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Some investors in OpenAI, makers of ChatGPT, are exploring legal recourse against the company's board, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday (Nov 20), after the directors ousted CEO Sam Altman and sparked a potential mass exodus of employees.
Sources said investors are working with legal advisers to study their options. It was not immediately clear if these investors will sue OpenAI.
Investors worry that they could lose hundreds of millions of dollars they invested in OpenAI, a crown jewel in some of their portfolios, with the potential collapse of the hottest startup in the rapidly growing generative AI sector.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.
Microsoft owns 49 per cent of the for-profit operating company, according to sources familiar with the matter. Other investors and employees control 49 per cent, with 2 per cent owned by OpenAI's nonprofit parent, according to Semafor.
OpenAI's board fired Altman on Friday after a "breakdown of communications," according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
By Monday, most of OpenAI's more than 700 employees threatened to resign unless the company replaced the board.
Venture capital investors usually hold board seats or voting power in their portfolio companies but OpenAI is controlled by its nonprofit parent company OpenAI Nonprofit, which according to OpenAI's website was created to benefit "humanity, not OpenAI investors."
As a result, employees have more leverage in pressuring the board than the venture capitalists who helped fund the company, said Minor Myers, a law professor at the University of Connecticut. "There is nobody exactly who is in the seat of an injured investor," he said.
That is a feature, not a bug of OpenAI's structure, which started out as a nonprofit but added a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 to raise capital. Keeping control of operations lets the nonprofit preserve its "core mission, governance, and oversight," according to the company's website.
Nonprofit boards have legal obligations to the organisations they oversee. But those obligations, such as the duty to exercise care and avoid self-dealing, leave a lot of leeway for leadership decisions, experts said.
Those obligations can be further narrowed in a corporate structure such as OpenAI, which used a limited liability company as its operating arm, potentially further insulating the nonprofit's directors from investors, said Paul Weitzel, a law professor at the University of Nebraska.
Even if investors found a way to sue, Weitzel said they would have a "weak case." Companies have broad latitude under the law to make business decisions, even ones that backfire.
"You can fire visionary founders," Weitzel said. Apple famously fired Steve Jobs in the 1980s, before bringing him back around a decade later.
Source: Reuters
首席执行官突然被解雇后 OpenAI 投资者考虑起诉董事会
知情人士周一（11 月 20 日）向路透社透露，ChatGPT 的制造商 OpenAI 的一些投资者正在寻求针对该公司董事会的法律追索权，此前该公司董事会罢免了首席执行官萨姆·奥尔特曼（Sam Altman）并引发了可能的大规模员工外流。
消息人士称，投资者正在与法律顾问合作研究他们的选择。 目前尚不清楚这些投资者是否会起诉 OpenAI。
投资者担心，他们可能会损失在 OpenAI 上投资的数亿美元，而 OpenAI 是他们一些投资组合中皇冠上的明珠，而快速增长的生成人工智能领域最热门的初创公司可能会倒闭。
OpenAI 没有回应置评请求。
据知情人士透露，微软拥有这家营利性运营公司 49% 的股份。 据 Semafor 称，其他投资者和员工控制着 49% 的股份，其中 2% 由 OpenAI 的非营利母公司拥有。
据路透社看到的一份内部备忘录显示，由于“沟通中断”，OpenAI 董事会于周五解雇了 Altman。
到周一，OpenAI 的 700 多名员工中的大多数都威胁要辞职，除非公司更换董事会。
风险资本投资者通常在其投资组合公司中拥有董事会席位或投票权，但 OpenAI 由其非营利性母公司 OpenAI Nonprofit 控制，根据 OpenAI 的网站，该公司的创建是为了造福“人类，而不是 OpenAI 投资者”。
康涅狄格大学法学教授迈诺·迈尔斯表示，因此，与为公司提供资金的风险投资家相比，员工在向董事会施压方面拥有更大的影响力。 “没有人真正坐在受伤投资者的位置上，”他说。
这是 OpenAI 结构的一个特点，而不是一个缺陷，该公司最初是一家非营利组织，但在 2019 年增加了一家营利性子公司以筹集资金。 根据该公司的网站，保持对运营的控制可以让非营利组织保留其“核心使命、治理和监督”。
非营利组织董事会对其监管的组织负有法律义务。 但专家表示，这些义务，例如谨慎行事和避免自我交易的义务，为领导层决策留下了很大的余地。
内布拉斯加大学法学教授 Paul Weitzel 表示，在 OpenAI 这样的公司结构中，这些义务可以进一步缩小，OpenAI 使用一家有限责任公司作为其运营部门，这可能会进一步将非营利组织的董事与投资者隔离开来。
韦策尔表示，即使投资者找到了起诉的方法，他们的案子也“薄弱”。 根据法律，公司拥有广泛的自由度来做出商业决策，即使是适得其反的决策。
“你可以解雇有远见的创始人，”韦策尔说。 苹果公司在 20 世纪 80 年代解雇了史蒂夫·乔布斯 (Steve Jobs)，并在大约十年后将他带了回来。
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