Sarah Friar

Money Moves

Overseeing IPO preparation and financial restructuring

In November 2025, Sam Altman told the world OpenAI had $1.4 trillion in data center commitments. Now the company is telling investors the real number is $600 billion — and that it would rather rent computing power than build its own facilities. The retreat, disclosed to investors in February 2026 and detailed publicly on March 22, marks the sharpest pivot in the short history of the artificial intelligence spending boom.

Updated Oct 29

Money Moves

Reports to Fidji Simo (CEO of Applications), not Sam Altman — a structure in place since August 2025. Altman has excluded her from key financial meetings. Continues to caution colleagues about compute commitment risks ahead of the IPO.

SoftBank finished paying for its OpenAI stake on October 1, sending the last $10 billion tranche for a total of $64.6 billion and about 13% of the company. It raised the cash in September with an $11.1 billion bond sale and an $11.9 billion loan, then retired the $40 billion bridge facility it had used to buy the shares.

Updated Oct 23

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Urging 2027 IPO delay; warning that revenue growth may not cover $600B in infrastructure commitments

After the $122 billion round closed at the end of March, OpenAI ended its Azure cloud exclusivity and capped Microsoft's revenue share at $38 billion through 2030. On May 18, a jury dismissed Elon Musk's suit seeking $134 billion and the reversal of OpenAI's for-profit structure.

Updated May 29

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Owner of the financial story going into the prospectus

OpenAI filed a confidential draft registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, May 22, 2026. The filing is the first formal step toward a public listing that could value the ChatGPT maker above $1 trillion.

Updated May 22