Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock is climbing slightly in early trading today even though Sam Altman is returning to his post as CEO of OpenAI. The latter company is the innovator behind ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.
Altman was fired by OpenAI’s Board of Directors last Friday. Over the weekend, Microsoft subsequently announced that the executive would head up a new AI research operations team at the software giant. As of today, though, Altman is now headed back to OpenAI.
Altman’s Return to OpenAI
Indeed, Altman will be restored to his previous post as CEO of OpenAI, which the company disclosed this morning via an announcement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. According to CNBC, OpenAI had come under “immense pressure from employees and investors” in the wake of its ouster of the AI executive.
Also noteworthy is that the board will undergo a shake-up, with former Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) co-CEO Bret Taylor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers joining the table. Taylor will also become Chairman of the Board of Directors at OpenAI.
What This Means for Microsoft and MSFT Stock
Is Altman going back to OpenAI a big loss for Microsoft?
Well, on the one hand, Altman is clearly a great manager; OpenAI and ChatGPT have been extremely successful under his tenure. Moreover, Y Combinator — the company where Altman previously served as President — successfully helped startups like Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) and Reddit get up and running. In the wake of Altman’s firing, many other talented employees also indicated that they would readily follow the executive to Microsoft.
Still, Microsoft has the ability and willingness to spend a great deal of money on its AI ventures. After all, the firm’s capital expenditures soared to $10.7 billion in the fiscal third quarter, largely due to its investments in new data centers to support its AI initiatives.
Given the huge amounts that Microsoft is willing to invest in its AI endeavors, the company will likely have little trouble attracting talent that’s as impressive as Altman and his colleagues. Consequently, I don’t expect today’s news to have a major impact on MSFT stock.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
