OpenAI has named Mike Liberatore, the former head of finance at Elon Musk’s xAI, as its new head of business finance. In this role, Liberatore will be tasked with overseeing the company’s substantial and growing infrastructure expenditures. He will report directly to Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar and collaborate with President Greg Brockman’s team on the strategic management of compute contracts and capital investments.
Liberatore’s appointment marks the latest development in the increasingly public rivalry between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk. The two were once collaborators, having co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit research lab.
Their relationship has since fractured as OpenAI evolved into a major commercial entity backed by billions in funding from Microsoft. The tension escalated into a legal battle earlier this year when Musk sued Altman and OpenAI for alleged breach of contract, a move seen as an attempt to block the company’s restructuring into a for-profit corporation.
The hiring is particularly notable given Liberatore’s brief tenure at xAI, which lasted only three months before his departure in July. At xAI, he was instrumental in securing significant financing, including a multi-billion dollar debt sale and equity raise, and in approving major data center expansions.
His move to a direct competitor is viewed by industry analysts as a significant coup for OpenAI and a potential setback for Musk’s AI ambitions, which have recently been impacted by other high-profile executive departures.
Liberatore brings nearly a decade of experience from his previous role at Airbnb, in addition to senior finance positions at SquareTrade, eBay, and PayPal. His expertise will be critical as OpenAI continues to scale its operations.
The company, recently valued at an estimated $500 billion by investors, has committed to massive compute investments, including a landmark $300 billion agreement with Oracle. This financial strategy supports the development and training of its next-generation AI models.
