Boardroom Drama and “The Ring of Power” in Silicon Valley.
Boardroom Governance Newsletter #47 | Dec 1st, 2023.
The OpenAI boardroom shake-up involving the ouster and reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman has been quite a corporate governance saga in Silicon Valley.
The five days of chaos started with the firing of Altman on Friday (Nov 17th) followed by a blog post that included a cryptic vote of no-confidence:
“The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc., the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities, today announced that Sam Altman will depart as CEO and leave the board of directors. Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately.”
“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
“As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as…
