[mjirv]

The key line:

“Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAl employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join.”

[sebzim4500]

I think everyone assumed this was an aquihire without the "aqui-" but this is the first time I've seen it explicitly stated.

[catchnear4321]

hostile takeunder?

[epups]

Love it. Could also be called a hostile giveover, considering the OpenAI board gifted this opportunity to Microsoft

[jacquesm]

That's perfect.

[jonbell]

You win

[nextworddev]

will they stay though? what happens to their OAI options?

[teeray]

Will their OAI options be worth anything if the implosion continues?

[nextworddev]

yeah but threatening to quit is actually accelerating the implosion

[ilikehurdles]

I don’t believe startups can have successful exits without extraordinary leadership (which the current board can never find). The people quitting are simply jumping off a sinking ship.

[baby_souffle]

What will happen to their newly granted msft shares? One can be sold _today_ and might be worth a lot more soon…

[almost_usual]

MSFT RSUs actually have value as opposed to OpenAI’s Profit Participation Units (PPU).

https://www.levels.fyi/blog/openai-compensation.html

https://images.openai.com/blob/142770fb-3df2-45d9-9ee3-7aa06...

[nottheengineer]

Sounds a lot like MS wants to have OpenAI but without a boards that considers pesky things like morals.

[Fluorescence]

Time for a counter-counter-coup that ends up with Microsoft under the Linux Foundation after RMS reveals he is Satoshi...

[tmerse]

You mean the GNU Linux Foundation?

[Justsignedup]

RMS (I assume Richard Stallman) may be many many many things, but setting up a global pyramid scheme doesn't seem to be his M.O.

But stranger things have happened. One day I may be very very VERY surprised.

[fsflover]

There is nothing related to pyramids in bitcoin. It's just an implementation of a novel, trustless electronic money, also it's free software.

[Justsignedup]

how would you define an asset that has zero intrinsic value other than the value people have already committed to it? house of cards?

[fsflover]

Money.

[ric2b]

The year of the Linux Microsoft.

[code_runner]

again, nobody has shown even a glimmer of the board operating with morality being their focus. we just don't know. we do know that a vast majority of the company don't trust the board though.

[xiphias2]

Sam just gave 3 hearts to Ilya as well... I hope the drama continues and he joins MS at this point.

[jdthedisciple]

Whose morals again?

[bertil]

That is a spectacular power move: extending 700 job offers, many of which would be close to $1 million per year compensation.

[layer8]

They didn’t say anything about the compensation.

[rvz]

So essentially, OpenAI is a sinking ship as long as the board members go ahead with their new CEO and Sam, Greg are not returning.

Microsoft can absorb all the employees and switch them into the new AI subsidiary which basically is an acqui-hire without buying out everyone else's shares and making a new DeepMind / OpenAI research division inside of the company.

So all along it was a long winded side-step into having a new AI division without all the regulatory headaches of a formal acquisition.

[JumpCrisscross]

> OpenAI is a sinking ship as long as the board members go ahead with their new CEO and Sam, Greg are not returning

Far from certain. One, they still control a lot of money and cloud credits. Two, they can credibly threaten to license to a competitor or even open source everything, thereby destroying the unique value of the work.

> without all the regulatory headaches of a formal acquisition

This, too, is far from certain.

[s1artibartfast]

>Far from certain. One, they still control a lot of money and cloud credits.

This too is far from certain. The funding and credits was at best tied to milestones, and at worst, the investment contract is already broken and msft can walk.

I suspect they would not actually do the latter and the ip is tied to continual partnership.

[jacquesm]

And sue for the assets of OpenAI on account of the damage the board did to their stock... and end up with all of the IP.

[lotsofpulp]

On what basis would one entity be held responsible for another entity’s stock price, without evidence of fraud? Especially a non profit.

[jlokier]

The value of OpenAI's own assets in the for-profit subsidiary, may drop in value due to recent events.

Microsoft is a substantial shareholder (49%) in that for-profit subsidiary, so the value of Microsoft's asset has presumably reduced due to OpenAI's board decisions.

OpenAI's board decisions which resulted in these events appear to have been improperly conducted: Two of the board's members weren't aware of its deliberations, or the outcome until the last minute, notably the chair of the board. A board's decisions have legal weight because they are collective. It's allowed to patch them up after if the board agrees, for people to take breaks, etc. But if some directors intentionally excluded other directors from such a major decision (and formal deliberations), affecting the value and future of the company, that leaves the board's decision open to legal challenges.

Hypothetically Microsoft could sue and offer to settle. Then OpenAI might not have enough funds if it would lose, so might have sell shares in the for-profit subsidiary, or transfer them. Microsoft only needs about 2% more to become majority shareholder of the for-profit subsidiary, which runs ChatGPT sevices.

[vaxman]

[delayed]