OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar is attempting to soothe investor jitters with assurances that the company is well-positioned, even after some big executive departures. In a letter to investors obtained by CNBC, Friar addressed the resignation of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, who has already announced her resignation herself on Wednesday. The same day, CEO Sam Altman revealed that two of its most prominent research executives – Bob McGrew and Barret Zoph – were also leaving the company.
Friar wrote. “I wanted to reach out personally to each and every investor upon learning of Mira’s departure from OpenAI,” She acknowledged that the transition can be tough, but stressed the fact that the company still has a “talented leadership bench” with enough potential to lead the company to success. “We are extremely grateful of everything she’s helped build,” Friar added.
OpenAI – which, apart from backing by Microsoft, just secured an alliance with Apple to bolster AI capabilities on iPhones – is raising $6.5 billion in its Series D funding round. Sources familiar with the negotiations believe the deal will place the company at around a value of about $150 billion. She elaborated, in her communication, that the funding round is oversubscribed and will close next week. Friar added that the team would make a call a few times for the investors to get introduced to key leaders from the product and research teams.
“We’re still very committed to making AI accessible to everyone while developing sustainable revenue models that support our operations and add value for our investors and employees and I’m extremely optimistic about our future.” Friar commented.
Murati is leaving at the end of a tenure of nearly six and a half years, during which she briefly served as interim CEO following the ousting of Altman by the board last year. Earlier this year, she followed co-founder John Schulman and safety chief Jan Leike out the door, both of whom went to rival Anthropic, and co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who is going off to start a new venture.
Friar has announced Mark Chen is going to take over the role of senior vice president of research. Kevin Weil and Srinivas Narayanan are reportedly aligned to boost efforts of innovation for the company.
At an all-hands meeting on Thursday, reports said that Altman was to receive a large equity stake in the company were just not true. Altman and Friar both acknowledged investor questions about his equity status, especially with the transition going on.