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OpenAI loses 3 top executives as it cuts back on ‘side quests’

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OpenAI lost three top executives on Friday.

Kevin Weil, who headed OpenAI’s scientific research efforts after serving as chief product officer, posted on LinkedIn that his team, OpenAI for Science, is being decentralized into other research teams and that he is leaving the company.

Bill Peebles, who headed OpenAI’s AI video app Sora, also announced his departure. Although Peebles didn’t explain why in his post, OpenAI shut down Sora last month due to cost and compute constraints.

“I’m proud of all the sleepless nights before and after the launch this team endured in order to deploy the technology in a responsible way and help steer societal norms,” Peebles wrote.

An OpenAI spokesperson said the company is unifying its business and product strategy. Prism, an AI workplace for scientists that Weil oversaw, is moving to Codex, OpenAI’s AI developer assistant, which is expanding beyond coding.

Srinivas Narayanan, OpenAI’s chief technology officer for its B2B applications, is also leaving to spend more time with his family, he wrote on LinkedIn. Narayanan’s departure is unrelated to the other two, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The shakeup comes as OpenAI narrows its focus by cutting back on “side quests” and doubling down on selling to businesses. It’s a move spearheaded by its CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, to make the company profitable as it moves towards an IPO. Simo is on medical leave for several weeks.

OpenAI has been losing some of its thunder to Anthropic, as its latest releases like Claude Code have been gaining traction with businesses and sparking fears of a ‘SaaS-pocalypse.’

Anthropic has seen funding offers valuing it at up to $800 billion, Business Insider reported, more than twice its most recent valuation in February. OpenAI was valued at $852 billion in a funding round it announced last month.

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Tesla loses another sales executive

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Raj Jegannathan, who was once tasked with managing Tesla’s sales and service team in North America, announced his departure from the company on Monday.

Jegannathan, Tesla’s vice president of IT, took over the sales organization shortly after Troy Jones, the former vice president of North America sales and service, left the company in July. During his time on the team, Jegannathan worked to incorporate more AI tools in sales and service team workflows, five people with knowledge of the issue told Business Insider.

“A comprehensive end-to-end understanding of the business has been essential—enabling the team to harness AI effectively to achieve meaningful outcomes across products and customer support,” Jegannathan wrote on LinkedIn on Monday.

The executive, who reported directly to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, left the company over the weekend, a person with knowledge of the issue told Business Insider. Jegannathan has not been active on internal company systems since late January, and he has not worked closely with the sales team for a few months, people with knowledge of the issue said.

Prior to taking over leadership of the sales team, Jegannathan worked in engineering and IT, rather than sales. He has worked at Tesla for over 13 years. Shortly after he took the reins, he became known for responding to sales and service requests on X.

Jegannathan has led the company through a tumultuous sales period. Tesla reported in January that its delivery numbers fell for the second year in a row. The carmaker reported a 16% year-over-year decline in deliveries during the quarter. Jegannathan led the sales efforts while Musk worked with the federal government as a part of the Department of Government Efficiency, before the organization was dismantled.

Several of Musk’s direct reports have left the company over the past year. One of Musk’s top lieutenants, Omead Afshar, parted ways with the carmaker in June, and Milan Kovac, the head of Tesla’s robotics division, left the company that same month.

Tesla and Jegannathan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider

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Divya Nettimi’s Avala Global loses more staff despite a strong 2025

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Avala Global, launched by former Viking Global star trader Divya Nettimi, had strong performance numbers in 2025.

However, the firm has continued to lose staff.

Three investment analysts left in the second half of 2025, and Nettimi’s fund is set to lose two more senior executives in 2026, including the firm’s COO.

Avala Global, the $2 billion manager launched by Nettimi in late 2022, gained 22.1% in 2025, according to the firm’s year-end letter to clients, which was viewed by Business Insider. Several people close to the firm told Business Insider that the manager achieved these returns despite losing analysts Jordan Straff, Nadine Lin, and Michael Wang.

Straff was a longtime investor at Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Capital before joining Avala in early 2024, while Lin and Wang both joined from Steve Cohen’s Point72.

The manager will also lose its COO, David Angstreich, and top fundraiser, Rebecca Chia. Both are set to depart in the coming months, three people close to the firm tell Business Insider.

Angstreich and Lin did not respond to requests for comment, while Chia and Straff declined to comment. Business Insider could not reach Wang in time for publication. Avala declined to comment.

Angstreich has been with Avala since its launch, while Chia joined in mid-2025 after stints at Atalaya Capital and Third Point.

The letter highlighted the team’s “depth and experience” but made no mention of the departures or expected exits. The firm hired onetime Viking Global general counsel Andrew Genser as its in-house lawyer last year and added at least four new analysts in 2025, LinkedIn shows, including two end-of-year hires from private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

“We believe we have laid a strong foundation for the next phase of our growth,” the letter reads.

Last June, Business Insider reported that a majority of Avala’s day-one team had left the firm, including the entire four-person investing team that reported to Nettimi. Three people who had previously worked at the firm told Business Insider they left because of a tense workplace environment that came from the top of the firm. While she declined to address the specifics around different employees’ exits, Nettimi told Business Insider last year that she was confident in her team and the process for finding and vetting new talent.

Nettimi, a former Forbes 30 under 30 honoree who spent years investing at Viking Global, has managed to make money despite the churn. The firm has made more than 20% in each of the three full years it has been trading, besting the S&P 500 and Nettimi’s former manager over the same period.

The firm’s most recent letter to investors stated that long-term holdings in stocks such as data-storage company Seagate Technology, German power company Siemens Energy, and Finnish sporting goods conglomerate Amer Sports were key in driving performance last year.




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