OpenAI has lost more than a dozen executives since the start of 2026, and the latest departure — Chris Malone, the company’s head of data centers — has put the leadership exodus back in the spotlight. Malone, who joined in March 2024, left last week, according to a report from TechCrunch. OpenAI attributed the move to a reorganization of its infrastructure team, now led by vice president Sachin Katti and reporting to president Greg Brockman.
Malone’s exit is striking because data centers and compute are OpenAI’s core competitive advantage against rivals like Anthropic and xAI. The company’s GPT-5.6 model remains one of the most capable on the market, and its agentic coding desktop app has added roughly 15 million users in the past two months. Yet the departures keep coming, raising questions about internal stability as OpenAI prepares for a public debut.
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A leadership vacuum filled by Brockman
The turnover isn’t limited to one role. Since January, OpenAI has lost its COO, chief revenue officer, chief marketing officer, and several team leads, along with Sam Altman’s top deputy. Some left for health reasons; others were pushed out during a reorganization aimed at trimming expensive “side projects” and focusing on revenue.
Malone’s case, however, is particularly telling. OpenAI told TechCrunch his departure was part of a broader restructuring of the infrastructure team under Katti, who now reports to Brockman. It’s not uncommon for a senior executive to leave when they suddenly find themselves several rungs down the ladder — but it also signals that Brockman is reasserting control.
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Brockman, a co-founder, was instrumental in building OpenAI’s early infrastructure but was relieved of most management duties in 2019 when Altman became CEO. According to Karen Hao’s book Empire of AI, Brockman played a disruptive role in the years that followed, seeding internal rivalries that contributed to the 2023 boardroom drama that briefly ousted Altman. After a sabbatical in 2024, Brockman has returned to a position of authority: today, both infrastructure and product teams report to him.
“I like to say that everyone reports to Greg at the end of the day,” Thibault Sottiaux, who leads OpenAI’s API and app offerings, told TechCrunch last week.
IPO pressure and the need to show profits
The leadership shakeup comes as OpenAI prepares for a public listing. In June, the company confirmed it had filed confidential IPO disclosures with the SEC. While the filing gives OpenAI flexibility, the average company that files confidentially typically hits the trading floor within about five months — SpaceX did it in less than two. OpenAI’s IPO isn’t expected until 2027, which is unusually long and suggests the company is using the time to get its house in order.
That preparation includes improving its financials. OpenAI’s revenue is growing, but so are its losses, according to reports. Anthropic, which is also planning a public debut, is reportedly profitable. The contrast puts pressure on OpenAI to demonstrate a clear path to profitability before going public.
Altman has publicly acknowledged the company’s rough past twelve months, and the reorganization aligns with a narrative that OpenAI overextended itself and is now cutting dead weight. The departures of experienced executives like Fidji Simo and Kevin Weil — both brought in to scale the company — suggest a return to a founder-led, engineering-centric structure as Brockman’s influence grows.
What to watch next
For OpenAI, the immediate challenge is filling the leadership vacuum while maintaining momentum. The company’s product growth remains strong, but investor confidence will hinge on execution and financial discipline. With Brockman consolidating power, OpenAI appears to be doubling down on its technical roots — a bet that may pay off as it approaches its IPO.
The coming months will be critical. OpenAI will need to demonstrate that it can retain top talent, control costs, and continue shipping competitive models. Whether Brockman’s return stabilizes the company or sparks further departures remains an open question, but the direction is clear: OpenAI is reshaping itself for the public markets.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The cryptocurrency and technology markets are volatile and uncertain; readers should conduct their own research before making any investment decisions.
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