MSFT: Microsoft Stock Floats Close to Record After Sam Altman Returns as OpenAI CEO

After nearly all of the 700 OpenAI staff pledged to leave the firm, Microsoft walked back its decision to fire Sam Altman.

• Microsoft stock MSFT hovered near its record on Wednesday after the tech giant unenthusiastically brought Sam Altman back to lead his $90bn AI startup OpenAI. Only last Friday, Altman was let go by the previous board. Mira Murati was appointed CEO for a day. Then Emmett Shear was tapped for the role. Briefly again. Now, Altman is back and the old board is out.
• Microsoft scrambled to control the damage as almost all of the 700 OpenAI employees threatened to quit if Altman wasn’t reinstated. Now OpenAI has a new board of directors and its old CEO is back at the helm. Microsoft has invested a total of $13bn for a 49% stake in OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT.
• Now, the two companies have vowed to work together for the good of artificial intelligence. Against that backdrop, shares of Microsoft added 1.2% yesterday, floating just $1 away from the company's all-time record set earlier this week. Microsoft is now worth $2.8tn, or roughly $200bn less than Apple AAPL.