Elon Musk’s xAI Loses CFO in Latest Executive Departure
▼ Summary
– Mike Liberatore, xAI’s CFO, has left the company, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
– He joined xAI in April and departed around the end of July after helping secure a $5 billion debt raise and another $5 billion in equity.
– Liberatore also oversaw parts of xAI’s data center expansion in Memphis during his tenure.
– His departure follows other recent executive exits, including general counsel Robert Keele and senior lawyer Raghu Rao in August.
– Igor Babuschkin, an xAI co-founder, also left last month to launch his own AI safety-focused VC firm.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has experienced another significant leadership change with the departure of its chief financial officer, Mike Liberatore. The exit, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, adds to a growing list of high-profile executives who have left the company in recent months. Liberatore, who previously held a senior role at Airbnb, joined xAI in April and departed around the end of July.
During his brief tenure, Liberatore played a key role in securing a substantial $5 billion debt raise for the company, which was complemented by an additional $5 billion in equity financing. Notably, nearly half of that equity investment originated from SpaceX, another Musk-led enterprise. Beyond fundraising, he also managed aspects of xAI’s infrastructure growth, including the expansion of data center operations in Memphis.
This leadership shakeup follows several other notable departures. xAI’s general counsel, Robert Keele, left his position in August after just over a year with the firm. Around the same period, senior lawyer Raghu Rao also exited the company. Last month, co-founder Igor Babuschkin announced his departure to establish a venture capital firm focused on AI safety research.
The executive turnover isn’t limited to xAI’s core team. Linda Yaccarino, former CEO of X, resigned in July amid concerns regarding the behavior of Grok, xAI’s chatbot integrated into the X platform. xAI completed its acquisition of X in late March, further intertwining the operations of Musk’s technology portfolio.
(Source: TechCrunch)
