S&P 500 and Nasdaq reach highest level since August as Nvidia and Microsoft reach record highs
Microsoft is headed for a record shutdown after announcing Altman has joined the staff
Microsoft (MSFT) shares traded higher throughout the day and were up more than 2.2%. If the stock closes above $376.17, it will be at an all-time high.
The move comes after the ouster of Sam Altman at OpenAI sent shockwaves through the tech world over the weekend, surprising everyone from Microsoft’s CEO. Satya Nadella For investors on Wall Street and venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
After a long weekend of back and forth, Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman have joined Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team, according to Nadella.
Rishi Galloria, managing director of RBC Capital Markets, described the past few days as “the most eventful” in more than a decade covering the show. Galloria labeled the end result a “major coup for Microsoft,” because he still sees the tech giant as the leader in generative AI.
“I think the concerns that everyone had was that the pace of innovation would slow down, and some of the AI aura around Microsoft that it had enjoyed in its various stocks would start to dissipate,” Galloria told Yahoo Finance Live. “Customers are going to be concerned. I think by bringing in Sam and Greg, and Sam is really the absolute visionary when it comes to AI, it’s really the best-case scenario for Microsoft.”
For investors, there are still concerns about how OpenAI uncertainty will impact Microsoft’s business in the short term. Microsoft Azure cloud services are being used by OpenAI, Nadella mentioned in the company’s most recent earnings call.
Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Mattern noted that any fundamental risk to Microsoft has been largely “contained” with Altman now on board.
“Taking a long-term view, the appointment of Altman and his team may lead to a better outcome compared to the previous status quo,” Mattern said. “Clearly there is still some risk to Azure if OpenAI’s growth slows meaningfully, but we believe the long-term opportunity around GenAI for Microsoft outweighs any near-term risks associated with disrupting OpenAI.”
This is a “win/win” for Microsoft, Oppenheimer analysts Timothy Horan and Edward Yang wrote in a research note Monday.
In his own note to clients, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives suggested that Altman could have ended up at another competitor, writing: “Instead, he is safely at Microsoft headquarters now leading the company’s major AI efforts for which we expect he will leave “Many of the key OpenAI scientists and developers went straight to Microsoft.”
