Business

OpenAI averts internal crisis with return of CEO Sam Altman

Published

12 months ago

November 22, 2023

The AI research firm is restoring Altman as CEO after his sacking last week threatened a mass exodus from the company.

The co-founder of a leading US artificial intelligence firm is making a comeback to the company that terminated him as CEO last week, the latest twist in a week-long drama over its leadership.

OpenAI, which owns the popular chatbot ChatGPT, announced late on Tuesday on the social media platform X that it had reached “an agreement in principle” to bring back tech entrepreneur Sam Altman as CEO.

We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.

We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 22, 2023

It also said it had reached a consensus on a “new initial board,” with members including former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.

Altman wrote on X he was “looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with (Microsoft)”.

i love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m…

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023

Internal turmoil

OpenAI’s board sacked Altman last week offering few reasons for the decision. A storm soon broke within the company. Hundreds of staff threatened to quit in solidarity with Altman and investors put pressure on the company to restore calm.

Microsoft, which has invested billions in OpenAI and has rights to its technology, announced it would hire Atlman to run a new artificial intelligence research team and welcomed any defecting OpenAI employees to switch over with him.

However, Altman said that he has the support of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to return as OpenAI’s CEO under a new leadership structure.

Nadella welcomed the changes to OpenAI after the firm announced Altman’s return and the new initial board.

“We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance,” Nadella wrote on X.

We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board. We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance. Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring… https://t.co/djO6Fuz6t9

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 22, 2023

OpenAI’s flagship product is ChatGPT, an advanced language model-based chatbot that can generate articles, essays, jokes and even poetry in response to prompts.

Released to the public in November 2022, ChatGPT quickly gained global appeal, reaching more than 100 million monthly users in less than a year.

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Business

Restaurant Brands reports US$357M Q3 net income, down from US$364M a year ago

Published

24 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.

Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)

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Business

Electric and gas utility Fortis reports $420M Q3 profit, up from $394M a year ago

Published

24 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.

The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.

Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.

Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:FTS)

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Business

Thomson Reuters reports Q3 profit down from year ago as revenue rises

Published

24 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.

In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRI)

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