Something unusual happened in Microsoft's quarter, and the reporting has it backwards.
Start with the oddity. Microsoft's GAAP diluted earnings per share were $4.81. Its non-GAAP diluted EPS were $4.74 [1].
Reported earnings exceeded adjusted earnings - the reverse of the normal arrangement. Companies usually adjust items out to make the number look better, not worse.
The gap is exactly seven cents, and Microsoft says what it is. Its OpenAI-related investment produced a Q4 net gain of $480 million, adding $0.07 to GAAP diluted EPS [1].
Take the gain out and you get the adjusted figure: $4.81 minus $0.07 is $4.74.
Now the error.
A TechCrunch report, syndicated to Yahoo Finance, describes that same OpenAI line as a markdown of roughly $600 million, costing seven cents [2].
That is wrong on sign. Microsoft reported a gain - and the reconciliation between its two headline EPS figures only works if it is a gain.
The same report puts the Anthropic gain at 33 cents [2]. Microsoft does not disclose a standalone Anthropic EPS figure at all.
What it discloses is that 'Several discrete items impacted our financial results in the quarter... resulting in a benefit of $0.27 on diluted earnings per share' [1] - a combined number covering the Anthropic gain plus lower voluntary-retirement expenses, partly offset by severance and an Xbox impairment charge.
Anyone printing 33 cents is inferring it. This newsroom is not going to print a standalone figure either.
The Anthropic gain itself is the striking fact underneath all this: $3.2 billion, tied to Anthropic's valuation reaching $900 billion, on a $5 billion investment Microsoft made in November 2025 alongside Anthropic's agreement to buy $30 billion of Azure services [1].
A paper mark-up on a private company Microsoft does not routinely revalue supplied more than a nickel of the quarter's $4.81.
The operating business does not need the help. Revenue was $90.0 billion, up 18 percent. Azure and cloud services grew 43 percent. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $59.3 billion, up 27 percent - Amy Hood's own highlight [1].
Against that, $35.802 billion of additions to property and equipment in a single quarter, and $115.948 billion for the year [1].
Satya Nadella framed it as 'advancing the frontier on the cost-to-outcome curve, ensuring every customer can turn tokens into business results' [1].
The correction here is narrow and worth making anyway. When the most-watched line in a $90 billion quarter gets reported with its sign reversed, the fourteen-cent swing lands in somebody's valuation model.
