated amid some tension but reportedly close to resolution — accelerates how capital, control, and cloud infrastructure converge in the fast‑moving AI ecosystem, with implications for competition among cloud providers, enterprise access to advanced models, and the pace of future AI investment.