OpenAI is the original Frontier Lab. The latest public model, GPT-5.6, is one of the most capable and efficient models on the market. The desktop app for agentic coding and workplace tasks has seen its user base grow by approximately 15 million subscribers over the past two months.
OpenAI has also already filed to go public. So why are all the executives leaving?
More than a dozen executives have left the company so far this year, including CEO Sam Altman’s deputy chief executive, chief operating officer, chief revenue officer, chief marketing officer and several different team leaders. Yesterday, news broke that Chris Malone, the company’s head of data centers, left the company last week after joining the company in March 2025.
Some of the departures were due to health problems, while others were due to a reorganization that occurred as Mr. Altman sought to cut costly “side projects” and focus on revenue-generating opportunities.
Still, Malone’s unexplained exit is surprising, if only because OpenAI’s main advantage over rivals like Anthropic and SpaceX is its investment in computing. OpenAI told TechCrunch that while Malone previously reported to president Greg Brockman, his departure is part of a reorganization of the company’s infrastructure team, currently led by vice president Sachin Katti. It’s no surprise that if a senior executive is suddenly pushed a few steps further down the ladder, he or she may leave the company.
Frontier Labs declined to comment on the company’s broader changes, but it seems clear that Brockman is reasserting his leadership. As co-founder and president, he played a key role in building OpenAI’s initial infrastructure, but was relieved of most management responsibilities in 2019 when Altman became CEO.
Brockman later played a disruptive role at the company, according to Karen Hao’s book Empire of AI. While his contributions to individual projects like GPT-4 are undeniable, he created internal conflict and contributed to the “blip” that led to the company’s board temporarily removing Altman as CEO in 2023. Brockman plans to take a short break in 2024 before returning to the company.
The infrastructure and product teams now report to him. “What I’m saying is everyone reports to Greg at the end of the day,” Thibault Sautiaux, who leads the company’s API and app offerings, told TechCrunch.
The uncertainty surrounding the company’s IPO is overshadowing everything. OpenAI announced in June that it had confidentially filed its initial public offering information with the SEC. Entering the public markets would be a boon for capital-hungry Frontier Labs, but it also brings with it the prospect of disclosing financial information around the same time as rival Anthropic, which is also planning a public debut. But while Anthropic is reportedly profitable, OpenAI is reportedly seeing its losses grow as well as its revenues. Currently, OpenAI’s IPO is not scheduled until 2027. The average company that secretly files for an IPO typically hits the trading floor within about five months. SpaceX completed this within two days.
Mr. Altman’s public comments over the past 12 months about the company’s woes and internal reorganization are consistent with the narrative that the company has overcome a failure in its IPO application and is now restructuring itself to make more money and reduce its burden.
Some tech startups have a common cycle. A talented founder develops a product, then brings in an experienced CEO to scale the company and prepare it to go public. There was a sense of that dynamic when OpenAI brought on board now-retired executives who were veterans of multiple technology companies, like Fiji Simo and Kevin Weil — and now we’re seeing it again as Brockman’s influence grows. Prior to OpenAI, he was best known for building Stripe’s business and championing the company’s go-to-market efforts internally.
With so much high-level talent turnover, OpenAI will need people to fill the void. The company also needs to wind down, increase revenue and cut costs as much as possible ahead of the IPO. On both issues, Brockman’s influence may be growing at the perfect time.
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