OpenAI loses its head of private equity to Google

• OpenAI lost two more senior staffers after a trio of departures in mid-April.
• Paul Zimmerman, the AI lab’s former head of private equity, announced a move to Google.
• OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are increasingly turning to PE firms for help ramping sales.

Two more senior staffers left OpenAI in recent days, including its head of private equity, who was hired by Google.

Paul Zimmerman said he now leads Google’s efforts to sell its AI to PE firms and their portfolio companies. He’d worked at OpenAI for just over a year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, James Dyett, who described himself as OpenAI’s head of sales, announced he was leaving for VC firm Thrive Capital, a major OpenAI backer.

The pair make the latest high-profile departures from the company after three execs left in a single day last month.

The generative AI race has shifted from consumer adoption to business use cases in the past year, with Anthropic, OpenAI and other leaders seeking bigger, steadier revenue that often comes from corporate customers. One way to do that is by going through private-equity firms that control thousands of companies and are looking for ways to make them more efficient.

OpenAI is launching a $10 billion joint venture with PE firms including TPG and Bain Capital, Bloomberg and Reuters reported recently. Arch rival Anthropic also launched a partnership with PE firms worth $1.5 billion.

Google is also in talks with Blackstone and KKR to bring its AI models to their firms, Bloomberg reported.

Zimmerman declined to comment to Business Insider. Dyett, OpenAI and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.