Microsoft logs $3.2B from Anthropic investment, but OpenAI was a mixed bag
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Microsoft recorded a $3.2 billion gain on its Anthropic investment in Q4 FY2026, boosting diluted EPS by 33 cents against quarterly EPS of $4.81
- Anthropic received a $5 billion investment from Microsoft in November 2025 under a circular arrangement that included a $30 billion commitment to purchase Azure services
- Microsoft wrote down its roughly 27% OpenAI stake by about $600 million for the quarter, reducing diluted EPS by approximately 7 cents
- OpenAI also pays Microsoft undisclosed revenue-share fees, which the company does not break out in its quarterly reporting
- Microsoft reported $90 billion in quarterly revenue and $35.8 billion in net income, with full-year fiscal 2026 revenue of $331.8 billion and net income of $133.7 billion
- Microsoft's OpenAI investment still generated a $5 billion full-year gain, adding $0.67 to fiscal-year EPS of $17.95
- Microsoft itself disclosed that its single-quarter Anthropic gain nearly equaled the full-year gain on OpenAI — a comparison noteworthy enough that the company called it out
Why it matters: The $600M OpenAI write-down is rounding-error territory against $35.8B in quarterly net income, but Microsoft itself flagged that a single-quarter $3.2B Anthropic gain nearly matched the full-year $5B OpenAI gain — meaning the circular $5B-for-$30B-Azure deal is already paying off on paper. For shareholders, it shows Microsoft's AI bet is generating real returns beyond OpenAI, even before counting Azure revenue from the Anthropic commitment itself.
