Instacart Chief Executive Fidji Simo is leaving the company to lead application development for OpenAI, creator of smash-hit AI tool ChatGPT. Instacart stock fell early Thursday following the news.
Simo, who has led Instacart since 2021, will serve as OpenAI's CEO of Applications, reporting to OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman. In a post on X, Altman said the new configuration will allow him to "increase my focus on research, compute, and safety."
Simo said in a letter to Instacart employees that she will be leaving the chief executive role in "the coming months." The exact date has not been determined, according to a regulatory filing from the company Thursday.
A new CEO for the grocery delivery company, which trades under the parent name Maplebear, will be announced soon. The hire will be an existing member of Instacart's management, the letter said. Simo will remain chair of Instacart's board.
Instacart had a market capitalization of $12 billion entering Thursday trading. OpenAI was recently valued at $300 billion in a new private funding round led by SoftBank. The AI start-up, whose ChatGPT set off the generative AI craze in late 2022, earlier this week dialed back a plan to convert to a for-profit structure. It will instead remain under the control of its founding nonprofit board.
Instacart Stock Falls After CEO Departure
On the stock market today, Instacart stock is down 3.8% at 44.01 in recent trading. Shares are in a cup base with a 53.44 buy point but could be starting to forge a handle.
Simo led Instacart during its initial public offering in 2023. Instacart stock has gained about 52% in the time since the company went public in September of that year. Before joining Instacart, Simo was an executive at Facebook parent company Meta Platforms. She joined OpenAI's board last year.
In the letter to employees, Simo apologized for "how unexpected this may feel." She added that a "media leak" expedited the timeline for the announcement. The Information was first to report that Simo was headed for OpenAI, early Thursday morning.
Instacart said in a separately published statement that the announcement "is not a reflection of any changes in our business or operations. We're off to a strong start in 2025 as we continue to execute on our vision of building the technologies that power the future of grocery for our partners."
