OpenAI has announced the hiring of Mike Liberatore as the new business finance officer, solidifying its financial leadership during an escalating rivalry with Elon Musk. Liberatore brings deep experience. He was most recently the finance chief at Musk’s xAI and was instrumental in several mega financial deals.
As the Center’s Executive Director for Infrastructure, Liberatore will now be responsible for OpenAI’s massive infrastructure investment. His responsibilities include managing the financial aspects of OpenAI’s ongoing compute strategy, which has been a focal point of the company’s growth. Given the recent success OpenAI had attracting investor interest at an estimated valuation of $500 billion, this figure clarifies previous reports that incorrectly placed the value at $80 billion. This valuation is a result of the organization’s growing and spreading commitments to computing resources.
OpenAI’s nonprofit parent company will closely supervise its operations. Simultaneously, it manages the largest equity stake ever valued over $100 billion. Retaining this architecture prevents OpenAI from being able to stray from its mission and nonprofit principles. Additionally, it enables the organization to succeed in the fast-paced, cutthroat realm of AI development.
Nonetheless, Liberatore left a major mark during his short time at xAI. He enabled a complicated $5 billion debt capital raise and orchestrated a $5 billion equity raise that was backed by SpaceX before departing after only three months in July. In addition, he signed off on large multi-year expansion plans for data centers, evidence that he can handle and execute on large-scale complex financial projects.
At OpenAI, Liberatore will join Sarah Friar, the company’s CFO, where he will be working day-to-day with Sarah, reporting into her. One of the projects he will be working on is the one Greg Brockman’s team. The computation strategy contracts and capital that underwrite OpenAI’s computing come from that team. Adding Liberatore to the team will significantly enhance OpenAI’s financial planning and execution. This is occurring as OpenAI seemingly increases its compute commitments, most recently underscored by a notable $300 billion agreement with Oracle.