Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to depart company, join OpenAI

Instacart head Fidji Simo will step down to join OpenAI as its chief of applications, said CEO and co-founder Sam Altman on Thursday, adding she will report to him and that he will remain head of the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT maker.

Instacart will name a new CEO soon, and Simo will stay on as chair to support the transition, she said in an email to employees. Simo will start her new job at OpenAI later this year.

“Our board regularly conducts succession planning exercises, and we expect the new CEO will be announced soon and will be an existing member of our management team,” Simo said in a post on LinkedIn.

Simo, aged 39, has steered the online grocery delivery firm to profitability since taking the helm in 2021, even as a pandemic surge in orders tapered off. Instacart went public on Nasdaq in September 2023.

She also spent a decade at social media giant Meta Platforms, including as the head of Facebook from 2019 until 2021 and currently sits on the board of Shopify.

Last week, Instacart forecast upbeat quarterly profit, betting on resilient demand for groceries and food on its delivery platform as more people shop online.

“Today’s announcement is not a reflection of any changes in our business or operations,” Instacart, which forecast second-quarter core profit above Wall Street estimates this month, said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday.

Simo was among the three directors who joined OpenAI’s board in March last year after Altman returned as CEO following an investigation into the events surrounding his ouster from the artificial intelligence company in late 2023.

Simo’s announcement comes two days after OpenAI dialed back a significant restructuring plan, with its nonprofit parent retaining control in a move that is likely to limit Altman’s power.

(Reporting by Disha Mishra and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Shailesh Kuber)