I was actually surprised that the new board ended up with members who might reasonably be expected, under the right circumstances, to resist something Microsoft wanted. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had ended up all Microsoft employees and obvious Microsoft proxies.
Probably that was a concession in return for the old board agreeing to the whole thing. But it’s also convenient for Altman. It doesn’t matter if he pledges allegiance. The question is what actual leverage Microsoft has over him should he choose to do something Microsoft doesn’t like. This makes a nonzero difference in his favor.
If Sam is as politically astute as he is made out to be, loading the board with blatant MSFT proxies would be bad optics and detract from his image. He just needs to be relatively sure they won’t get in his way or try to coup him again.
I was actually surprised that the new board ended up with members who might reasonably be expected, under the right circumstances, to resist something Microsoft wanted. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had ended up all Microsoft employees and obvious Microsoft proxies.
Probably that was a concession in return for the old board agreeing to the whole thing. But it’s also convenient for Altman. It doesn’t matter if he pledges allegiance. The question is what actual leverage Microsoft has over him should he choose to do something Microsoft doesn’t like. This makes a nonzero difference in his favor.
If Sam is as politically astute as he is made out to be, loading the board with blatant MSFT proxies would be bad optics and detract from his image. He just needs to be relatively sure they won’t get in his way or try to coup him again.
The former boards only power was to agree/fire to new board members and CEOs.
Pretty sure they only Let Altman back as CEO under the condition of having a strong influence over the new board.