Quick Answer: Who Owns OpenAI and Anthropic?
- Microsoft holds roughly 27% of OpenAI on an as-converted basis, plus a contractual right to 49% of the for-profit arm’s future profits (capped at ~$38B through 2030) — profit share and equity are not the same thing.
- Governance sits with the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit that appoints the for-profit’s board and holds a minority equity stake, following the 2025 restructuring into a public benefit corporation.
- Google owns roughly 14% of Anthropic in straight equity, hard-capped at 15%, with zero board seats or voting rights.
- Amazon’s Anthropic stake isn’t disclosed but Fortune’s filing-based estimate puts it in the mid-to-high teens (~$74B on paper), split between convertible notes and nonvoting preferred stock — also no board seat.
If you searched “who owns OpenAI” expecting one clean percentage, the honest answer is that the question is broken. OpenAI isn’t a normal company with a cap table — it’s a nonprofit foundation that controls a public benefit corporation that Microsoft has profit rights in but not majority equity in. Anthropic is closer to a normal cap table, but two of its largest backers, Google and Amazon, hold billions in stock with contractually zero say in how the company is run. Here’s what the actual filings, restructuring documents, and reporting say, not the ownership-percentage stub you’ll find on most aggregator sites.
How much of OpenAI does Microsoft actually own?
As of the 2025 restructuring, Microsoft holds approximately 27% of OpenAI on an as-converted diluted basis — down from an earlier estimated 32.5% before the recapitalization and subsequent funding rounds diluted the stake. That 27% is equity, meaning it moves with OpenAI’s valuation like any other shareholder’s stake.
Separately, Microsoft is entitled to roughly 49% of the profits generated by OpenAI’s for-profit unit under the terms of their commercial agreement. This is the number most headlines conflate with ownership, and it isn’t the same thing — profit-sharing rights don’t carry votes or board control. Complicating it further, OpenAI’s revenue-share payments to Microsoft are now capped, reported at approximately $38 billion through 2030, and the two companies ended their prior exclusive-partnership arrangement in April 2026 per Forbes reporting.
What changed when OpenAI converted to a public benefit corporation?
OpenAI’s for-profit arm launched in 2019 as a “capped-profit” entity — investor returns were capped, and anything above the cap flowed back to the original nonprofit. The 2025 restructuring converted that arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC), which removed the profit cap entirely. Governance now runs through the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit that appoints the PBC’s board and retains a minority equity stake in the for-profit entity it oversees.
Watch out: the removal of the profit cap is the detail most “who owns OpenAI” explainers skip, and it’s the one that matters most for how the company will behave toward investors going forward — unrestricted upside changes incentives at every future funding round.
Does Google own part of Anthropic, and does it have a board seat?
Google holds roughly 14% of Anthropic in straight equity, contractually hard-capped at 15% — a structural ceiling, not a market-driven snapshot. Per NY Times reporting cited by TipRanks, Google has no voting rights, no board seat, and no board observer rights. That’s a deliberate design: Google both supplies Anthropic’s cloud compute and competes with it via Gemini, so a hard equity cap with zero governance access is the arrangement that lets both relationships coexist without triggering antitrust scrutiny over a supplier controlling a competitor.
How much has Amazon actually put into Anthropic?
Amazon began investing in Anthropic in 2023 with roughly $8 billion committed across several installments, and has since committed up to $33 billion in total per public disclosures. Fortune’s reporting, based on company filings, estimates the current stake is worth roughly $74 billion on paper — split between $42.2 billion in Anthropic convertible notes and $32 billion in nonvoting preferred stock. Amazon’s exact ownership percentage isn’t disclosed, but filing-based estimates place it in the mid-to-high teens. Like Google, Amazon holds no board seat and no voting rights.
What are Anthropic’s most recent funding rounds, and who led them?
Anthropic’s cap table moved fast in 2026. In February 2026, the company raised $30 billion in a Series G at a $380 billion post-money valuation, led by GIC and Coatue, with co-leads including D.E. Shaw, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, ICONIQ, and MGX. Three months later, on May 28, 2026, Anthropic raised $65 billion in a Series H at a $965 billion post-money valuation — more than doubling the company’s value in under 100 days — led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia, with co-leads including Capital Group, Coatue, D1 Capital, GIC, ICONIQ, and XN.
That pace of value growth is part of why Anthropic has been betting on research depth over raw user scale — a $965B valuation buys patience that a smaller lab wouldn’t have.
| Investor | Company | Stake | Board seat? | Voting rights? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | OpenAI | ~27% equity + 49% profit-share rights (capped ~$38B thru 2030) | No | No |
| OpenAI Foundation | OpenAI | Minority equity + board control | Yes (controls board) | Yes |
| Anthropic | ~14% (hard-capped at 15%) | No | No | |
| Amazon | Anthropic | Mid-to-high teens (undisclosed exact %), ~$74B on paper | No | No |
Why doesn’t Google or Amazon control Anthropic despite the size of their stakes?
Because Anthropic’s governance runs through its founders and the Long-Term Benefit Trust, not through its cap table. The company structured both mega-investors’ positions as non-controlling from the start — Google’s equity is hard-capped and voteless, Amazon’s position is split across convertible notes and nonvoting preferred stock. The practical effect: two of the three largest AI clouds (Google Cloud and AWS) have billions riding on Anthropic’s success without a seat at the table that decides model safety policy or release timing.
Where does OpenAI’s revenue-sharing arrangement with Microsoft stand after April 2026?
Per Forbes, OpenAI and Microsoft formally ended their exclusive-partnership and revenue-sharing exclusivity in April 2026, even as Microsoft retains its ~27% equity stake and profit-share rights. This follows a pattern covered here after OpenAI’s 2026 leadership exodus and executive payday news: the relationship between OpenAI and its largest backer is loosening even as the dollar figures involved keep growing. Enterprise buyers evaluating OpenAI’s roadmap should treat this as a signal that OpenAI is actively diversifying compute and distribution away from single-partner dependency — similar to the diversification pattern in Anthropic’s own $10B Volta chip deal, where a lab reduced reliance on any one cloud partner.
Key Takeaways
- “Who owns OpenAI” has no single-number answer: Microsoft has ~27% equity plus separate profit-share rights; real governance control sits with the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation.
- Anthropic’s cap table is more conventional, but its two largest corporate backers — Google (~14%) and Amazon (undisclosed, mid-to-high teens) — hold zero board seats or votes by design.
- Anthropic’s valuation went from $380B (Feb 2026 Series G) to $965B (May 2026 Series H) in under 100 days.
- Microsoft and OpenAI ended their exclusivity arrangement in April 2026 while keeping the equity and profit-share terms intact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Microsoft own a majority of OpenAI?
No. Microsoft’s equity stake is approximately 27% on an as-converted basis. Its separate right to 49% of for-profit-arm profits is a profit-share agreement, not equity ownership, and doesn’t carry voting control.
Who actually controls OpenAI’s board?
The OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit created in the 2025 restructuring, appoints the board of the for-profit public benefit corporation and holds a minority equity stake in it.
Does Google have any influence over Anthropic’s decisions?
No. Google’s roughly 14% equity stake is hard-capped at 15% with no voting rights, no board seat, and no board observer rights, per reporting on the arrangement.
How much is Amazon’s Anthropic stake worth?
Amazon’s exact ownership percentage is undisclosed, but Fortune’s filing-based estimate places the paper value at roughly $74 billion, split between $42.2 billion in convertible notes and $32 billion in nonvoting preferred stock.
What was Anthropic’s valuation at its last funding round?
Anthropic’s Series H closed May 28, 2026, at a $965 billion post-money valuation on a $65 billion raise, led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia.
Why did OpenAI convert to a public benefit corporation?
The 2025 restructuring replaced the original “capped-profit” model — where profit above a cap flowed to the nonprofit — with an uncapped public benefit corporation still overseen by the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation, which controls the board.
Last updated: 2026-08-19
