At a Glance

  • OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has appointed Mike Liberatore, former CFO of xAI, as Business Finance Officer (BFO) for its AI infrastructure business, effective Tuesday, a company spokesperson confirmed to CFO Dive via email. Liberatore will report to OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar in his new role and will "focus on supporting the team responsible for scaling OpenAI's computing resources," the spokesperson said.
  • The move comes after Liberatore abruptly left xAI in July, just four months into his tenure there, according to a September 3 report by The Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the matter, marking the latest in a series of executive changes and departures at Elon Musk's companies.
  • While Liberatore may appear to be a strong hire on paper, it's worth noting that beyond his experience at xAI, "he may face a learning curve in AI operations," said Shawn Cole, president of boutique executive search firm Cowen Partners.

Deep Dive

Liberatore's move to OpenAI is the latest twist in the intensifying rivalry between Musk and the company led by Sam Altman, as both compete for leadership in the generative AI market. Altman is the CEO of OpenAI.

Joining OpenAI marks Liberatore's second role since leaving Airbnb, where he worked for nine years before departing in April to become CFO of xAI. Liberatore's tenure at Musk-led xAI lasted about three to four months, which "raises questions about fit/alignment (possibly related to Musk)," Cole said in an email response.

"Given how quickly he moved from xAI to OpenAI, I wouldn't be surprised if there's something behind the scenes," Cole said. "I would caution employers against adopting such tactics, which could make the hiring market unnecessarily volatile."

From a broader perspective, "AI companies are gravitating toward CFOs who can structure capital and control infrastructure costs, even if they're not 'AI-native,' while more specialized 'business finance' roles are emerging, and faster executive turnover adds cost and volatility," Cole said.

Although Liberatore may need to bolster his AI operations experience, on the upside, he brings "heavyweight fundraising capabilities... which directly relate to OpenAI's compute/infrastructure spending," Cole said, citing his role in helping lead massive debt and equity financing during his time at xAI. In July, the company raised $10 billion in debt and equity, with half coming from secured notes and loans and the remainder through equity investments, CNBC reported at the time.

His tenure at Airbnb also included various strategic finance roles, with Liberatore most recently serving as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development at the home-sharing platform, after previous stints at SquareTrade, PayPal, and eBay, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Such financial expertise is critical for OpenAI as the company needs to keep pace with accelerating compute demands amid numerous challenges. The ChatGPT operator recently signed a deal with cloud provider Oracle to purchase $300 billion worth of computing capacity over approximately five years—one of the largest cloud contracts in history, whose value now "far exceeds the startup's current revenue," The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the agreement, OpenAI will pay Oracle about $60 billion annually for the contracted computing capacity, equivalent to the power generated by more than two Hoover Dams or enough electricity for 4 million households, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In June, OpenAI reported annual recurring revenue of $10 billion, driven by ChatGPT's growth, nearly double the $5.5 billion ARR reported in 2024, CNBC reported at the time. The company lost about $5 billion last year and aims to reach $129 billion in revenue by 2029, but also expects its cash burn to continue growing—projected to hit $115 billion by 2029, according to a September 5 report by The Information.

Beyond seeking to balance growth with spending, the Altman-led enterprise continues to navigate the ongoing process of transitioning to a for-profit entity, including tense negotiations with its primary backer Microsoft. Although OpenAI needs Microsoft's consent to complete the transition to a for-profit entity—the company must finalize the change by year-end or lose $20 billion in funding—the two companies disagree over the stake Microsoft would hold in the new entity and the level of its ownership of OpenAI's products, The Wall Street Journal reported in June.

On September 11, the two companies announced they had reached a non-binding memorandum of understanding on "the next phase of our partnership" and are working to finalize the terms of a definitive agreement, according to a joint statement posted on OpenAI's website.