By Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
Publication Date: 2026-02-21 16:05:00
OpenAI is now the world’s most valuable private company, but when Microsoft originally invested $1 billion in the startup in 2019, it was less than a sure bet.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella faced pushback even from the company’s cofounder and original CEO, Bill Gates, he recalled during an interview on tech-focused YouTube channel TBPN.
“Remember this was a nonprofit, and I think Bill [Gates] even said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to burn this billion dollars,’” Nadella said.
Yet, Nadella and the Microsoft team weren’t swayed by the pushback. While Nadella noted he needed to go through the proper channels and get board approval because of the size of the investment, he said that despite the risk, “it was not that hard to convince anyone that this is an important area.”
“We kind of had a little bit of high risk tolerance, and we said, ‘We want to go and give this a shot,’” he added.
In 2019, Microsoft viewed the partnership and investment in…
