OpenAI investors consider suing board after CEO's abrupt firing: Reports

Some investors in OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, are exploring legal recourse against the company’s board, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, after the board ousted CEO Sam Altman and sparked a potential mass exodus of employees.
 

Sources said investors are working with legal advisers to study their options. It was not immediately clear if these investors will sue OpenAI.
 

Investors worry that their hundreds of millions invested in OpenAI, a crown jewel in some of their portfolios, could suffer catastrophic losses as a result of what appears to be a potential collapse of the hottest artificial intelligence (AI) startup in the rapidly growing generative AI sector. By Monday, most of OpenAI’s more than 700 employees threatened to resign unless the company replaced the board.
 

OpenAI’s board fired Altman on Friday after a “breakdown of communications,” according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
 

What made the case unusual for VC investors, who usually hold board seats or voting power in their portfolios, is OpenAI is controlled by its non-profit parent company OpenAI Nonprofit, which was created to benefit “humanity, not OpenAI investors.”

As a result, employees have more leverage than the venture capitalists who helped pay their salaries, said Minor Myers, a law professor at the University of Connecticut. Microsoft owns 49 per cent of the company, while other investors and employees control 49 per cent, with 2 per cent owned by OpenAIs nonprofit parent.

Attempts to ‘unify’ 
 

OpenAI said OpenAI said it’s in “intense discussions” to unify the company after another tumultuous day that saw most employees threaten to quit if Sam Altman doesn’t return as chief executive officer.
 

Vice President of Global Affairs Anna Makanju delivered the message  aiming to rally staff who’ve grown anxious after days of disarray following Altman’s ouster and the board’s surprise appointment of former Twitch chief Emmett Shear as his interim replacement.

We’re with Altman: OpenAI employees reject  job offer by Salesforce CEO

Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, in a post on X, offered a job to any OpenAI researcher who quits following the ouster of Sam Altman. Benioff stated that the company would match the full cash and open trade equity of researchers who quit OpenAI ‘to immediately join’ the Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savarese. However, Benioff's offer did not find many takers. Reacting to the offer, OpenAI's Tony Wu called the offer super generous but rejected it by saying it he would stick with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.  Another OpenAI employee, Steven Heidel gave a hilarious response to Mr Benioff's offer. "Listen, I love Slack but the company that builds Tableau isn't going to build AGI." (Agencies)