Microsoft Books $3.2B Anthropic Investment Gain in Q4, While OpenAI Stake Falls $600M
Summary
- • Microsoft recorded a $3.2B gain on its Anthropic investment in Q4 FY2026, nearly matching OpenAI's entire full-year gain in a single quarter.
- • In the same quarter, Microsoft's OpenAI stake was written down ~$600M, reducing diluted EPS by $0.07 — a stark contrast to the Anthropic windfall.
- • For the full fiscal year, Microsoft's OpenAI investment generated a $5B gain; Anthropic's single Q4 gain of $3.2B almost equalled that in one quarter.
- • The Anthropic investment is tied to a circular deal: Microsoft put in $5B in November 2025, and Anthropic committed to buying $30B of Azure cloud services.
Details
$3.2B Anthropic Q4 Gain, +$0.33 EPS
Microsoft recorded a $3.2B gain on its Anthropic investment in Q4 FY2026 (quarter ended June 30), boosting diluted EPS by $0.33 — an unusual voluntary disclosure since Microsoft does not update Anthropic's value every quarter.
OpenAI Stake Written Down ~$600M in Q4
Microsoft marked down its OpenAI investment by roughly $600M in Q4 FY2026, reducing diluted EPS by approximately $0.07 per share.
OpenAI Full-Year Gain: $5B, +$0.67 EPS
For the full fiscal year FY2026, Microsoft's OpenAI investment generated a $5B gain and added $0.67 to diluted EPS — but Anthropic's single-quarter gain nearly matched this full-year figure.
Microsoft Owns ~27% of OpenAI
Microsoft holds approximately 27% equity in OpenAI and also receives undisclosed revenue-share payments, though it accounts only for investment value in its reported figures.
Circular Deal: $5B In, $30B Azure Commitment Out
Microsoft invested $5B in Anthropic in November 2025 as part of a circular deal under which Anthropic agreed to purchase $30B of Microsoft Azure cloud services — linking the investment gain to future cloud revenue.
Q4: $90B Revenue, $35.8B Net Income, $4.81 EPS
Microsoft delivered a highly profitable Q4 FY2026 with $90B in revenue and $35.8B in net income, making the AI investment swings relatively modest in absolute terms.
FY2026: $331.8B Revenue, $133.7B Net Income
For the full fiscal year 2026, Microsoft reported $331.8B in revenue and $133.7B in net income, with diluted EPS of $17.95.
Source: TechCrunch AI (July 29, 2026), citing Microsoft Q4 FY2026 earnings report.
What This Means
Microsoft's voluntary disclosure of its Anthropic investment gain — nearly matching OpenAI's full-year performance in a single quarter — is a deliberate and unusual financial signal. It suggests market valuations are appreciating faster at Anthropic than at OpenAI right now, despite Microsoft's far longer and structurally deeper relationship with the latter. The circular nature of these deals (Microsoft invests, the lab buys Azure) means reported "gains" partially reflect guaranteed future cloud revenue rather than pure market pricing, complicating interpretation. Still, the asymmetry between Anthropic's Q4 surge and OpenAI's Q4 write-down offers the most concrete data point yet on how the market is valuing the two dominant AI labs relative to each other.