OpenAI’s Sora AI tool allows users to create AI-generated videos from text-based inputs.
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar is looking to reassure its investors that the richly valued artificial intelligence startup is still in a strong position and is poised to close a big funding round soon, despite losing top talent this week.
In an email to OpenAI’s investors seen by CNBC, Friar addressed the departure of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, who announced her departure on Wednesday. Later that day, Sam Altman said two top research executives, Bob McGrew and Barret Zoph, were also leaving.
“I wanted to personally reach out following the news of Mira’s departure from OpenAI,” Friar wrote in the letter, which was viewed by CNBC. “While leadership changes are never easy, I want to ensure you have the full context.”
Friar added that, “We are incredibly proud of everything she’s helped build,” and said the San Francisco-based company still has a “talented leadership bench” to compete.
OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft and recently partnered with Apple on its AI for iPhones, is in the midst of closing a $6.5 billion funding round, which should value the company at roughly $150 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. Thrive Capital is leading the round, and plans to invest $1 billion, according to sources.
Friar said in the email that the funding round was oversubscribed and would close by next week. She said the team plans to host a series of calls with investors to introduce the group to key leaders from product and research teams.
“Collectively, we remain laser-focused on bringing AI to everyone and building sustainable revenue models that fuel our operations and deliver value to our investors and employees,” Friar wrote. The company is “excited for you to be with us as we enter our next chapter,” she wrote.
OpenAI declined to comment on the email.
Murati’s departure comes after six and a half years at the company. She briefly served as interim CEO last year after the board of directors abruptly fired Altman. When Altman was quickly reinstated, Murati returned to the role of CTO.
Sarah Friar has been named OpenAI CFO
Anjali Sundaram | CNBC
The company was already dealing with the loss of key executives. Co-founder John Schulman and safety chief Jan Leike left to join rival Anthropic. Co-founder Ilya Sutskever left to start another AI company , while another founder, Greg Brockman, is on a leave of absence.
Friar said Mark Chen will step into the role of of senior vice president of research, and leaders like Kevin Weil, who joined from Meta, and Srinivas Narayanan are the “right people to keep pushing the boundaries of innovation.”
Friar was formerly CEO of Nextdoor, and before that CFO at Block, formerly Square.
Also on Thursday, at an all-hands meeting, Altman denied that there are plans for him to receive a “giant equity stake” in the company, calling reports of such a development “just not true,” according to a person who was in attendance.
Altman and Friar both said at the meeting, conducted by video, that investors have raised concerns about Altman not having equity in the company that he co-founded almost nine years ago, said the person, who asked not to be named because the gathering was only for employees.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025.
The inspector general’s office told Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., that it was taking up their request to investigate the moves of the consumer agency’s new leadership, according to a June 6 letter seen by CNBC.
“We had already initiated work to review workforce reductions at the CFPB” in response to an earlier request from lawmakers, acting Inspector General Fred Gibson said in the letter. “We are expanding that work to include the CFPB’s canceled contracts.”
The letter confirms that key oversight arms of the U.S. government are now examining the whirlwind of activity at the bureau after Trump’s acting CFPB head Russell Vought took over in February. Vought told employees to halt work, while he and operatives from Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency sought to lay off most of the agency’s staff and end contracts with external providers.
That prompted Warren and Kim to ask the Fed inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to review the legality of Vought’s actions and the extent to which they hindered the CFPB’s mission. The GAO told the lawmakers in April that it would examine the matter.
“As Trump dismantles vital public services, an independent OIG investigation is essential to understand the damage done by this administration at the CFPB and ensure it can still fulfill its mandate to work on the people’s behalf and hold companies who try to cheat and scam them accountable,” Kim told CNBC in a statement.
The Fed IG office serves as an independent watchdog over both the Fed and the CFPB, and has the power to examine agency records, issue subpoenas and interview personnel. It can also refer criminal matters to the Department of Justice.
Soon after his inauguration, Trump fired more than 17 inspectors general across federal agencies. Spared in that purge was Michael Horowitz, the IG for the Justice Department since 2012, who this month was named the incoming watchdog for the Fed and CFPB.
Horowitz, who begins in his new role at the end of this month, was reportedly praised by Trump supporters for uncovering problems with the FBI’s handling of its probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Meanwhile, the fate of the CFPB hinges on a looming decision from a federal appeals court. Judges temporarily halted Vought’s efforts to lay off employees, but are now considering the Trump administration’s appeal over its plans for the agency.
Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading: Boeing –The airplane maker lost 7.5% following the crash of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner Thursday. The plane, carrying 242 passengers and crew, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India. The cause of the crash is not immediately clear. Shares of jet engine maker GE Aerospace shed 4.6%. Oracle — The cloud computing stock surged nearly 9% after fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat analyst estimates. Adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share topped the $1.64 a share expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $15.9 billion versus the $15.6 billion consensus estimate. GameStop — The meme stock and video game retailer sank almost 16% after announcing it will sell $1.75 billion of convertible senior notes , with proceeds earmarked for “general corporate purposes, including making investments,” potentially including buying bitcoin. CoreWeave — Shares of the cloud infrastructure added more than 1% after Reuters reported that it CoreWeave will provide computing capacity as part of the recent deal between OpenAI and Alphabet . CureVac — The stock clinical stage biotech company jumped 30% after Germany’s BioNTech agreed to acquire it in an all-stock deal valued at $1.25 billion. Shares of BioNTech were fractionally lower. Voyager Technologies — The space tech stock popped 4.5% premarket. Voyager closed its first day of trading on Wednesday at $56.48, more than 82% above its initial public offering price of $31. Oklo — Shares dropped 6.6%, after the advanced nuclear reactor company planned to raise $400 million in a public offering, one day after Oklo surged more than 25% on a contract win to supply power to an Air Force base. Chime Financial — The online banking services provider priced its initial public offering at $27 per share Wednesday, valuing Chime at $11.6 billion. The stock is set to begin trading Thursday under the ticker CHYM. —CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Sarah Min and Alex Harring contributed reporting.
A Gamestop store is seen in Union Square on April 4, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
GameStop shares slid on Thursday after the video game retailer and meme stock announced plans for a $1.75 billion convertible notes offering to potentially fund its new bitcoin purchase strategy.
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, “including making investments in a manner consistent with GameStop’s Investment Policy and potential acquisitions.”
Part of the investment policy is to add cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet. Last month, GameStop bought 4,710 bitcoins, worth more than half a billion dollars.
The stock tanked more than 15% in premarket trading following the announcement.
GameStop
GameStop is following in the footsteps of software company MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, which bought billions of dollars worth of bitcoin in recent years to become the largest corporate holder of the flagship cryptocurrency. That decision prompted a rapid, albeit volatile, rise for Strategy’s stock.
Strategy has issued various forms of securities including convertible debt to fund its bitcoin purchases.
CEO Ryan Cohen recently said GameStop’s decision to buy bitcoin is driven by macro concerns as the digital coin, with its fixed supply and decentralized nature, could serve as protection against certain risks.
The brick-and-mortar retailer reported a decline in fiscal first-quarter revenue on Tuesday as demand for online gaming rose. Its revenue dropped 17% year-over-year to $732.4 million.
The shares fell 6% on Wednesday after those results. Wall Street appears uncertain it can mimic the success of MicroStrategy.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reiterated his underperform rating on GameStop Wednesday, saying the meme stock has consistently capitalized on “greater fools” willing to pay more than twice its asset value for its shares. The Wedbush analyst believes the bitcoin buying strategy makes little sense as the company, already trading at 2.4 times cash, isn’t likely to drive an even greater premium by converting more cash to crypto.