OpenAI has hired Mike Liberatore, who previously served as CFO at Elon Musk’s xAI, as its new business finance officer, effective Tuesday, September 16, 2025, CNBC reported, citing company spokesperson.
Liberatore will report to OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and work with Greg Brockman’s team to oversee the company’s substantial AI infrastructure and compute expenditures as OpenAI ramps up its investments and partnerships.
Most recently, he served a brief three-month tenure as CFO at xAI, where he helped helped arrange a $5 billion debt sale alongside a $5 billion equity raise backed partly by SpaceX, and approved major data center expansion plans, the report added.
Previously, he spent almost nine years at Airbnb (ABNB) and also worked in senior finance roles at SquareTrade, eBay (EBAY) and PayPal (PYPL).
The appointment comes in the midst of an ongoing rivalry between OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI, highlighted by public disputes between Sam Altman and Elon Musk.