Bloomberg reports OpenAI investors seek to reinstate Sam Altman as CEO

Top OpenAI investors are demanding that the company reinstate Sam Altman as chief executive. Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

On November 17 OpenAI announced the dismissal of Altman, with Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati taking the role of interim CEO. The board made the decision based on the results of an internal investigation.

Following these events, co-founder and president Greg Brockman left the company.

After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: https://t.co/NMnG16yFmm pic.twitter.com/8x39P0ejOM

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023

«Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today», — noted he.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, investors led by Microsoft — the largest sponsor of OpenAI with a stake of $10 billion — are pressing to reinstate Altman. Thrive Capital and Tiger Global Management are also involved in the effort.

The backers of restoring the former CEO insist on replacing the current board of directors. The board is reportedly prepared to resign, but a final decision has not yet been made.

Thrive, which is due to lead the employee stock-option tender for OpenAI, has not yet transferred funds and has signaled that Altman’s departure would affect its next steps. One of the largest investors is pushing for the return of both the former head of the company and Brockman.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, Altman is prepared to return to the company if governance practices are changed. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has pledged support for him in all his future steps.

As an alternative, the former OpenAI CEO is considering starting a new project, possibly with colleagues from the firm. Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said he would like Altman to return to the company, but “will support whatever he does next”.

To be clear, Khosla Ventures wants @sama back at @OpenAI but will back him in whatever he does next

— Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) November 19, 2023

According to memos obtained by The Information and Bloomberg, OpenAI expects Altman to be reinstated. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon said the leadership would be able to provide some information on Sunday.

Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said that Altman's dismissal “was not the result of any misconduct, breaches of the company's financial rules, or security measures.” He added that the reason for the board's sudden decision was a “communication breakdown between Sam and the board of directors.” He also noted that Microsoft remains fully invested in OpenAI as an investor.

As noted earlier, shortly before Altmanhe spoke about plans to create artificial general intelligence, disclosed details of GPT-5 and shed light on the OpenAI–Microsoft partnership.