OpenAI announced Thursday it reached a nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, its largest investor, on a revised partnership that would allow the startup to convert its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC).
The transition, should it be cleared by state regulators, could allow OpenAI to raise additional capital from investors and, eventually, become a public company.
In a blog post, OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor said under the nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, OpenAI’s nonprofit would continue to exist and retain control over the startup’s operations. OpenAI’s nonprofit would obtain a stake in the company’s PBC, worth upward of $100 billion, Taylor said. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the next phase of our partnership,” the companies said in a joint statement. MOUs are not legally binding but aim to document each party’s expectations and intent.
“We are actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement,” the joint statement added.
The development seems to mark an end to months of negotiations between OpenAI and Microsoft over the ChatGPT maker’s transition plans. Unlike most startups, OpenAI is controlled by a nonprofit board. The unusual structure allowed for OpenAI board members to fire CEO Sam Altman in 2023. Altman was reinstated days later, and many of the board members resigned. However, the same governance structure remains in place today.
Under their current deal, Microsoft is supposed to get preferred access to OpenAI’s technology and be the startup’s primary provider of cloud services. However, ChatGPT is a much larger business than when Microsoft first invested in the startup back in 2019, and OpenAI has reportedly sought to loosen the cloud provider’s control as part of these negotiations.
In the last year, OpenAI has struck a series of deals that would allow it to be less dependent on Microsoft. OpenAI recently signed a contract to spend $300 billion with cloud provider Oracle over a five-year period starting in 2027, according to the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI has also partnered with the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank on its Stargate data center project.
Taylor says OpenAI and Microsoft will “continue to work with the California and Delaware attorneys general” on the transition plan, implying the deal still needs a stamp of approval from regulators before it can take effect.
Representatives for California and Delaware attorneys general did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Tensions between OpenAI and Microsoft over these negotiations reportedly reached a boiling point in recent months. The Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft wanted control of technology owned by Windsurf, the AI coding startup that OpenAI had planned to acquire earlier this year, while OpenAI fought to keep the startup’s IP independent. However, the deal fell through, and Windsurf’s founders were hired by Google, and the rest of its staff was acquired by another startup, Cognition.
In Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI — which at its core accuses Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and the company of abandoning its nonprofit mission — the startup’s for-profit transition is also a major flash point. Lawyers representing Musk in the lawsuit have tried to surface information related to Microsoft and OpenAI’s negotiations over the transition.
Musk also submitted an unsolicited $97 billion takeover bid for OpenAI earlier this year, which the startup’s board promptly rejected. However, legal experts noted at the time that Musk’s bid may have raised the price of OpenAI’s nonprofit stake.
Notably, the nonprofit’s stake in OpenAI PBC, under this agreement, is larger than what Musk offered.
In recent months, nonprofits such as Encode and The Midas Project have taken issue with OpenAI’s for-profit transition, arguing that it threatens the startup’s mission to develop AGI that benefits humanity. OpenAI has responded by sending subpoenas to some of these groups, claiming the nonprofits are funded by its competitors — namely, Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Encode and The Midas Project deny the claims.
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![‘Project Hail Mary’ Won’t Be Coming to Streaming Any Time Soon
With all the excitement of movies to come this week thanks to CinemaCon, it was almost easy to forget that MGM provided an interesting update on one of our favorite movies of the year that’s already out: Project Hail Mary will head back to IMAX theaters this weekend for an extended theatrical run. But that extension also means one thing: you’ll have to wait to stream it at home for a good while longer. During its presentation at CinemaCon this week MGM confirmed that Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s sci-fi hit would make its return to IMAX screens for a limited-time, one-week run starting this weekend, a move that will likely inch Project Hail Mary ever closer to crossing the $600 million box office mark. But to put a finer point on the news, Miller took to Twitter yesterday to confirm specifically that the extension means you won’t be able to watch the film at home for the forseeable future.
We announced yesterday that MGM is extending the exclusive theatrical window for PROJECT HAIL MARY so it won’t be on streaming anytime soon. This is a movie that needs to be seen on a big screen – and w a full return to IMAX screens for 1 week only starting this weekend, make… https://t.co/suK8NYpgWM — Christopher Miller (@chrizmillr) April 16, 2026 “It won’t be on streaming any time soon,” Miller’s tweet reads in part. “This is a movie that needs to be seen on a big screen […] Bring friends and loved ones. It’s an experience to share with others.” Project Hail Mary launched on March 20, so it’s not too surprising that it’s not headed home just yet—it’s just shy of a month into its theatrical window, which has now been extended by at least another week with the return to IMAX. But as studios begin to try realigning towards more theatrical releases with longer exclusivity windows again (one of the lingering aftereffects of covid’s impact on movie theaters), we should probably expect some of the biggest films of the year and beyond to try and hold off of hitting streaming for as long as they can.
At least in Project Hail Mary‘s case, you can still go and see it somewhere, even if it’s not at home. Good things come to those who wait, but for now, you can head to a movie theater to get your fix again. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Project #Hail #Mary #Wont #Coming #Streaming #TimeAmazon MGM,Project Hail Mary,Streaming ‘Project Hail Mary’ Won’t Be Coming to Streaming Any Time Soon
With all the excitement of movies to come this week thanks to CinemaCon, it was almost easy to forget that MGM provided an interesting update on one of our favorite movies of the year that’s already out: Project Hail Mary will head back to IMAX theaters this weekend for an extended theatrical run. But that extension also means one thing: you’ll have to wait to stream it at home for a good while longer. During its presentation at CinemaCon this week MGM confirmed that Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s sci-fi hit would make its return to IMAX screens for a limited-time, one-week run starting this weekend, a move that will likely inch Project Hail Mary ever closer to crossing the $600 million box office mark. But to put a finer point on the news, Miller took to Twitter yesterday to confirm specifically that the extension means you won’t be able to watch the film at home for the forseeable future.
We announced yesterday that MGM is extending the exclusive theatrical window for PROJECT HAIL MARY so it won’t be on streaming anytime soon. This is a movie that needs to be seen on a big screen – and w a full return to IMAX screens for 1 week only starting this weekend, make… https://t.co/suK8NYpgWM — Christopher Miller (@chrizmillr) April 16, 2026 “It won’t be on streaming any time soon,” Miller’s tweet reads in part. “This is a movie that needs to be seen on a big screen […] Bring friends and loved ones. It’s an experience to share with others.” Project Hail Mary launched on March 20, so it’s not too surprising that it’s not headed home just yet—it’s just shy of a month into its theatrical window, which has now been extended by at least another week with the return to IMAX. But as studios begin to try realigning towards more theatrical releases with longer exclusivity windows again (one of the lingering aftereffects of covid’s impact on movie theaters), we should probably expect some of the biggest films of the year and beyond to try and hold off of hitting streaming for as long as they can.
At least in Project Hail Mary‘s case, you can still go and see it somewhere, even if it’s not at home. Good things come to those who wait, but for now, you can head to a movie theater to get your fix again. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Project #Hail #Mary #Wont #Coming #Streaming #TimeAmazon MGM,Project Hail Mary,Streaming](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/04/project-hail-mary-ryan-gosling-1280x853.jpg)
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