Microsoft's stock soars high after hiring former OpenAI boss Sam Altman

Microsoft's stock price hit an all-time high on Monday, following former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joining the Big Tech giant. Shares climbed as much as 2% and the increase added $54 billion of market value to the tech giant and extended its year-to-date stock gain to 57%. The stock rose soon after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that the company had hired Altman as well as former OpenAI president Greg Brockman.  

"We're extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team," Nadella said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success." 

Altman reshared Nadella's post, adding, "The mission continues." 

In a shocking move last Friday, Altman was ousted from OpenAI with the ChatGPT developer's board saying it no longer had "confidence in his ability to continue leading". 

The board appeared to consider reversing that decision at the weekend, with Altman sharing a picture of himself at OpenAI's HQ Sunday. Cut it has been reported early Monday that discussions had fallen apart, with former Twitch CEO and cofounder Emmett Shear subsequently named interim CEO. 

Microsoft's hiring of Altman will reassure shareholders who were worried he would start a new company and launch a competitor to ChatGPT. Microsoft is OpenAI's largest shareholder and has incorporated the intelligent language tool into its search engine, Bing.