OpenAI IPO Tensions: CFO Sarah Friar Warns Against Sam Altman’s Push for 2026 Listing

OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar has raised concerns about the company’s plans for a 2026 IPO, in contrast to CEO Sam Altman’s push for a public listing as early as the fourth quarter, according to The Information.

Friar is said to believe that OpenAI is not organisationally ready for an IPO this year and has reportedly questioned whether its slowing revenue growth can support Altman’s aggressively expanding server investment plans, estimated at $600 billion. She has reportedly raised concerns about whether the company should commit such significant capital to acquiring AI servers in the coming years, and whether its current revenue trajectory would be sufficient to sustain these investments.

The report further noted that growing tensions between the two executives over this issue have led Altman to exclude Friar from several discussions related to OpenAI’s infrastructure and capital strategy.

Friar also highlighted the complexity of the company’s funding structure, noting that a substantial portion of the recently announced $122 billion funding is expected to come from Amazon and NVIDIA—both of which are also key suppliers of cloud and chip infrastructure to OpenAI. She flagged this overlap as a potential risk within the company’s capital structure.

OpenAI Leadership Reshuffle

Separately, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is undergoing a leadership reshuffle, with AGI development head Fidji Simo announcing an extended medical leave. In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg, Simo said her neuroimmune condition had worsened, necessitating time off.

“The timing is maddening because we have such an exciting roadmap ahead that the team is executing on, and I hate to miss even a minute of it. But the company is in great hands; we have an excellent leadership team that’s ready to step up,” she said.

Simo told employees that the past month had been “particularly rough health-wise” and that she needed several weeks off to recover. She was hired by OpenAI in May last year and oversees product and business operations. Simo was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome in 2019.

“For my entire time here, I’ve postponed medical tests and new therapies to stay completely focused on the job and not miss a single day of work. I took time off for the first time two weeks before the break for some medical tests, and it’s now clear that I’ve pushed a little too far and I really need to try new interventions to stabilise my health,” she wrote in the memo.

Simo joined OpenAI after stepping down as CEO of Instacart. In recent weeks, she has played a key role in efforts to streamline the company’s services and build a unified “super app” combining its chatbot, coding platform, and web browser.