Turmoil Intensifies Within OpenAI: Ongoing Restructuring, Employee Exhaustion, Continued Management Resignations, IPO Plans Quietly Delayed

A company valued at $852 billion and sprinting toward a trillion-dollar IPO is being dragged down by internal chaos.

So far this year, OpenAI has undergone nearly five organizational restructurings. Executives have been leaving one after another, the safety team has been disbanded, and employees are generally feeling exhausted. Meanwhile, the IPO that was originally expected to be completed this year has quietly been postponed until next year.

On August 15, according to the latest report from the Financial Times, several insiders said that the repeated reshuffling of personnel has left some employees "frustrated" with this world’s most valuable private tech company.

Executives Keep Leaving, Wave of Departures Continues

This week, Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser announced her departure. She only took office in December last year, responsible for expanding enterprise client business, with a tenure of less than a year.

This is the latest in a series of executive departures in recent times. According to previous disclosures, former CFO and COO Brad Lightcap and Ethics Lead Chloé Bakalar have both left, with similarly short tenures.

Earlier, Fidji Simo, considered CEO Sam Altman’s "number two", switched to a part-time advisor after taking sick leave last month. However, according to two insiders, she still communicates with employees almost every day. One person familiar with the matter bluntly said, "She’s still pulling the strings behind the scenes." The same source described that executives are competing for Altman’s attention and that internal "politics" are intense. OpenAI stated, however, that Simo is fulfilling her advisor role as expected.

A noteworthy pattern is emerging: several executives were placed in newly created or vaguely defined roles before officially leaving. Lightcap was transferred to a "special projects" position in April. Kevin Weil and Josh Achiam had similar interim assignments before their eventual departures.

Safety Team Disbanded, Rising Internal Anxiety

At the end of last month, OpenAI disbanded its "preparedness" team. According to multiple insiders, this team was responsible for assessing whether AI models could cause serious or catastrophic risks and for researching mitigation strategies. After its dissolution, associated responsibilities were distributed to existing teams, with senior employees now overseeing biosecurity, cybersecurity, and other specialized areas.

This was one of the last pieces under OpenAI’s research-driven organizational structure. Previously, the "AGI readiness" and "mission alignment" teams had already been disbanded. In 2024, Jan Leike, who had co-led the "superalignment" team, resigned and publicly stated that safety concerns were being "set aside for flashy products."

The preparedness team leader, Dylan Scandinaro, has now shifted to researching the safety implications of recursively self-improving AI—systems capable of self-enhancement and training other models. Co-founder Greg Brockman stated that OpenAI’s technological advancement requires "stronger" safeguards, and the company has made adjustments to more deeply integrate research, safety, and security into model development.

However, the successive departures of safety experts like Bakalar, Josh Achiam, and Johannes Heidecke have heightened internal unease. One insider admitted, "It’s a bit concerning; there’s now a sense of urgency that we have to get this right." Another described an underlying sense of responsibility and fear internally—worries that they are not adequately prepared.

In addition, OpenAI recently reported a security incident—one of its models, during an internal network capability test, breached another company’s system, further intensifying external doubts about its security controls.

Revenue Growth, But Surpassed by Anthropic

On the business front, OpenAI’s annualized revenue has increased significantly, rising from $24 billion at the end of last year to around $40 billion this month. According to insiders, most of this growth comes from the launch of the GPT-5.6 model five weeks ago.

However, competitor Anthropic is growing even faster. According to the Financial Times, citing insiders, Anthropic’s annualized revenue jumped from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47 billion in May this year—a fivefold increase—and has maintained a similar growth trend, surpassing OpenAI.

It’s important to note that both companies estimate annual revenue based on recent performance, and their revenue accounting methods differ, making direct comparisons limited in value.

IPO Delayed, Employees Cashing Out

OpenAI’s IPO was originally expected to be completed this year, but according to insiders, it has now been postponed until next year, with a potential valuation reaching $1 trillion.

Meanwhile, the company recently completed a share buyback of nearly $7 billion, allowing employees to cash out at a valuation of $852 billion. According to current and former staff, some individuals cashed out amounts exceeding $10 million.

However, the costs of frequent reorganization are becoming apparent. Two insiders said employees generally feel "exhausted" and "frustrated", with some seeing the share buyback as a way out.

Investors are divided on the issue. Some worry about the high turnover rate and lack of company focus; others view the personnel changes as normal pre-IPO restructuring. One investor holding significant OpenAI shares expressed, "I don’t think it’s uncommon to clean up the organization before going public. You need to be clear about who your team is. Some departures are for health reasons; some are just part of the cleanup."

OpenAI, on the other hand, stated that the company is pushing forward at an "extraordinary speed" and is "not afraid of organizational change."