xAI Taps Ex-Morgan Stanley Banker Anthony Armstrong as CFO
▼ Summary
– Elon Musk’s AI company xAI has appointed former Morgan Stanley banker Anthony Armstrong as its new chief financial officer.
– Armstrong will manage finances for both xAI and X, which were merged in April, having previously advised Musk during the Twitter acquisition.
– This appointment fills the CFO vacancy left when Mike Liberatore departed xAI in July, following several high-profile executive exits.
– Recent departures include xAI’s general counsel Robert Keele, senior lawyer Raghu Rao, co-founder Igor Babuschkin, and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
– Armstrong replaces X’s current CFO Mahmoud Reza Banki, who is leaving the company according to the Financial Times report.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has brought on board former Morgan Stanley investment banker Anthony Armstrong to serve as its new Chief Financial Officer. According to a report from the Financial Times, Armstrong, who previously provided counsel to Musk during the acquisition of Twitter, will now manage financial operations for both xAI and the social media platform X, following their consolidation earlier this year.
Armstrong has reportedly been collaborating with the AI firm for a number of weeks, with his official appointment to the CFO role occurring only recently. This move comes after xAI’s previous finance chief, Mike Liberatore, exited the company in July, creating a vacancy at the top of the financial leadership team.
The appointment follows a period of significant executive turnover affecting both xAI and X. In August, xAI’s general counsel, Robert Keele, left his position after slightly more than a year with the company. Senior lawyer Raghu Rao also departed around that same time. Additionally, one of xAI’s co-founders, Igor Babuschkin, announced in August his decision to leave in order to establish his own venture capital firm focused on AI safety research. This series of departures was preceded by the July resignation of Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X.
Armstrong is set to take over the CFO responsibilities from Mahmoud Reza Banki, the current finance chief at X, who is also preparing to leave the organization. The Financial Times noted that xAI did not provide an immediate response to requests for comment regarding these executive changes.
(Source: TechCrunch)
