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Fidji Simo, OpenAI\u2019s No. 2 executive, is stepping down from her full-time role, the Wall Street Journal reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a staff note Thursday, Simo said her ongoing medical leave has proven longer and harder than expected, and that she\u2019ll transition to a part-time advisory role instead. Simo joined OpenAI\u2019s board of directors in 2024 and joined OpenAI in May 2025 as CEO of Applications, then a newly created role reporting directly to Sam Altman that consolidated the company\u2019s business and product operations. <\/p>\n Her appointment came with a broader reporting shift: COO Brad Lightcap, CFO Sarah Friar, and CPO Kevin Weil all began reporting to her, while Altman stepped back to focus on research, compute, and safety.<\/p>\n Simo first disclosed<\/a> her health issues in April, when she announced she was taking medical leave for a relapse of a neuroimmune condition; that same memo publicly announced that Lightcap was moving into a new \u201cspecial projects\u201d role and that CMO Kate Rouch was leaving the company<\/a> to focus on cancer recovery. Weil has since left the company<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n Simo came to OpenAI from Instacart, where she\u2019d been CEO since 2021 and led the company through its 2023 IPO, and before that spent over a decade at Meta, including running the Facebook app.<\/p>\n Simo\u2019s decision to step back permanently leaves Altman searching for a successor right as OpenAI itself eyes a possible IPO. She\u2019d been widely seen as a likely candidate to take on even more responsibility once OpenAI went public, making this a real vacuum for him to address.<\/p>\n Simo was primarily focused on growing OpenAI\u2019s consumer business. But ChatGPT\u2019s growth cooled late last year, missing internal revenue targets, pushing the company to lean harder into coding tools instead, an area where it has been, and for now continues to be, trailing Anthropic.<\/p>\n TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for more information. Soon after the Journal story broke, Simo shared the news directly<\/a> on X, after which Altman responded<\/a>, also on X: \u201ci am really sad about this and very grateful for all fidji has done for openai, and even grateful for her friendship and who she is as a person. we all wish her the best for a speedy recovery. this sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n Simo\u2019s announcement lands on a busy news day for OpenAI. Earlier Thursday, the company launched its new GPT-5.6 family of models<\/a> \u2014 Sol, Terra, and Luna \u2014 alongside a new agent called ChatGPT Work, designed to handle multistep office tasks like drafting documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Both releases were framed by OpenAI as directly targeting Anthropic.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s executive ranks appear from the outside to be on the thin side for a company that was most recently assigned an $852 billion valuation. In addition to Altman, Lightcap, Friar, and co-founder Greg Brockman (who is also the company\u2019s president and was overseeing product strategy while Simo was out), its bench includes Denise Dresser, who in December joined as the company\u2019s chief revenue officer, overseeing its \u201cglobal revenue strategy across enterprise and customer success,\u201d per a release at the time. <\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be shocking to see Dresser take on a more expansive role, given she previously spent two years as the CEO of Slack and, before that, spent 14 years with Slack\u2019s parent company, Salesforce.<\/p>\n Simo\u2019s departure comes against another backdrop worth understanding: OpenAI\u2019s shifting approach to employee equity. In April of last year, the same month that Simo joined, the company shortened its vesting cliff \u2014 the waiting period before new hires\u2019 stock grants begin vesting \u2014 from the industry-standard 12 months to 6 months. Then in December, OpenAI eliminated the cliff altogether for new hires, letting equity start vesting from day one.<\/p>\n The move, described internally by Simo as a way to let employees \u201ctake risks\u201d without fear of losing equity if let go early, came amid an escalating AI talent war and reflects just how aggressively OpenAI has been spending to retain staff. The company was projected to spend $6 billion on stock-based compensation in 2025 alone.<\/p>\n None of the aforementioned exits appear tied to compensation. Executive equity packages are typically negotiated individually and could have entirely different vesting terms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n