• Big Tech calculated to harvest up to $162,492 per person in inflation-linked commercial value from internet users worldwide over a lifetime, according to first-of-its-kind report
• Across the world’s estimated 6,000 million internet users the report’s upper lifetime estimate would amount to approximately $745 trillion in commercial value.
• The study, which assessed 129 major companies, found Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Anthropic are some of the most significant beneficiaries of data capture.

Web3 Foundation today launched ‘The Hidden Price of Free: What Your Data Is Really Worth’, a groundbreaking report revealing that Big Tech and AI companies earn upto $160,000 in commercial value from each internet user over a digital lifetime.

This equates to a staggering $745 trillion across the combined global population of internet users over a period of 60 years.

The study calculated the companies earn upto $8,500 per year from USA internet users per year, upto $2,206 per user in United Kingdom and Europe and $407 in the rest of the world. Globally this equates to an annual amount of upto $908 per internet user.

Over a lifetime that means the commercial value for a user in the USA is $511,869, UK and Europe $132,387, $24,424 in the rest of the world and overall $54,499 globally – or a huge $1.08m in the USA, $260,542 in UK and Europe, $72,821 elsewhere and $162,492 globally when inflation-linked.

In relative terms, the lifetime figure is equivalent to almost five years of full-time employment in the UK, using the ONS 2025 benchmark of $52,474 per annum.

On an inflation-linked basis, the US lifetime figure of $831,301 is roughly equivalent to two times the Q1 2026 median sales price of a new US house. Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Anthropic, Microsoft and Meta are explicitly listed in the report, each earning up to $1,000 annually on a single internet user.

The report shows that the modern internet is not free but paid for through personal data. Searches, clicks, locations, purchases, prompts, messages, images, preferences and behavioural signals are collected, analysed and monetised by some of the world’s most powerful companies, usually without users having meaningful visibility, bargaining power or participation in the value created.

Unlike previous attempts to estimate the value of personal data, which have focused mainly on advertising revenue per active user, Web3 Foundation’s methodology takes a broader view of how human data is monetised in the modern digital economy.

The study examines advertising, AI subscriptions, enterprise licensing, API access, data brokerage, marketplaces, algorithmic recommendations and AI-driven cost savings.

This allowed the findings to account not only for social media and search platforms, but also for emerging AI firms, hardware-linked digital ecosystems and data brokers whose business models increasingly depend on collecting, analysing and reusing personal data at scale.

The report stresses that the figures are not presented as precise valuations or direct cash entitlements owed to individuals. Instead, they are intended as a benchmark for understanding the scale of commercial value associated with personal data and the extent to which that value is captured by companies rather than users.

Why AI changes the data economy

Web3 Foundation argues that artificial intelligence makes the imbalance more urgent. Personal data is no longer used only to target adverts. It is used to train models, improve recommendations, power enterprise systems, build behavioural profiles, create predictive products and generate new forms of machine intelligence.

Every search query, location signal, online purchase, social interaction, uploaded image or chatbot prompt can become part of a wider data economy. As AI systems become more capable, human-origin data becomes more valuable, while users remain largely excluded from the economic upside.

Web3 as a different model

The report says Web3 offers a fundamentally different vision for the internet. Rather than relying on centralised platforms that collect and monetise user data behind closed doors, Web3 technologies are built on decentralised digital infrastructure that can give individuals greater control over their identity, assets and online activity.

In a Web3-enabled internet, users could decide what data they share, with whom and on what terms. The report argues this could shift power away from dominant technology platforms and towards the individuals who generate the underlying value.

“For too long, the internet has operated on an implicit bargain that users do not fully understand: convenience in exchange for surveillance. This report helps expose the scale of that imbalance. The modern digital economy is powered by human data, yet the people generating that value have little visibility, control or participation in the upside. Web3 technology can offer a path toward a more equitable internet, where individuals have genuine ownership over their digital lives rather than simply being the raw material for someone else’s business model.” – Gavin Wood, founder, Web3 Foundation

“The internet does not have to work this way. For decades, digital platforms have been built around centralised control, where users hand over their data, identity and value in exchange for access to services. Web3 represents a fundamentally different model, one where individuals can own their digital assets, verify their identity without surrendering personal information and participate more fairly in the online economy. As AI accelerates and data becomes even more valuable, building a more transparent, user-led internet is becoming increasingly urgent.” – Bill Laboon, vice president, Technical Operations, Web3 Foundation

Before now, Microsoft helped fund OpenAI’s rapid growth and used early access to its systems to build new tools across Windows, Office, Azure and other products.

Under the new agreement, Microsoft will remain OpenAI’s main cloud partner, but it will no longer have sole rights to host or distribute OpenAI technology.

That means OpenAI can now reach customers already using other cloud providers, instead of asking them to move to Microsoft Azure first.

Even so, OpenAI products are still expected to launch first on Azure unless Microsoft cannot, or chooses not to, support them.

Microsoft will also keep a non-exclusive licence to OpenAI’s intellectual property until 2032.

Another key change concerns money as Microsoft will no longer pay OpenAI a share of revenue from its own AI-related products. At the same time, OpenAI will continue paying Microsoft a 20% revenue share until 2030, though that amount now has a fixed upper limit.

Following the announcement, Microsoft shares fell about 1% in premarket trading on Monday, while Amazon and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, edged higher.

This means Microsoft has lost a strategic advantage, while its competitors now have a stronger path to offer OpenAI products through their own cloud services.

Still, aside from the exclusive deal, Microsoft is deeply tied to OpenAI. The software company owns about 27% of OpenAI, a stake estimated to be worth around $225 billion after OpenAI’s corporate restructuring last year.

The two companies have faced limitations in recent months, with reports in March saying Microsoft had considered going to court over a proposed $50 billion cloud deal involving Amazon and OpenAI that could have conflicted with earlier exclusivity terms.

There were also signs of stress inside OpenAI. Internal discussions reportedly revealed frustration that the old arrangement limited sales opportunities, especially among companies already committed to AWS or Google Cloud.

For OpenAI, the new structure provides room to expand faster and sell across more platforms.

For Microsoft, the deal removes exclusivity but secures long-term access to OpenAI technology while putting clearer limits on future payments.

For customers, it means more choice and less pressure to rely on a single cloud provider.

Details shared with investors, and reported by Axios, outline a strong growth path. The company expects ad revenue to reach $11 billion in 2027, then $25 billion in 2028, and $53 billion in 2029.

These figures depend on one key assumption where OpenAI believes its products could reach 2.75 billion weekly users by the end of the decade.

Early this year, OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT for some users in the United States. The test focused on people using the free tier and the lower-priced Go plan.

Within six weeks, the pilot crossed $100 million in annualised revenue. By March, more than 600 advertisers had signed up.

That early traction gives a clearer picture of where the company is heading. Ad is no longer an experiment but an indispensable part of how OpenAI plans to make more revenue, alongside subscriptions and enterprise deals.

The market is large but crowded. Alphabet reported $294.69 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, while Meta posted $196.18 billion.

OpenAI is trying to take a share of that ad market by using a different advantage, ultimately boosting revenue. In chat-based systems, users usually state exactly what they want, which could make adverts more precise.

Still, there are issues. Some analysts have warned that showing ads inside ChatGPT could affect how people trust the service but OpenAI says it has not seen that so far.

The company reports low dismissal rates and no drop in its trust metrics since the pilot began.

Not everyone is taking the same route. Competitor Anthropic has said its Claude chatbot will remain ad-free, drawing a line between the two approaches.

Meanwhile, advertising is expected to carry a large share of OpenAI’s revenue as it tries to keep up with the high cost of building and running its AI systems.

The company is also strengthening itself as a business that can scale in the same way as the largest internet platforms, with ads being a big part of that plan.

The agreement, announced on Monday, hands Google a function inside Apple’s ecosystem at a moment when Apple has had issues trying to scale in advanced software development. 

Under the deal, Google Gemini models will power the upcoming version of Siri and extend into other features tied to Apple Intelligence, a clear transition away from Apple’s tradition of relying almost entirely on its own tools.

Gemini already underpins key features in Samsung’s Galaxy devices, but Apple’s reach is much larger. With more than two billion active devices worldwide, Apple offers Google access to a scale that few platforms can match.

“After careful evaluation, Apple determined Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models,” Google said, adding that Gemini will support future Apple Intelligence features as well.

While neither company disclosed financial terms, industry reports put the deal at roughly $1 billion per year. If accurate, it would rank among the largest licensing agreements of its kind and underline how urgent Apple’s position has become. 

Gemini 3, Google’s latest flagship model, reportedly runs on about 1.2 trillion parameters. Apple’s internal models are believed to be far smaller, a gap that helps explain why Apple looked outside after repeated delays.

Those delays have been expensive. Since mid-2024, Apple has pushed back major improvements to Siri several times. Executive reshuffles followed, and the first wave of Apple’s generative tools failed to impress users or developers. 

Apple had already opened the door to outside help late last year by integrating ChatGPT into its devices. That arrangement allowed Siri to hand off complex questions to the chatbot, but only if users opted in. 

The new setup changes the balance. Gemini will sit much closer to the core of Apple’s system, while ChatGPT remains a secondary option.

“Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role, with ChatGPT remaining positioned for complex, opt-in queries rather than the default intelligence layer,” said Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research.

However, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk wrote on X: “This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that (they) also have Android and Chrome.” Musk runs his own firm, xAI, which is investing heavily to compete with the biggest players.

Beyond the technology itself, the deal strengthens a commercial relationship that has lasted for years. Google already pays Apple tens of billions of dollars annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.

Adding Gemini tightens that bond and makes Google even more embedded in Apple’s daily operations.

Investors welcomed the news. Alphabet’s market value climbed above $4 trillion on Monday, placing it in a small club alongside Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple itself. The company’s shares rose 65% last year, driven by growing trust in its strategy and speedy progress across text, image and video systems.

Google also moved quickly to address issues around data use. “Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards,” the company said.

His comments, given in an interview with the BBC, add urgency to high global concerns that the sector is inflating beyond what current adoption and revenue models can support.

Pichai described today’s AI bubble as an “extraordinary moment”, and also pointed to what he called “elements of irrationality” in the market. 

The concern is in line with earlier alarms sounded during the dotcom era, when valuations rose without clear foundations. Analysts now warn that a similar pattern is emerging in AI as venture capital builds startups and chipmakers at a pace that outstrips real-world usage.

He was explicit about the risks when asked how Alphabet would handle a severe downturn. “I think no company is going to be immune, including us,” he said. 

Alphabet’s stock has jumped 46% this year, buoyed by optimism over its capacity to challenge OpenAI and Microsoft in advanced model development. However, the same rally has led to talks in the United States and the United Kingdom over whether markets are pricing in far more than the technology can reasonably deliver.

In Britain, policymakers have already noted that the sector may be drifting into bubble territory. Despite these warnings, Alphabet has doubled down on its UK footprint. 

In September, the company committed £5 billion over two years to expand AI infrastructure, build a new data centre, and increase funding for DeepMind, its London-based research arm. 

Pichai also confirmed that Google will begin training models in the UK, an important step for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who wants the country to become the world’s third AI superpower after the US and China.

The company’s aggressive UK plans align with that goal, but they also point to a bigger dilemma. Pichai admitted that AI’s “immense” energy requirements are slowing Alphabet’s progress towards its net-zero targets, as the growing demand for high-performance computing drives up power consumption across its operations. 

The admission shows an industry struggle on how to balance the speed of innovation, the AI bubble, with the environmental cost of the infrastructure required to support it.

Pichai’s warning lands as investors, regulators and governments are becoming more uneasy about the sustainability of AI valuations and the stress placed on energy grids. 

The e-commerce giant posted third-quarter revenue of $180.2 billion, up 13% year-on-year, surpassing analyst expectations of $177.8 billion. 

Earnings per share stood at $1.95, beating the projected $1.57, while operating income reached $17.4 billion, a figure that would have climbed to $21.7 billion if not for one-time charges, including a $25 billion Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlement and $1.8 billion in severance costs.

AWS led the growth, generating $33 billion in revenue, up 20.2%, its highest rise since 2022. 

The Amazon cloud arm now contributes more than 60% of Amazon’s total operating income despite representing just around 15–17% of overall sales. 

CEO Andy Jassy credited the growth to surging demand for artificial intelligence and core infrastructure services.

“AWS is growing at a pace we haven’t seen since 2022,” Jassy said. “We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity.”

The company plans to increase its capital expenditure to about $125 billion this year, with even higher spending expected in 2026. Most of this investment will target AI infrastructure, mirroring similar commitments from Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, which are also ramping up spending on chips and data centres.

Despite a challenging week that saw a prolonged AWS outage disrupt several major platforms, Amazon cloud performance outshone expectations. Analysts estimate AWS revenue growth at 17.95%, making the 20% rise a strong recovery.

The performance has put Amazon back among the top-performing tech giants, reversing a period of underwhelming stock performance that had made it the weakest among the so-called “Magnificent Seven.”

Ethan Feller, a stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research, observed that the report reflects a renewed operational strength:

“The report confirms Amazon’s operations are firing on all cylinders after a year of relative underperformance. Despite the stock’s nearly flat growth this year, the company’s fundamentals never meaningfully weakened.”

Amazon projected fourth-quarter net sales between $206 billion and $213 billion, above the $208.12 billion average forecast compiled by LSEG. Jassy’s tone during the earnings call was notably upbeat.

“I look at the momentum we have right now, and I believe that we can continue to grow and click like this for a while,” he said. “I think there are multiple places where we can expect to continue to grow,” he added, citing advertising and retail segments.

Advertising has become a powerful revenue engine, rising 24% year-over-year to $17.7 billion, supported by sponsored listings and new ad formats on Echo Show screens and smart shopping carts. 

Meanwhile, North American sales grew 11% to $106.3 billion, and international sales climbed 14% to $40.9 billion.

However, Amazon’s restructuring continues. The company confirmed it had cut 14,000 corporate jobs, part of a larger plan that could affect up to 30,000 roles. Jassy clarified that the layoffs were not financially or AI-driven.

“It’s culture,” he explained. “Our growth created too many layers of workers and it can lead to slowing you down.”

The job cuts came alongside the one-time $25 billion FTC settlement over allegations that Amazon misled consumers about Prime membership cancellations.

Nonetheless, Amazon’s outlook remains strong. With AWS revenue surging, advertising expanding, and e-commerce stabilising ahead of the holiday season, the company appears stable for continued growth, even as global trade issues weigh on consumer trust.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle’s Larry Ellison had the highest, each adding $9 billion to their net worth.

Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang followed with $5.4 billion, while Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin gained $4.5 billion and $4.3 billion respectively.

The windfall results from the deepening concentration of wealth and influence among Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures. 

These are not fleeting market blips, the growth is tied to the technologies reshaping everything from global communications to financial systems.

Zuckerberg, now the third-richest person in the world with $267.7 billion, controls about 13% of Meta. The company’s stock has risen 40% since April 2025, driven by AI-powered advertising and smart glasses. 

Back in 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to donate 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetimes, one of the most noteworthy philanthropic promises of the modern era.

Just ahead of him in the global rankings is Ellison, whose $298.3 billion fortune places him second only to Elon Musk. The Oracle co-founder stepped down as CEO in 2014 but still drives the company’s strategic acquisitions. He lives permanently on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he purchased almost entirely for $300 million in 2012.

Huang’s rise is perhaps the most emblematic of the AI era. Nvidia, once a graphics card specialist, now dominates AI hardware. In Q1 2026, its data centre division alone generated $39 billion, 89% of its revenue, with forecasts pointing to $200 billion for the fiscal year. 

Under Huang’s leadership, Nvidia’s valuation topped $3 trillion in 2024. His net worth now stands at $156.6 billion.

Page and Brin, despite stepping back from Google’s daily operations in 2019, remain among the most influential figures in tech. Their stakes in Alphabet keep their fortunes at $160.3 billion and $153 billion respectively, built on the algorithms they pioneered more than two decades ago.

As of August 2025, eight of the world’s ten wealthiest people are tech leaders, including Musk, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Page, Brin, Huang, Steve Ballmer, and Jeff Bezos. 

Their combined wealth stands at $2.1 trillion, up $100 billion since July. In total, 450 tech billionaires control an estimated $5.2 trillion, representing nearly one-third of all billionaire wealth.

The ongoing AI boom is creating new billionaires in semiconductors, cloud platforms, and generative AI startups like Anthropic and CoreWeave. Yet the same trend is intensifying debates over monopolies, digital inequality, and the vast control a handful of companies wield over critical infrastructure.

As an analyst stated, “This isn’t just a story about money, it’s a story about who owns the future.”

Driven largely by the new $19.99/month plan that gives paying users exclusive access to advanced tools, including some of Google’s top AI capabilities, more people are moving away from traditional free models and are willing to pay for premium experiences, especially if they believe it gives them an edge. 

Shimrit Ben-Yair, vice president at Google, confirmed that the higher-tier AI plan alone has drawn in “millions” of subscribers since its launch in February.

This isn’t just about cloud storage anymore. Alphabet is moving away from its dependency on ad revenue, which made up over 75% of its $350 billion haul in 2024. The pressure to diversify is real and urgent.

Why? The ground is shaking beneath Google’s core product: search. Apple recently revealed, during court testimony, that search activity on its Safari browser declined for the first time ever. It’s a first blow, and likely not the last, as users are turning to AI assistants rather than traditional search engines.

The timing couldn’t be worse for Alphabet. That single disclosure from Apple triggered a reaction on Wall Street, wiping $150 billion off Alphabet’s market value in one day.

Investors want answers. Can Google adapt to a future where ads don’t dominate? Can it make people pay for what they used to get for free?

Sundar Pichai said. “Just like you’ve seen with YouTube, we’ll give people options over time,” he said in February. “For this year, I think you’ll see us be focused on the subscription direction.”

That direction might be the company’s only lifeline. Unlike with search engines, where ads are woven into the user experience, AI tools aren’t built for advertising, at least not yet. The current playbook? Charge people directly through subscriptions or usage-based pricing.

Google One may be the clearest sign yet of Alphabet’s attempt to future-proof itself. But it also tells us that if users see value, they’ll pay and if Google wants to keep its lead, it can’t afford to be free anymore.

The company’s shares surged by nearly 4% following the release, with a strong performance in its advertising business helping to ease investor doubts. Google’s ad revenue saw an 8.5% rise in the first quarter, an encouraging figure given the challenges facing the digital ad market.

Even with fears that the U.S. ad market could be hit by trade tensions, particularly from major advertisers like Temu and Shein scaling back, Alphabet’s solid results show resilience. 

Some analysts had feared a slowdown, spurred by rising tariffs and economic instability, but Alphabet’s performance reveals a different picture. “Against the backdrop of negative sentiment and data checks, regulation woes, competition concerns and macro-related fears, Alphabet reported a blow to bears, with strong growth across all major segments,” Deutsche Bank’s Benjamin Black commented.

This growth comes as Alphabet continues to press ahead with its AI initiatives, which are now seeing substantial uptake. The company announced that its AI-generated search summaries, or “AI Overviews,” now have 1.5 billion users per month.

“Google is in a race versus OpenAI, Perplexity, and others to drive AI usage, and we continue to believe Google has data and distribution advantages,” noted BofA Global Research.

Alphabet’s total revenue for the quarter reached $90.2 billion, marking a 12% year-over-year increase, while net income jumped by 46% to $34.5 billion.

A major highlight was the announcement of a $70 billion share buyback plan, a move that has strengthened investor confidence in the company’s future.

Despite a slight slowdown in its cloud business, Google Cloud’s revenue still grew by 28% to $12.3 billion, showcasing the company’s continued push into cloud computing.

However, this growth was slightly below market expectations, and Alphabet’s ongoing investments in AI infrastructure are essential to maintaining its edge in the tech sector.

In the bigger tech industry, Alphabet’s strong earnings report helped lift the stock prices of other social media companies. Meta, Pinterest, and Snap all saw positive movements, indicating that positiveness around AI and digital advertising is beginning to ripple through the sector.

However, not all is plain sailing. Trade policy changes stemming from the Trump administration are expected to cause a challenge to Google’s ad revenue, especially as tariffs impact Asian-based retailers.

Yet, even with these, Alphabet’s performance has given the market a much-needed boost, showing that it remains top in both the AI and advertising spaces.

Bernstein’s Mark Shmulik stated, “Perhaps Dr. Google is just what this market needed — a healthy dose of strong fundamental performance.”

Making the appeal during a recent meeting between Google executives and officials from President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a source familiar with the matter, the company explained that these proposed remedies could weaken the country’s economy and national security. 

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing two major antitrust cases against Google—one targeting monopoly in online search and another focused on its advertising technology. 

Prosecutors argue that the tech giant has suppressed competition, including paying billions of dollars to secure its position as the default search engine on Apple’s iPhones.

DOJ’s Proposed Measures

In an attempt to curb Google’s market control, the DOJ has laid out a series of potential remedies, including forcing the company to sell its Chrome web browser and Android operating system. 

Prosecutors contend that divesting these products would allow for greater competition and limit Google’s ability to consolidate power across multiple platforms.

Added to these, the agency is pushing for stricter regulations on Google’s partnerships, particularly those that give it exclusive advantages in search and advertising. 

Among the proposals is a mandate requiring Google to license its search data to competitors at minimal costs and share user data—except for information protected by privacy laws.

Should these measures prove insufficient, prosecutors have suggested a full divestment of Android, arguing that the operating system has been vital in strengthening Google’s search monopoly. 

They also propose barring the company from acquiring smaller search and ad-tech competitors and allowing websites to opt out of having their data used for Google’s artificial intelligence tools.

If approved, the court would appoint a five-member technical committee with broad oversight powers, including access to Google’s internal documents and software code, to ensure compliance.

Google’s Defence

Google has described DOJ’s proposals as extreme and harmful to both consumers and businesses. Kent Walker, Alphabet’s chief legal officer, called the measures a “radical overreach”, warning that they could disrupt essential services and undermine America’s technological leadership.

The company insists that its products, including Chrome and Android, are built on open-source frameworks, benefiting developers and users worldwide. 

Walker also pointed out that enforcing these changes could have unintended consequences for third-party organisations, such as Mozilla, which depend on partnerships with Google to sustain their operations.

Google maintains that breaking up its ecosystem could compromise user security and privacy. It has pledged to fight the DOJ’s recommendations and plans to submit counter-proposals in December.

The case is set for trial in April 2025, with a final ruling expected by August. The outcome could be influenced by changes in US antitrust policy under the Trump administration, as experts suggest the new government may soften some of the aggressive regulatory stances adopted under former President Joe Biden.

For now, Google remains locked in the case.