Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the popular AI startup backed by Microsoft with a $13 billion investment, was ousted by the board on November 17 causing ripples across the tech industry. Allegedly, Microsoft’s top brass remained unaware of Altman’s forced departure until the eleventh hour.
According to The New Yorker, Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, was only informed 20 minutes prior to OpenAI’s board making the public announcement. Despite grappling with the crisis at hand, Nadella found time to witness the ICC Cricket World Cup final between his native India and Australia.
As per the report, Microsoft’s senior executives deliberated on three strategies to address Altman’s removal, with Plan A involving collaborating with interim CEO Mira Murati to "stabilise the situation."
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However, this plan faltered, leading them to pivot to Plan B - working with Murati to explore the possibility of reinstating Altman as CEO.
In the midst of these high-stakes discussions, cricket enthusiast Satya Nadella took breaks to update his colleagues on the India vs Australia match held on November 18. “Nadella began conferring with Murati to see if there was a way to reinstate Altman as CEO. Amid these conversations, the Cricket World Cup was occurring, and Nadella—a fan of India’s team, which was in the finals against Australia—occasionally broke the tension with updates on Virat Kohli’s performance at the wickets,” reported The New Yorker.
In fact, Nadella closely followed the entire World Cup. Just days before the OpenAI upheaval, reports suggest he stayed up all night to witness India’s gripping 70-run victory over New Zealand in the semi-final.
Following the five-day boardroom turmoil, Altman formally resumed his position as CEO last week. Notably, Microsoft has secured a nonvoting board seat at OpenAI.