03 Your money
Plain versionBack to the room
The exhibit is still arriving. It will wake when all of it is here.
1 of 7 The rope
“The velvet rope is the terms of service.”
2 of 7 The label
03
Your money
The Money Loop How VCs Invest in Their Own Customers and Call It Growth
Follow the money. Then follow it again.
The record begins:
Reported In January 2025 FTC staff reported that the partnerships studied (Microsoft–OpenAI, Amazon–Anthropic, Google–Anthropic) “include cloud commitments that require AI developers to spend a large portion” of the investment “on cloud services from their partner”: “circular spending.” Some features may not apply to all three.
Reported “separate” deals, or “linked”?
The fine print
3.01 Reported Partnerships Between Cloud Service Providers and AI Developers: FTC Staff Report on AI Partnerships & Investments 6(b) Study, Summary of Findings (printed page 2) Federal Trade Commission, Office of Technology staff (copy in the Internet Archive) · January 17, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
The same FTC staff report gives both sides. At least one cloud company “claimed publicly that cloud spending commitments are separate from investment deals.” Staff wrote that documents from the study “suggest that multiple respondents may view investments as linked” to cloud spending commitments.
3.02 Reported Partnerships Between Cloud Service Providers and AI Developers: FTC Staff Report on AI Partnerships & Investments 6(b) Study, section 4.3 (printed page 20) Federal Trade Commission, Office of Technology staff (copy in the Internet Archive) · January 17, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
Three questions. The record answers in its own words.
Paid?
Reported $13.0 billion promised, $11.9 billion funded
Reported “contracted to purchase” $250B more of Azure services
The fine print
Microsoft’s annual report says it has made “total funding commitments of $13.0 billion related to our investment” in OpenAI, “of which $11.9 billion has been funded as of June 30, 2026.” It does not say what form the funding took.
3.03 Reported Microsoft Corporation, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, Note 1 (Accounting Policies), OpenAI paragraph Microsoft Corporation (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
On October 28, 2025, Microsoft announced a new agreement with OpenAI: “OpenAI has contracted to purchase an incremental $250B of Azure services, and Microsoft will no longer have a right of first refusal to be OpenAI’s compute provider.” Azure is Microsoft’s cloud.
3.04 Reported The next chapter of the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership Microsoft (The Official Microsoft Blog) · October 28, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
Amazon says it put $8.0 billion into Anthropic convertible notes, loans that can turn into shares, from 2023 to 2025, and $10.0 billion into Anthropic nonvoting preferred stock in April to June 2026.
3.05 Reported Amazon.com, Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Note 2 (Financial Instruments), Non-Marketable Investments, and Item 2 (Liquidity and Capital Resources) Amazon.com, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 31, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
In April to June 2026 Amazon agreed to make up to $20.0 billion available to Anthropic, released “as we reach certain delivery milestones of compute capacity” under their cloud contract. A $5.0 billion stock purchase under it, half of the $10.0 billion of Anthropic stock Amazon bought that quarter, left $15.0 billion.
3.33 Reported Amazon.com, Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Note 2 (Financial Instruments), Non-Marketable Investments Amazon.com, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 31, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
In its note on commitments in customer contracts for future AWS services, Amazon’s report for April to June 2026 says “AWS and Anthropic announced an expansion of the strategic collaboration and existing multi-year commitment by more than $100.0 billion over 10.0 years.”
3.06 Reported Amazon.com, Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Note 1 (Accounting Policies and Supplemental Disclosures), Unearned Revenue Amazon.com, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 31, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
On September 9, 2025, CoreWeave and NVIDIA signed an order with “an initial value of $6.3 billion.” Where CoreWeave’s own customers leave its capacity unused, “NVIDIA is obligated to purchase the residual unsold capacity through April 13, 2032,” subject to termination and delivery terms.
3.07 Reported CoreWeave, Inc., Current Report on Form 8-K (date of earliest event reported: September 9, 2025), Item 1.01 CoreWeave, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · September 15, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
CoreWeave’s report of its September 2025 order with NVIDIA adds: “NVIDIA supplies the Company with NVIDIA GPUs and is a stockholder of the Company.” GPUs are the chips its AI computing runs on.
3.08 Reported CoreWeave, Inc., Current Report on Form 8-K (date of earliest event reported: September 9, 2025), Item 1.01 CoreWeave, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · September 15, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
Told?
Reported $37.7 billion other income, sources unnamed
Reported named: “our investments in Anthropic”
The fine print
Alphabet’s release for the first quarter of 2026 says its other income “reflected a net gain of $37.7 billion, primarily the result of net unrealized gains on our non-marketable equity securities”: stakes in private companies that it had not sold. It does not say which companies.
3.09 Reported Alphabet Announces First Quarter 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of April 29, 2026) Alphabet Inc. (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · April 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Amazon’s release for the first quarter of 2026 named the source of its gain: “First quarter 2026 net income includes pre-tax gains of $16.8 billion included in non-operating income from our investments in Anthropic.”
3.10 Reported Amazon.com Announces First Quarter Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of April 29, 2026) Amazon.com, Inc. (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · April 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Because OpenAI counts as a related party, Microsoft’s annual report discloses its revenue from OpenAI: “For fiscal year 2026, we recorded revenue from commercial arrangements with OpenAI, inclusive of revenue-sharing payments, of $24.1 billion.” OpenAI owed it $6.0 billion on June 30, 2026.
$24.1 billion ÷ $331.839 billion total revenue × 100 = 7.3 percent3.11 Reported Microsoft Corporation, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, Note 1 (OpenAI paragraph) and Item 7 (Summary Results of Operations) Microsoft Corporation (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
CoreWeave’s annual report for 2025 says it earned “approximately 67% of our revenue from our top customer, Microsoft.” The customer table in its financial statements shows 67% for “Customer A,” and gives no name.
3.12 Reported CoreWeave, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, Item 1A (Risk Factors) and Note 1 (Overview and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies), Customer Concentration CoreWeave, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · March 2, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Oracle’s annual report says “No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our total revenues in fiscal 2026,” and that the returns on its data-center spending “are dependent on customer demand and the ability of our key customers to meet their contractual obligations.”
3.13 Reported Oracle Corporation, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, Note 1 (Organization and Significant Accounting Policies), Concentrations of Risk Oracle Corporation (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · June 22, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Oracle’s release of September 10, 2026 says it “booked more than $30 billion of additional AI cloud contracts in Q1” (June to August 2026) “increasing its RPO to $664 billion,” and that the way those contracts are structured means “no incremental impact on its plans to raise capital.”
3.14 Reported Oracle Announces Q1 Results Driven by Triple Digit Growth in Cloud Infrastructure Revenues (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of September 10, 2026) Oracle Corporation (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · September 10, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
“Remaining performance obligations,” in Oracle’s words, “represent contracted revenues that had not yet been recognized”: money customers have agreed by contract to pay for work not yet delivered. It is a backlog, not revenue earned.
3.15 Reported Oracle Corporation, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, Note 1 (Organization and Significant Accounting Policies), Remaining Performance Obligations from Contracts with Customers Oracle Corporation (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · June 22, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Shared?
Reported an index fund’s ten largest holdings
The fine print
On October 15, 2026, State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, a fund that “seeks to provide investment results” that follow the S&P 500 index, listed NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet among its ten largest holdings, the fund’s own page shows.
3.16 Reported State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): fund page, Key Features and Top Holdings State Street Global Advisors (the fund's manager) · October 15, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
On August 28, 2026, the Financial Stability Board’s chair, Andrew Bailey, warned the G20 that leverage was “interacting with high valuations and market concentration, in particular the increasing cross-investment between artificial intelligence (AI) companies and hyper scalers,” the giant cloud firms.
3.17 Reported FSB Chair's letter to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors: August 2026 Financial Stability Board · August 28, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
3 of 7 The number
What share of one tech giant’s profit for January to March 2026 came from the rising value of its stakes in other companies? Guess first.
You guessed
Reported $28.7 billion of $62.6 billion net income
Reported $77.1 billion of $112.2 billion net income
Reported “SpaceX and a private company”
The fine print
Alphabet’s release for the first quarter of 2026 says a “gain on equity securities of $36.9 billion” raised its net income by $28.7 billion, after an $8.2 billion higher tax charge. Its net income for the quarter was $62.6 billion. It does not say which companies’ stakes rose.
$28.7 billion ÷ $62.578 billion × 100 = 45.9 percent$36.9 billion gain − $8.2 billion more tax = $28.7 billion more net income3.18 Reported Alphabet Announces First Quarter 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of April 29, 2026) Alphabet Inc. (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · April 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Alphabet’s release for the second quarter of 2026 says a “gain on equity securities of $99.0 billion” raised its net income by $77.1 billion, after a $21.9 billion higher tax charge. Its net income for the quarter was $112.2 billion.
$77.1 billion ÷ $112.193 billion × 100 = 68.7 percent$99.0 billion gain − $21.9 billion more tax = $77.1 billion more net income3.19 Reported Alphabet Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of July 22, 2026) Alphabet Inc. (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 22, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Alphabet’s quarterly report for April to June 2026 says other income rose “primarily related to unrealized gains in our equity securities portfolio from SpaceX and a private company.” It names one source of the gain and not the other.
3.34 Reported Alphabet Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Item 2 (Management's Discussion and Analysis), Other Income (Expense), Net Alphabet Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 23, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Alphabet’s quarterly report says most of its private stakes are “non-marketable equity securities accounted for under the measurement alternative,” whose book value “is adjusted upward or downward to fair value upon observable transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer or impairment.”
3.20 Reported Alphabet Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, Note 3 (Financial Instruments): “Investments Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis” and “Non-Marketable Securities” Alphabet Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · April 30, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
In 2016 the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the US accounting rule-maker, decided that shareholdings, except stakes giving influence or control, be “measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income.” Shares with no market price may stay at cost, adjusted for “observable price changes.”
3.21 Decided Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-01, Financial Instruments—Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, Summary (What Are the Main Provisions?) Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) · January 5, 2016 · as of October 16, 2026
4 of 7 Their side
The companies’ own words, from their own reports.
Reported “could significantly contribute to the volatility”
Reported “inherently more complex”
The fine print
Alphabet’s release carries its own warning: “Fluctuations in the value of our investments may be affected by market dynamics and other factors and could significantly contribute to the volatility of OI&E in future periods.” OI&E is its other income and expenses, where these gains are booked.
3.22 Reported Alphabet Announces First Quarter 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of April 29, 2026) Alphabet Inc. (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · April 29, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Amazon’s own caution about its private stakes, mainly in Anthropic and OpenAI: “Valuations of private companies are inherently more complex due to the lack of readily available market data,” economic conditions “provide additional uncertainty,” and so “we believe that market sensitivities are not practicable.”
3.23 Reported Amazon.com, Inc., Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Item 3 (Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk), Equity Investment Risk Amazon.com, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · July 31, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Reported “the customer prepaid” or “supplied the GPUs”
Reported fiscal 2027: “expects to raise approximately $40 billion”
The fine print
Oracle, June 10, 2026, on fiscal Q3 and Q4: most of the RPO increase was “large scale AI contracts where the customer prepaid Oracle for the purchase of the GPUs, or the customer bought and supplied the GPUs to Oracle.” It says such hardware now totals $75 billion and “substantially” cuts what it must raise.
3.24 Reported Oracle Announces Record Q4 and FY 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of June 10, 2026) Oracle Corporation (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · June 10, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
In the same release Oracle said it raised $43 billion in debt and $5 billion in equity in fiscal 2026, and in fiscal 2027 “expects to raise approximately $40 billion through a combination of debt and equity financing.”
3.37 Reported Oracle Announces Record Q4 and FY 2026 Results (earnings release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K of June 10, 2026) Oracle Corporation (furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · June 10, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
“Remaining performance obligations,” in Oracle’s words, “represent contracted revenues that had not yet been recognized”: money customers have agreed by contract to pay for work not yet delivered. It is a backlog, not revenue earned.
3.15 Reported Oracle Corporation, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, Note 1 (Organization and Significant Accounting Policies), Remaining Performance Obligations from Contracts with Customers Oracle Corporation (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · June 22, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
5 of 7 What fair looks like
What has been asked for and advised so far, oldest first. None of it has been ruled on or made a rule. Each line carries the exact word for where it stands.
Proposed advice: define AI, show oversight
Reported the SEC chairman: “our current principles-based rules”
The fine print
On December 4, 2025, the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee recommended that companies adopt a definition of “Artificial Intelligence,” disclose any board oversight of it, and, “if material,” report AI’s effects on their operations. It is advice to the Commission.
3.31 Proposed Recommendation of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee Regarding the Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence's Impact on Operations (approved at the December 4, 2025 meeting) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor Advisory Committee · December 4, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
Speaking to the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee on December 4, 2025, before it voted on AI disclosure, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said: “I believe that investors can rely on our current principles-based rules to inform them of how AI impacts companies.”
3.32 Reported Remarks at the Investor Advisory Committee Meeting (Chairman Paul S. Atkins) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · December 4, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
The committee adopted that advice by a voice vote, its minutes say: 14 members in favor (three by proxy), two against and two abstaining.
3.35 Reported Minutes of the Meeting on December 4, 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee, printed page 4 (Discussion of and Vote on a Recommendation Regarding Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Operations) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor Advisory Committee · December 4, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
One member’s written dissent, which the SEC posts with the committee’s papers, says the advice “would not help investors” and that new AI disclosure requirements “are likely to just further increase procedural burdens for boards.”
3.36 Reported Statement of Dissent Regarding Disclosure Recommendation: “IAC Member Dissent, Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence’s Impact on Issuer Operations,” December 4, 2025 A member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee (posted by the SEC on the committee’s page) · December 4, 2025 · as of October 16, 2026
Pending a petition from the public, File No. 4-903
Pending “a clear label”
Reported the petition: “Each step complies with current law”
The fine print
On June 7, 2026, a member of the public asked the SEC to require companies that earn cloud computing revenue to disclose “the share of that revenue coming from entities in which the company holds equity, debt, or convertible instruments” (File No. 4-903). It is a request, not a rule.
3.25 Pending Petition for Rulemaking to Require Disaggregated Disclosure of Cloud Revenue and Unrealized Gains from Commercially Entangled Entities in the AI Infrastructure Sector (File No. 4-903) A private citizen, filed under Rule 192 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which posts it · June 7, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Petition 4-903 also asks the SEC to guide companies to show separately unrealized (paper) gains and losses on stakes in firms they do material business with, at least “below the operating income line” with “a clear label.” It says the gains it cites already sit in non-operating or other income as “discrete line items.”
3.26 Pending Petition for Rulemaking to Require Disaggregated Disclosure of Cloud Revenue and Unrealized Gains from Commercially Entangled Entities in the AI Infrastructure Sector (File No. 4-903), parts II.B, III.A and III.B A private citizen, filed under Rule 192 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which posts it · June 7, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Petition 4-903 itself says the practice is within the law: “Each step complies with current law, and each is reasonable on its own terms.” Its question is “whether current disclosure lets investors see how this works.”
3.27 Reported Petition for Rulemaking to Require Disaggregated Disclosure of Cloud Revenue and Unrealized Gains from Commercially Entangled Entities in the AI Infrastructure Sector (File No. 4-903), part V (Conclusion) A private citizen, filed under Rule 192 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which posts it · June 7, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
The SEC lists petitions 4-903, 4-910 and 4-919 publicly. Its page explains: “Any person may request that the Commission issue, amend or repeal a rule,” staff make a recommendation, and “petitioners will be notified of any action taken by the Commission.”
3.28 Pending Petitions for Rulemaking Submitted to the SEC U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · October 16, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Pending File No. 4-919: “who bears the loss”
Reported “does not assert that an AI investment bubble exists”
The fine print
On July 30, 2026, another petition from the public (File No. 4-919) asked the SEC to consider one schedule of the debts, leases, purchase commitments and guarantees behind large computing projects, to show “who bears the loss if the assumptions fail.”
3.29 Pending Petition for Rulemaking Pursuant to Rule 192: Material Digital Compute Infrastructure Commitments, Credit Support, and Risk-Transfer Disclosure (File No. 4-919) A private citizen, filed under Rule 192 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which posts it · July 30, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
Petition 4-919 says it “does not assert that an AI investment bubble exists, that major technology registrants are insolvent, or that all contractual commitments are debt.” It asks the SEC to find out whether investors get information standardized enough to tell debts, leases, commitments and guarantees apart.
3.30 Reported Petition for Rulemaking Pursuant to Rule 192: Material Digital Compute Infrastructure Commitments, Credit Support, and Risk-Transfer Disclosure (File No. 4-919) A private citizen, filed under Rule 192 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which posts it · July 30, 2026 · as of October 16, 2026
6 of 7 The stamp
Yours to give. There is no right answer, and the museum keeps no count.
In the room, this is where you stamp your ticket with one of five stamps. The plain version asks nothing of you.
Kept on this device only. Nothing is sent.
7 of 7 Three doors
Three ways on. All three lead to the series’ own site.
From the book · The Money LoopI gave you money to buy my stuff. Look, a customer!