Microsoft’s CEO hinted to Sam Altman rejoining OpenAI

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella hinted on Monday that he was still open to Sam Altman rejoining OpenAI – despite an announcement earlier in the day that Altman would join Microsoft’s artificial intelligence innovation division.

Nadella said he was “open to both options” when asked in a Monday CNBC interview whether Altman would actually join Microsoft.

“Look, that is for the OpenAI board and management and the employees to choose,” Nadella said. “We chose to explicitly partner with OpenAI and we want to continue to do so, and obviously, that depends on the people of OpenAI staying there or coming to Microsoft.”

Hours later, a letter, which was first reported by Wired and journalist Kara Swisher and later shared with NBC News, said OpenAI employees would resign and possibly join Microsoft "unless all current board members resign, and the board appoints two new lead independent directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman."

An OpenAI spokesperson said the letter had been shown to the board.

"Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI," the letter reads. "We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees. We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman."

Vinod Khosla, whose venture firm is a major backer of OpenAI, on Monday called for Shear to resign and questioned the legality of the board's action. Fellow OpenAI investor Joshua Kushner of Thrive Capital said he was supporting the employee-led campaign to reinstate Altman. "Founders deserve to run their own businesses," he wrote in a post on X. Thrive declined to comment, and Khosla did not respond to requests for comment.

“If Microsoft lost Altman he could have gone to Amazon, Google, Apple, or a host of other tech companies craving to get the face of AI globally in their doors,” Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said in a research note.

Microsoft is now in an even stronger position on AI, Ives said. Its shares rose nearly 2% before the opening bell and were nearing an all-time high Monday.

Regardless how the drama at the company plays out, OpenAI, as the company existed on Thursday, is over, the New Street analysts stated. "Our expectation is that either the quartet will be forced to resign, or OpenAI staff will run away, and the quartet will be left by themselves," they told investors in a report.

OpenAI last week declined to answer questions about what its reference to Altman's alleged lack of candor was about. In its statement, the board said Altman's behavior was hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.

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Sarah H

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