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A company vs its Board of Directors

Botch
Botch Posts: 16,196

When CEO Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI last Tuesday, he was almost immediately hired by Microsoft.  And within a couple more days, virtually every OpenAI employee threatened to quit and join him at Microsoft.  Today Altman was reinstated as the CEO of OpenAI, and all but one of the Board of Directors have been “voted” out.  And I’m very, very confused.

Having spent virtually my entire career in the DoD/Civil Service, I admit I don’t understand how for-profit business works all that well.  I’d always thought that a “board of directors” basically represented all the oligarchs/stockholders who had funded/invested in a company, and they were free to reward/fire any company leader(s) when their own financial returns didn’t meet their expectations.  But I don’t know.  

Now, all of the sudden, a mercurial leader is fired, and virtually his entire company decides to leave with him; has that ever happened before?  It didn’t happen when Iaccoca was fired from Ford, and didn’t happen when Jobs was fired from Apple; why did it happen now, by almost 100%?  And even more importantly, “WHO” voted out the Board of Directors?  How does that happen?  

I really wish I understood this stuff better (looking forward to next week’s Time issue) and if anyone here has links or books to explain this stuff, I’m all ears.  TIA.  :confused:

___________

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set."

- Lin Yutang


Comments

  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,815
    There is no simple answer, it depends… Typically this is defined in the corporation by-laws/incorporation papers.

    Shareholders (of voting shares) are typically voting to elect board members.  

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,815
    Open AI has a « weird » setup, they have a non-profit corporation owned by a for-profit corporation.

    Shareholders of the for-profit are Microsoft & co…

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,815
    OpenAI structure 



    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • dbCooper
    dbCooper Posts: 2,408
    paqman said:
    OpenAI structure 



    I believe that diagram sheds more light on the US tax code than it does on OpenAI governance.
    LBGE, LBGE-PTR, 22" Weber, Coleman 413G
    Great Plains, USA
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 16,196
    Yeah, Marquez Brownlee's podcast channel (Waveform Clips) did about a 20-minute discussion on the whole setup (including the above  org chart) and I decided to be glad I'm retired; steam tables are easier to understand than this stuff...
    ___________

    "When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set."

    - Lin Yutang