Microsoft Targeted $92 Billion Return on Early OpenAI Investment

Microsoft Corp. targeted a $92 billion return from its large early investments in OpenAI, a landmark arrangement that helped usher in the current AI era.

The goal was included in Microsoft planning documents from early 2023 and disclosed Monday in court. The investments “worked out well because we took the risk,” Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella testified to a jury hearing Elon Musk’s high-profile case against OpenAI and Microsoft in federal court in Oakland, California.

The world’s largest software maker invested about $13 billion in the ChatGPT maker through early 2023. Since then, OpenAI’s valuation has skyrocketed to ...