Altman joining ‘a clear win for Microsoft,’ says Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne notes “a weekend of back and forth regarding the OpenAI drama” but says that for Microsoft investors “it ended in a good place” with news that OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, alongside other colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. While it remains to be seen how much “brain drain” there will be at OpenAI, the analyst believes the creation of the new advanced AI research team headed by Altman and Brockman is “a clear win for Microsoft and should help offset concerns regarding potential near-term uncertainty at OpenAI.” Evercore has an Outperform rating and $432 price target on Microsoft shares.