CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday dissected the shakeup at high-profile startup OpenAI, saying Microsoft made the right call by offering a role to the company's ousted leader Sam Altman.
Cramer criticized the decorum during events that transpired over the weekend, saying the company may not be worth much if the majority of its employees exit to Microsoft or other prominent tech companies.
"I guarantee you, if you created a company and then the board fired you for dishonesty, your career would be ruined — But Altman immediately jumps ship to an even better place," he said. "While I think Microsoft made the right call, it's still crazy how it happened."
OpenAI helped bring artificial intelligence into the mainstream with its highly-popular product, ChatGPT. The company's board announced late Friday it had fired CEO Sam Altman, saying he "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." The move angered employees and investors, which include Microsoft. Hundreds of OpenAI employees, including one board member who had signed off on Altman's firing, threatened to leave the company unless OpenAI's remaining board members resigned.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted Monday morning on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that Altman and some others at OpenAI would lead a new artificial intelligence team at the tech giant. But over the course of Monday, it became less clear where exactly Altman and his colleagues would end up, with Nadella telling CNBC it is the OpenAI employees' choice where they will eventually land, and that Microsoft will continue to innovate with or without them.
"I'm open to both options," Nadella said.
Cramer wondered how the OpenAI could shift so quickly from a "shoe-in to come public" to "some sort of sham," with more than 600 of the company's 770 employees threatening a mass exodus. He questioned whether Altman had a non compete, asking how the former CEO could jump ship to a competitor so quickly.
"Maybe because OpenAI is a private company like X, people feel they can do whatever they want and, because they're very rich, all consequences are manageable," Cramer said. "Nice save Satya Nadella, you could've had a giant write-off. Instead, you have everything you need from OpenAI, and, I'm sure, a few players more."
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