A major e -commerce executive will soon run the OpenAi app business.
Director General of Instacart Fidji Simo, 39, notified On Wednesday in a post by LinkedIn that she is leaving the food delivery service to join OpenAi as CEO of applications later this year. In the new role, it will lead Openai's products, including chatgptAnd report directly to CEO Sam Altman, 40.
Simo wrote that she will remain CEO of Instacart “for a few months” to provide a smooth transition. Even after leaving, it will remain the chair of the Instacart board.
“Let me start by saying that this was a very difficult decision because I love this company,” Simo wrote in The LinkedIn Post, who was a copy of a message she sent to the Instaacart team.
Simo wrote that “the passion for him” and “the potential to cure diseases” persuaded him to join Openai. Wire reported Wednesday that Openai is in talks with FDA to Use it for drug ratingspotentially accelerating the time it takes for a medicine to go on the market. Simo, meanwhile, is co -founder and president of a medical research center called Metrodoricwhich focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of neuroimmune disorders.
“The ability to lead such an important part of our collective future was a difficult opportunity to pass,” Simo said.
In an open opening blog On Wednesday, Altman wrote that Simo, who joined the Openai board last year, “had already contributed a big deal” for the company. He did not give specific examples of Simo's contributions, but wrote that she would now be responsible for helping running the company through a new phase of growth. In March, Openai completed A round of $ 40 billion funding that valued the company at $ 300 billion. This week, Openai notified that his nonprofit arm will continue to control his lucrative business to provide Openai MISSION to the one who “benefits all mankind”.
The Applications Division is one of the three essential businesses of Openai (research and calculation and the other two). Aline wrote in a post to x that Simo's appointment means he can focus more on research while the company works toward OVERSIGHTOne that transcends human intelligence in all fields.
So excited that @Fidjsimo It is joining Openai in a new role: CEO of app, reporting to me.
I will remain CEO of Openai, but in this new configuration I will be able to increase my focus on research, calculation and security.
These are critical as we approach the supervision.
– Sam Altman (@sama) May 8, 2025
Bloomberg It reports that Openai Brad LightCap, chief financial officer Sarah Friar, and Kevin Weil's leading products will report to Simo when she joins Openai.
Simo has been the Director General of Instaacart since 2021, leading the company through pandemia and in September 2023 Initial public offers. Since the company came out in public, Instacart shares have increased by Over 47% at the time of writing. The company without its Income from the first trimester For 2025 increases 9% from year to year to $ 897 million, with order volume up to 14%.
Before Instaacart, Simo worked in Meta for a decade and held the role of vice president and app manager on Facebook 2019 – 2021. She introduced ads in the Facebook app and built Facebook Live, overseeing a Team with 6,000 people.
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