On 28 October 2025 OpenAI completed its restructuring: its business becomes a public benefit corporation controlled by a foundation, and Microsoft keeps around 27%.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced on 28 October 2025 that it had completed the restructuring of its capital. Its business, until then housed within a non-profit with a complex capped-profit structure, becomes a public benefit corporation, OpenAI Group, which can raise capital like any company but must take account of a mission as well as profit. It remains controlled by the non-profit, renamed the OpenAI Foundation.
What we know
The foundation keeps about 26% of the capital and the right to appoint the board, plus warrants to increase its stake if the company keeps growing; with that holding, valued at some $130 billion, it would be one of the world’s richest foundations. Microsoft, its main partner and investor since 2019, keeps around 27%, valued at some $135 billion, which puts OpenAI’s value at around $500 billion.
The new agreement with Microsoft extends its rights to OpenAI’s technology until 2032 and provides that an independent expert panel will verify whether so-called artificial general intelligence has been achieved, a milestone with contractual consequences. The restructuring came after more than a year of negotiations with the attorneys general of California and Delaware.
Why it matters
The new structure allows OpenAI to raise the enormous sums it needs to build data centres, and opens the door to a future stock market listing. It also settles a dispute over whether an organisation created as a non-profit could become one of the world’s most valuable companies; Elon Musk, a co-founder, had taken it to court.
What to bear in mind
For investors, OpenAI is not listed, but its fortunes affect listed companies such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle and AMD, with which it has multibillion-dollar purchase commitments. It is worth knowing how much indirect exposure a portfolio has to the artificial intelligence cycle. Ask your adviser how this applies to you.
In artificial intelligence, legal form is also a question of capital.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
