Friar, who helped guide Square’s IPO as a CFO in 2015 and Nextdoor’s as a CEO in 2021, may be on track to lead what could be a mega public offering.
Sarah Friar, formerly CEO of NextDoor and CFO of Square, has been hired by OpenAI as its finance chief.
Friar, who also sits on six boards, including Walmart, ConsenSys and Stanford Digital Economy Lab, will take the finance reins of the artificial intelligence platform that simultaneously announced it will be incorporating its technology into Siri responses later this year. The partnership has created a new type of technology Apple is offering to its consumers, dubbed Apple Intelligence.
Friar will take a role that has been unfilled for the past two years on a team that is no stranger to challenges to leadership and relationships with the board. She will be the first CFO since the company’s firing and rehiring of CEO Sam Altman in November of last year. Prior to this event, acting COO Brad Lightcap held the CFO title from 2018 to 2022.
“Sarah and Kevin [Weil; the company’s new chief product officer] bring a depth of experience that will enable OpenAI to scale our operations, set a strategy for the next phase of growth, and ensure that our teams have the resources they need to continue to thrive,” said Altman in the release.
OpenAI, which switched its business model from a non-profit to a for-profit technology developer in 2019 — a move that has resulted in being sued by Elon Musk, an early investor in OpenAI — now has a whopping $80 billion valuation.
With its new partnership with Apple to incorporate its technology into the iPhone and Siri, which has over 59% of the U.S.’ smartphone market share and became the leader in global market share for the first time this year, OpenAI’s growth potential continues to increase at a rapid pace.
Friar, who helped guide Square’s IPO as a CFO in 2015 and Nextdoor’s as a CEO in 2021, may be tasked with launching one of, if not the largest IPOs in history if the company chooses to take that route at some point down the line.
“I’m honored to join a team that is uniquely talented and mission-focused,” said Friar in the release. “My goal is to help OpenAI continue excelling at what it does best — producing top-tier research and collaborating to maximize the benefits of AI tools for everyone.”
Content Courtesy – CFO
