In November 2023, as OpenAI faced a leadership crisis after its board removed Sam Altman, the board reportedly approached Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about taking the OpenAI CEO job and a possible merger between the companies. Reuters reported that Amodei declined both. The accounts describe a private approach—not a completed merger or a deal with publicly known terms.
What OpenAI reportedly proposed
Reuters reported on November 16, 2023, citing two people briefed on the matter, that OpenAI’s board approached Amodei about replacing Altman and potentially combining the companies. Reuters said Amodei declined the CEO role and the merger approach: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declined on both fronts, the people said.
That is Reuters’ account of what unnamed sources said, not a direct statement from Amodei. Reuters’ report, republished by Investing.com
The Information reported on November 20 that the board approached Amodei about a potential merger as part of an effort to persuade him to replace Altman, citing a person with direct knowledge. The Information’s account and Reuters’ earlier report describe the same core idea: leadership recruitment and a possible combination were linked, rather than a publicly documented standalone merger process.
Why the approach came during OpenAI’s leadership crisis
The approach was reported amid the upheaval following the board’s removal of Altman in November 2023. OpenAI’s governance crisis involved the nonprofit board, senior management, employees and outside investors, as Axios’ contemporaneous timeline recounts. That context helps explain why alternative leadership arrangements were being discussed, but it does not establish the private motives of individual board members.
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Amodei was not an outside executive unconnected to OpenAI’s history. Anthropic was founded by former OpenAI staff, and its governance structure differs from OpenAI’s, according to TIME’s 2024 retrospective. Those facts provide background to why the companies and their leadership might have been considered together; they do not reveal what the board envisioned for a combined organization.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is not known about a possible merger
The reporting does not establish that the companies entered a completed formal negotiation, agreed to combine, or came close to closing a transaction. It provides no public offer letter, term sheet, valuation, proposed ownership split, financing plan, merger structure or detailed post-merger governance arrangement. The available accounts therefore support describing this as a reported approach or proposal, not as a merger that was underway to completion.
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