An $852 billion company does not have $852 billion in the bank. Three figures are often compressed into a single headline: sales earned by the business, money committed by its investors, and the value assigned to all its equity in the financing.

Reconciling OpenAI’s March round

On March 31, 2026, OpenAI announced $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation. At a common round price, subtracting the commitment yields a $730 billion pre-money value, consistent with the figure it announced in February. Post-money value includes the incoming capital. If the investment closes in tranches, actual cash receipts must be checked separately. March closing announcement | February pre-money figure

Use the revenue measure available at the time of the round

OpenAI’s March disclosure of $2 billion in monthly revenue implies $24 billion at a simple annualized pace. Equity value divided by that rate was 35.5 times. On May 28, Anthropic announced a $965 billion post-money valuation and said its revenue run rate had exceeded $47 billion earlier in May. Dividing by $47 billion gives about 20.5 times. The actual denominator was higher, making the multiple lower than that benchmark. These calculations pair each historical financing with the pace of sales reported at about the same time. They do not price the companies in November or use full-year recognized revenue. OpenAI, March disclosure | Anthropic, May disclosure

Comparing those multiples alone tells us little about which investment was cheaper. The observation months differ, and sales can change sharply in a growing business. The cost of computing capacity, subsequent financing needs and the rights attached to the shares also affect the investor’s eventual proceeds. For Anthropic, the November 2 SEC filing adds actual quarterly revenue and operating results. Anthropic’s amended filing

What must happen for an investor to double their money?

Suppose an investor buys equity in a fictional company at a ¥100 billion post-money valuation and wants the stake to double in five years. Ignoring dividends, dilution and preferences, the required exit equity value is ¥200 billion. At an assumed exit price-to-earnings ratio of 25, annual net income would have to reach ¥8 billion. A 10% net margin would imply ¥80 billion in sales. At a 5% margin the sales requirement doubles to ¥160 billion. These are assumptions for a worked example, not estimates for either company.

If new financing reduces the investor’s percentage ownership to 80% of its original level and the investor does not participate, the required exit equity value rises to ¥250 billion. Stronger models can drive demand while price competition and compute costs constrain margins. Financing more infrastructure can dilute the original shareholders. Business growth alone does not determine investor returns.

What is Gemini or Copilot worth on its own?

Alphabet and Microsoft have quoted share prices for their entire listed businesses, including advertising, cloud and workplace products. A stand-alone estimate for Gemini or Copilot would need to include identifiable product revenue, attributable gains in advertising or cloud demand and an allocation of shared infrastructure and research. Where product accounts are unavailable, a range based on explicit margin and growth assumptions is more informative than a single unsupported number.

For a sense of scale at the October 30 close, Microsoft’s approximately 7.426 billion common shares outstanding on October 22 times $521.91 gives about $3.88 trillion. For Alphabet, applying the Class A close of $279.84 to all 12.294 billion A, B and C shares outstanding at September 30 gives roughly $3.44 trillion. The latter is an approximation that ignores differences between share classes and measurement dates and excludes preferred shares. Both figures cover entire companies, including their established businesses. Microsoft shares ／ Alphabet shares ／ MSFT closes ／ GOOGL closes