OpenAI Raised $15 Billion, Half Its Original Target

By Elena Vasquez

OpenAI reportedly raised $15 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation in its latest funding round, according to people familiar with the matter cited by 24/7 Wall St. on Thursday, November 12, 2026.

The reported amount fell short of the up-to-$30 billion OpenAI initially sought at a $1.4 trillion valuation. By October 31, the company had cut that goal to around $20 billion. On the revised measure, the raise reached 75%. Against the original target, it reached 50%.

24/7 Wall St. reported that at 7:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Microsoft’s shares traded at $521.09, down 0.37%. Earlier, NASDAQ:MSFT closed at $523.00, up 0.36%, giving Microsoft a market value of about $3.88 trillion. The report noted that the evening quote could change before Friday’s open.

Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest strategic investor and cloud partner, according to 24/7 Wall St. The report said investors kept the valuation OpenAI set but put in less money than the company requested. It called that gap the finding most relevant to Microsoft shareholders.

OpenAI has not confirmed the round, the amount, the investors or a lead investor, 24/7 Wall St. said. It is also unclear whether the company will raise more. The reported total and valuation remain provisional, not company-confirmed terms.

That uncertainty reaches across Microsoft’s business. Its equity stake and Azure revenue connect to OpenAI’s financial position. Its model-routing tools also place OpenAI in competition for customer workloads. 24/7 Wall St. examined each link as the smaller raise tightened the AI spending chain.

What changed before the round closed?

OpenAI had about $11 billion in commitments by October 31, according to 24/7 Wall St. On November 6, a first close of $11 billion at the same valuation was reported. The $15 billion figure is the reported total, and no one has confirmed whether it includes that first close.

The sequence matters because a first close can account for most of a reported total. Without a breakdown from OpenAI, the $15 billion headline cannot be assigned cleanly to new money after November 6.

SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi’s MGX have been reported as participants, 24/7 Wall St. said. No lead investor has been disclosed. The report named two participants while leaving the round’s final investor roster unresolved.

SoftBank Group’s U.S. shares closed down 5.60% at $11.79, putting its market value at about $133.18 billion. No report linked that decline, or Microsoft’s share move, to OpenAI. The trading data therefore did not supply a clean signal about the round.

Why did investor appetite thin at a trillion-dollar price?

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has called the $1.25 trillion valuation pre-money, according to 24/7 Wall St. That means the company’s value before the new cash enters. The price sat nearly 50% above March, when OpenAI raised $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation.

Based on figures shared with investors, third-quarter revenue exceeded $10 billion, up about 50%, 24/7 Wall St. reported. To justify the reported price, OpenAI must keep growing at roughly that rate for years. In the report’s assessment, the smaller raise suggests fewer investors were willing to pay for that outcome.

The gap is not a valuation reset. 24/7 Wall St. said investors kept OpenAI’s stated price and reduced their commitments instead. That places the pressure on cash collection rather than a lower valuation, while also setting a stark scale against March’s reported $122 billion financing.

NVIDIA has invested at least $30 billion in OpenAI, which buys large amounts of the chip supplier’s compute, 24/7 Wall St. said. The report noted that this kind of arrangement holds only as long as outside capital keeps coming in. A tighter OpenAI budget therefore reaches beyond equity valuation into the infrastructure funding chain.

OpenAI is also reportedly expecting a 2027 IPO, 24/7 Wall St. said. Public buyers would then be asked to pay at least the reported valuation. The private round’s shortfall gave prospective public investors an early look at the price they would have to accept.

How large is Microsoft’s exposure?

Microsoft uses the equity method for its OpenAI stake, according to 24/7 Wall St. OpenAI’s share of profits or losses therefore runs through Microsoft’s net income. The stake added $207 million in the September quarter, compared with a $3.1 billion loss a year earlier.

The swing from a $3.1 billion loss to a $207 million gain shows how quickly the equity exposure can change reported earnings. 24/7 Wall St. treated that accounting link as material even as Azure supplied the larger operating connection.

Cloud demand is the bigger link, 24/7 Wall St. said. Azure grew 48% to $33.165 billion. Microsoft’s commercial remaining performance obligations, or signed revenue it has not yet recognized, reached $677 billion.

Microsoft also owns a stake in Anthropic, which produced a $3.2 billion gain in the June quarter. Its model-routing tools let Anthropic and OpenAI compete for individual customer workloads. The arrangement gives Microsoft exposure to both sides of a contest that can determine which model wins each job.

Microsoft earned $133.749 billion on $331.839 billion in revenue in fiscal 2026 and traded at 29 times earnings, 24/7 Wall St. reported. In the report’s view, a partner’s smaller raise leaves that earnings base intact. The funding gap did not directly erase Microsoft’s revenue or profit.

Can a tighter OpenAI budget disrupt Microsoft’s spending?

The main risk for Microsoft is its spending, according to 24/7 Wall St. The company spent $39.367 billion on capital projects in the September quarter and expects about $170 billion for the calendar year. If OpenAI buys less compute, some of that capacity could go unused.

The report separated Microsoft’s risk from the power, cooling and networking suppliers behind its AI expansion. Those suppliers represent a distinct infrastructure trade. Unused capacity could still become a broader industry problem, even without a direct stock-price link to the funding round.

CFO Amy Hood said demand “continues to exceed available supply,” limiting that risk for now, according to 24/7 Wall St. The quote places the immediate constraint on supply rather than demand. Microsoft’s stock was still down 3.76% over one month, a period that included the November 5 selloff in chip and cloud stocks.

What happens next?

NVIDIA’s earnings report, expected November 17 after the close but not yet confirmed by the company, is the next read on AI spending, 24/7 Wall St. said. The report framed it as a test of whether investment across the sector remains strong.

Microsoft forecasts December-quarter Azure growth of 49% to 50% in constant currency, according to 24/7 Wall St. A result below that range would mean OpenAI’s tighter budget has reached Azure. The next concrete test is therefore capacity absorption and Azure growth, not another private valuation headline.