On Monday, reports indicated that OpenAI has recruited Albert Lee from Alphabet to serve as its Corporate Development head.
Previously overseeing corporate development for Alphabet's cloud division and DeepMind, Lee played key roles in several high-profile acquisitions, including Alphabet's $32 billion purchase of cloud security startup Wiz announced in March this year.
In his new role, Lee will gain broad oversight of OpenAI's overall operations, focusing on strategic investments and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) as the company enters its next growth phase. His hiring signals OpenAI's continued pursuit of acquisition targets that could strengthen its competitive edge against rivals like Alphabet and Anthropic.
Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab, OpenAI's valuation has soared to $500 billion since launching ChatGPT in 2022.
This year alone, OpenAI has completed multiple acquisitions. Most recently, it announced a definitive agreement to acquire Neptune, an AI model training startup, though deal terms remain undisclosed.
Other 2024 acquisitions include Software Applications Incorporated (October, undisclosed amount), product development startup Statsig ($1.1 billion, September), and AI hardware startup io (over $6 billion, May) founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive.
OpenAI continues strengthening its executive team, with Lee being among several recent high-profile hires. Earlier this month, Slack CEO Denise Dresser joined as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In May, OpenAI appointed then-Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to lead its AI lab's application business.
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