Greg Brockman consolidates power at OpenAI amid a wave of leadership departures ahead of the planned IPO
Following a wave of executive departures from April 2026 (including Fidji Simo, Brad Lightcap and Denise Dresser), OpenAI president Greg Brockman took over leadership of product and the entire commercial division, effectively becoming the second most powerful person at the company after Sam Altman, just before the planned IPO.
A number of executives gradually left OpenAI during 2026, with the wave of departures intensifying from April 2026. Those who left included Bill Peebles (the head of the Sora project up to that point), Kevin Weil (vice president of the science division) and Srinivas Narayanan (CTO for B2B applications). CMO Kate Rouch and Fidji Simo, who held the position of CEO for AGI deployment at the company, left for health reasons – the latter took medical leave in April and officially left the company in July. Departures continued in August 2026, when CRO Denise Dresser announced her departure after just eight months in the role. Shortly afterwards, longtime COO Brad Lightcap also announced his departure. He had led “special projects” in recent months and now wants, in his own words, to start “something new”.
According to the article, these changes gradually expanded the authority of Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI. After Fidji Simo took medical leave, Brockman took over responsibility for all product matters, including the so-called “super app”. A month later, following a leadership reorganization focused on revenue growth, Brockman also gained control over the entire so-called “scaling” division of the company, effectively taking control of almost all commercial operations at OpenAI. According to the source, the official departure of Fidji Simo, just a few weeks after the IPO filing, confirmed this arrangement – when the departure of Denise Dresser was announced, the press release quoted Brockman, rather than CEO Sam Altman.
Analysts contacted by The Verge (Harrison Rolfes from PitchBook and Ross Carmel from SRFC) say that similar shifts in authority usually signal the strategic direction of a company – in this case, an emphasis on revenue and commercial products ahead of the planned IPO and in competition with Anthropic. In their view, concentrating authority in one person may also lead to further departures of employees who disagree with that person's direction, while also helping to reduce payroll costs ahead of going public. Brockman himself said on the CNBC program “Squawk Box” that departures are nothing unusual and that, in his view, the company is strong thanks to the continuity of his role and that of Sam Altman. According to the source, Brockman now ranks second in power at the company, immediately behind Sam Altman, with whom he has been closely associated since 2023 – at that time, he resigned immediately in protest against the removal of Altman as CEO.
Details can be found in the source article.
Why it matters
The source suggests that concentrating authority over both product and commercial operations in one person indicates the strategic direction of OpenAI ahead of going public – toward an emphasis on revenue and commercial products in competition with Anthropic. According to the analysts quoted, this may mean less predictable leadership in the short term for companies and partners working with OpenAI, even though, based on the available text, the substance of the product strategy remains unchanged for now.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
The concentration of power in one person just before the planned IPO, alongside a wave of executive departures within a short period, may mean lower leadership stability at a key supplier of AI technologies, which is relevant to companies dependent on the products and plans of OpenAI.
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