Cloud Partners Could Gain the Most From AI Company’s Public Offering
Investors could earn huge returns if a major artificial intelligence company sells shares to the public. Several venture investment firms own pieces of the business, and their stakes may be worth billions. But their share of the company is small compared with the value of its overall business.
Small Stakes Can Still Be Worth Billions
The company’s private value has climbed to about $965 billion. At that level, even a 1% share would be worth nearly $10 billion. One venture firm’s stake, valued at roughly $14 billion, represents about 1.5% of the company.
None of the venture firms listed among the company’s major investors owns 5% or more. That is unusual for a technology company preparing to go public. In many past offerings, the leading venture investors held much larger portions of the businesses they helped fund.
The company’s enormous value helps explain the difference. An investor can hold a stake worth billions while owning only a small percentage of the whole company.
A Cloud Partner Has a Large Financial Stake
A major online retailer and cloud computing provider may benefit more than any other investor. It began supporting the AI company with a commitment to invest up to $4 billion. It later put in billions more.
Much of that support came as convertible notes. These are loans that can turn into company shares when the business goes public or is sold. The notes had $6.2 billion in unpaid principal as of the end of June, making up the AI company’s entire debt balance.
The notes could be worth far more than the amount originally loaned because the AI company’s value rose during later investment rounds. The cloud provider valued its notes at $97.9 billion as of that same point.
The notes could turn into as many as 1.84 billion shares. A limit generally keeps the cloud provider’s ownership at 12% of a share count that includes some shares not yet issued, such as employee stock options. The provider can choose to give up that limit. Any notes that cannot convert right away would remain outstanding and could convert in later periods under the same ownership limit.
Rising Note Values Affect the Company’s Books
As the notes became more valuable, the AI company had to show that increase in its financial statements. The accounting adjustment appeared as a change in the value of convertible notes, other financial obligations, and agreements that can later become shares.
That adjustment totaled $72.4 billion during the first half of 2026. It was a non-cash charge: the accounting entry did not mean the company paid that amount out during the period.
More Investments and Long-Term Cloud Spending
The cloud provider also bought $10 billion in preferred shares during the second quarter. It invested $5 billion in each of the AI company’s two latest funding rounds. Together with the $8 billion it had put into convertible notes from 2023 through 2025, its total investment came to about $18 billion.
The financial ties extend beyond investments. The AI company has promised to spend at least $110 billion on cloud services over 10 years. That gives the provider a chance to earn substantial revenue while also holding a stake in the customer.
A second major technology company is also positioned to benefit from the public offering and cloud service agreements. It owned about 14% of the AI company early last year and later invested another $10 billion. Large rounds of new funding may have reduced its share. One estimate puts its current stake closer to 5.6%.
The second company has also secured at least $114 billion in cloud service commitments through 2033.
Partners May Also Be Competitors
Venture investors could still receive large returns, even though they own smaller portions of the company. But the biggest gains may go to major technology firms that invested early and now provide much of the computing power the AI company uses.
That relationship brings both opportunity and risk. The AI company’s key cloud providers also develop their own competing AI systems. Their business goals may not always match the AI company’s plans, a concern the company has highlighted in its public offering paperwork.