Fidji Simo, who had been described as OpenAI’s No. 2 executive by the Wall Street Journal, is stepping down from her full-time position and will move to a part-time advisory role due to a prolonged medical leave.
In a staff note, Simo said her medical leave had been longer and more difficult than expected, prompting the change. Simo joined OpenAI’s board of directors in 2024 and became the company’s CEO of Applications in May 2025, a newly created position that reported directly to Sam Altman and consolidated the company’s business and product operations.
Her appointment was part of a broader reporting reshuffle: COO Brad Lightcap, CFO Sarah Friar, and CPO Kevin Weil were placed under her, while Altman stepped back to concentrate on research, compute, and safety.
Simo first disclosed her health problems in April, stating she was taking medical leave for a relapse of a neuroimmune condition. That same memo also announced Lightcap’s move into a new “special projects” role and the departure of CMO Kate Rouch, who left to focus on cancer recovery. Kevin Weil has since left the company as well.
Before joining OpenAI, Simo was CEO of Instacart from 2021 and led it through its 2023 IPO; prior to that she spent more than a decade at Meta, including overseeing the Facebook app.
Simo’s decision to step back comes at a consequential time: OpenAI is reportedly considering a potential initial public offering (IPO) while trying to close the enterprise gap with rivals such as Anthropic. Simo had been widely seen as a likely candidate to assume greater responsibilities if OpenAI went public, so her stepping back creates a tangible leadership gap for Sam Altman to fill.
Her remit had largely focused on expanding OpenAI’s consumer business. Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s growth cooled late last year and missed internal revenue targets, leading the company to emphasize coding tools more heavily — an area where, for now, it trails Anthropic.
From the outside, OpenAI’s executive bench appears relatively thin for a company most recently assigned an $852 billion valuation. Alongside Altman, Lightcap, Friar and co‑founder Greg Brockman — who serves as the company’s president and oversaw product strategy while Simo was on leave — the leadership team includes Denise Dresser, who joined in December as chief revenue officer to oversee "global revenue strategy across enterprise and customer success."
Given her background — two years as Slack CEO and 14 years at Slack’s parent company Salesforce — Denise Dresser could be a natural candidate to take on broader responsibilities.
Simo’s move also coincides with OpenAI’s shifting approach to employee equity. When Simo joined in April of last year, the company shortened its vesting cliff for new hires from the industry-standard 12 months to 6 months; in December it removed the cliff entirely so equity begins vesting from day one. Simo described that change internally as a way to let employees "take risks" without fear of losing equity if they leave early. The policy shift came amid an escalating AI talent war and reflects how aggressively OpenAI has been spending to retain staff: the company was projected to spend $6 billion on stock-based compensation in 2025 alone.
The article notes that none of the departures mentioned appear tied to compensation; Simo’s own equity would have fully vested well before the policy changes.
TechCrunch reached out to OpenAI for additional comment, but no further details were provided at the time of reporting.
Why it matters
Simo stepping back from a full-time operating role raises strategic questions for OpenAI’s leadership and succession planning at a moment when the company is preparing for possible public markets and intensifying competition in enterprise AI.
