• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, 9 hours ago

OpenAI on Monday confirmed it has appointed Albert Lee, former senior director of corporate development at Google, as its vice president of corporate development.

Lee will begin his role at Microsoft-backed OpenAI on Tuesday and will report to finance chief Sarah Friar. He is a “senior leader with broad visibility across the company who is empowered to move quickly," an OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters.

At Alphabet's Google, Lee led corporate development for Google Cloud and DeepMind, as well as the strategy and scouting team.

Since he joined the company in 2011, Lee has worked on over 60 transactions spanning acquisitions and strategic investments totaling more than $50 billion, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Information first reported Lee's move early on Monday. His hiring follows OpenAI's recruitment of former Amazon executive Torben Severson as its new vice president and head of global business development last month.

In September, OpenAI hired Mike Liberatore, former finance chief at xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup, as business finance officer.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's “code red” urged an intense companywide strategy to improve ChatGPT's quality and day-to-day user experience amid growing chatter that Google’s AI development had grown significantly.

As the company attempts to reclaim the top spot in AI industry benchmark tests from Google, its challenges heading into 2026 extend beyond the battle in AI models and more into structuring the for-profit part of the company as the industry leader -- which would require hiring the correct people and laying the groundwork for an IPO. 

In October 2025, a pre-stock sale allowed employees to cash out approximately $6.6 billion in shares, with participation seen as a vote of confidence in the company's long-term prospects, even at this high valuation.

Last week, the company told staff it would end its compensation policy requiring employees to work at the company for at least six months before their equity vests.

The change to the “vesting cliff,” announced by applications chief Fidji Simo, is designed to encourage new employees to take risks without fear of being let go before accessing their first part of equity, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI shortened its vesting period for new employees to six months from the industry standard of 12 months in April. The move is intended to encourage new employees to remain.

Technology companies typically have a one-year vesting cycle for new employees, preventing them from having to give away stock to employees who leave the company quickly.

The WSJ reported that technology investors complained about the ballooning of stock-based compensation associated with fast-growing AI startups, arguing that it eats into shareholder returns.

OpenAI is already paying far more stock-based compensation than other tech companies, reported the WSJ, due to an intense talent war.

This year, OpenAI expects to spend $6 billion on such costs — almost half of its projected revenue — according to financial documents sent to investors over the summer and viewed by The Wall Street Journal.