Microsoft’s stock price rebounds after hiring OpenAI Outcasts
Microsoft, the tech giant that is among the world’s most valuable companies, has been rocked by the turmoil at OpenAI, the small but influential artificial intelligence startup that was founded as a nonprofit and developed the ChatGPT chatbot.
The unexpected resignation on Friday of Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, set off a chain of events that wiped tens of billions off Microsoft’s market value, a sign of how important OpenAI is to the tech giant. Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, and Apple, Google and Meta have rushed to catch up with their own AI offerings.
Microsoft shares have been on a rollercoaster since Mr. Altman’s departure from OpenAI, falling on Friday and continuing to fall in after-hours trading. The drop of more than 2 percent translates into a huge loss of value for a company with a market capitalization approaching $3 trillion.
Microsoft’s stock price served as a referendum of sorts on its partnership with OpenAI. Microsoft led an effort this weekend to convince OpenAI’s board to reinstate Mr. Altman, a charismatic founder well-connected in Silicon Valley who was also pitching a new AI startup to investors at the time.
Ultimately, Microsoft said late Sunday that it would hire Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI and the company’s co-founder, who quit in solidarity with Mr. Altman. The two men will lead a cutting-edge research lab at Microsoft, “that will set a new pace for innovation,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Shares of Microsoft rose in choppy premarket trading Monday, recovering much of the earlier decline. Analysts praised Microsoft’s move to hire the OpenAI outcasts.
“We believe Mr. Nadella may have pulled off his own coup and acquired OpenAI’s most important asset: its aspirational talent,” Macquarie bank analysts wrote in a research note.
OpenAI named its second interim CEO in as many days, joining Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s longtime director, was initially named interim chief after Mr. Altman’s departure.