Meta's AI Talent Acquisition Spree: Zuckerberg's Aggressive Push for Superintelligence

After trying to buy Ilya Sutskever's $32B AI startup, Meta looks to hire its CEO | TechCrunch

Mark Zuckerberg's AI talent hiring spree continues. In recent months, Meta tried to acquire Safe Superintelligence, the $32 billion AI startup co-founded by OpenAI's former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, according to a report from CNBC on Thursday. Sutskever ultimately turned Meta down, according to CNBC, but the company is now in talks to hire Safe Superintelligence's co-founder and CEO, Daniel Gross. Earlier this week, The Information reported that Meta was in talks to hire Gross, as well as former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. Meta is also reportedly taking a stake in Friedman and Gross's joint venture firm, NFDG, which has invested in prominent AI startups such as Perplexity and Character.AI. Gross and Friedman could significantly beef up Meta's AI superintelligence lab, adding leaders who have experience running and investing in AI research labs. Earlier this month, Meta announced that Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and several executives from the data labeling startup, would join the company as well.

Meta's recruiting blitz claims three OpenAI researchers

In the fight for top AI talent, Meta just reportedly snagged a win, poaching three OpenAI researchers despite rival Sam Altman's public mockery of Mark Zuckerberg's lavish hiring tactics. The latest victory in Zuckerberg's widely-reported recruiting blitz: Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai - who established OpenAI's Zurich office - have joined Meta's superintelligence team, the WSJ reports, suggesting Zuckerberg's methods can deliver. As Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, first revealed in a recent podcast with his brother Jack, Zuckerberg has been dangling $100+ million compensation packages in an effort to lure top talent from OpenAI. The Journal subsequently reported that Zuckerberg has been personally WhatsApping hundreds of top AI researchers, coordinating targets through his "Recruiting Party 🎉" chat before hosting dinners at his homes in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe. The strategy is producing mixed results. Zuckerberg recently bagged Scale AI's CEO Alexandr Wang with a $14 billion investment, making the 28-year-old one of tech's priciest hires ever. But bigger game has eluded the Meta CEO, says the WSJ, including OpenAI co-founders Ilya Sutskever and John Schulman, both of whom have gone one to co-found newer startups. In that podcast, Altman said of Zuckerberg's charm campaign: "I'm really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on [those offers]."

Meta in talks to hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join AI efforts, The Information reports

June 18 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab is in talks to hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join the Facebook parent's AI efforts, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The social media giant is also in discussion with Daniel Gross, Friedman's partner in the investment fund NFDG, about joining the company to work on AI, the report added. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company is also in talks to partially buy out NFDG, the report said. Big tech companies are doubling down on AI partnerships and investment to stay ahead in the race for dominance. Meta announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI last week, its second-largest investment to date. The company hired Scale AI CEO, Alexandr Wang, to work with Meta and lead its new superintelligence unit. Friedman is part of Meta's Advisory Group, an external advisory council established by the company to provide guidance on technology and product development. Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

Meta approached AI startup Runway about a takeover bid before Scale deal

Bitcoin briefly sinks below $99,000 as U.S. strikes on Iran trigger crypto market sell-off Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively pushing to bolster his company's AI efforts in recent months. The social media giant invested $14.3 billion into Scale AI in June, and it has also approached the startups Safe Superintelligence and Perplexity AI about potential acquisitions this year. Meta agreed to a 49% stake in Scale AI and hired away founder Alexandr Wang, along with a small number of other employees from the company. And while Meta was unsuccessful in its efforts to buy Superintelligence outright, Daniel Gross, the company's CEO, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman are joining Meta's AI efforts, where they will work on products under Wang.

Meta tried to buy Ilya Sutskever's $32 billion AI startup, but is now planning to hire its CEO

At the Meta Connect developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg, head of the Facebook group Meta, shows the prototype of computer glasses that can display digital objects in transparent lenses. When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg poached Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang last week as part of a $14.3 billion investment in the artificial intelligence startup, he was apparently just getting started. Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar AI hiring spree has now turned to Daniel Gross, the CEO of Ilya Sutskever's startup Safe Superintelligence, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. It's not how Zuckerberg planned for a deal to go down. Earlier this year, sources said, Meta tried to acquire Safe Superintelligence, which was reportedly valued at $32 billion in a fundraising round in April. Sutskever, who just launched the startup a year ago, shortly after leaving OpenAI, rebuffed Meta's efforts, as well as the company's attempt to hire him, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the information is confidential. Soon after those talks ended, Zuckerberg started negotiating with Gross the sources said. In addition to his role at Safe Superintelligence, Gross runs a venture capital firm with Gross called NFDG, their combined initials. Both men are joining Meta as part of the transaction, and will work on products under Wang, one source said. Meta, meanwhile, will get a stake in NFDG, according to multiple sources. The Information was first to report on Meta's plans to hire Gross and Friedman. Gross, Friedman and Sutskever didn't respond to CNBC's requests for comment. A Meta spokesperson said the company "will share more about our superintelligence effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks." Zuckerberg's aggressive hiring tactics escalate an AI talent war that's reached new heights of late. Meta, Google and OpenAI, along with a host of other big companies and high-valued startups, are racing to develop the most powerful large language models, and pushing towards artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI that's considered equal to or greater than human intelligence. Last week, Meta agreed to pump $14.3 billion into Scale AI to bring on Wang and a few other top engineers while getting a 49% stake in the startup. Altman said on the latest episode of the "Uncapped" podcast, which is hosted by his brother, that Meta has tried to lure OpenAI employees by offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million, with even larger annual compensation packages. Altman said "none of our best people have decided to take them up on that." "I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor," Atlman said on the podcast. "Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things." Meta didn't respond to a request for comment on Altman's remarks. OpenAI, for its part, has gone to similar lengths, paying about $6.5 billion to hire iPhone designer Jony Ive and to acquire his nascent devices startup io. Elsewhere, the founders of AI startup Character.AI were recruited back to Google last year in a multibillion-dollar deal, while DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman was brought on by Microsoft in a $650 million purchase of talent from Inflection AI. In Gross, Zuckerberg is getting a longtime entrepreneur and AI investor. Gross founded the search engine Cue, which was acquired by Apple in 2013. He was a top executive at Apple and helped lead machine learning efforts and the development of Siri. He was later a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator, before co‑founding Safe Superintelligence alongside Sutskever. Friedman co-founded two startups before becoming the CEO of GitHub following Microsoft's acquisition of the code-sharing platform in 2018. NFDG has backed Coinbase, Figma, CoreWeave, Perplexity and Character.ai over the years, according to Pitchbook. It's unclear what happens to its investment portfolio in a Meta deal, a source said.

Meta reportedly plans big new AI hires

Meta is in advanced talks to hire Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman as part of its new AI lab, per multiple reports. It also would take a stake in the pair's venture capital firm, NFDG. Why it matters: This would be the second time this month that Meta has poached the top exec of an AI decacorn, as Gross currently serves as CEO of Safe Superintelligence. Zoom in: Meta, which has never had a corporate venture fund, would buy out limited partners in NFDG, per The Information. The bottom line: Mark Zuckerberg is trying to acqui-hire his way to the head of the AI class.

Report: Meta targets former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to boost its AI research efforts - SiliconANGLE

Report: Meta targets former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to boost its AI research efforts Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly looking to expand its artificial intelligence team with yet another high profile tech industry luminary in the shape of former GitHub Chief Executive Nat Friedman. The parent company of Facebook is also said to be angling to bring aboard Daniel Gross, who is Friendman's partner in the AI-focused venture capital fund NFDG. The discussions were first reported by The Information, which cites anonymous sources familiar with the matter as saying Meta also wants to purchase a stake in the investment firm, which has backed a number of well-known AI startups. Friedman (pictured) is a big name in Silicon Valley circles, having been handed the CEO role at GitHub some time after the company was acquired by Microsoft Corp. for $7.5 billion in June 2018. The then-Microsoft Corporate Vice President took over as GitHub's leader in October 2019, and led the company for just over two years, during which time he helped to grow its value to an estimated $16.5 billion. During his tenure, Friedman helped to establish GitHub as a pioneer in AI with the launch of GitHub Copilot, which is one of the earliest and most successful coding assistants, leveraging generative AI to complete lines of code and make suggestions for programmers. He departed GitHub in November 2021 to focus on investments at NFDG. As for Gross, he previously co-founded a personal assistant app called Cue, before joining Apple Inc. in 2013 after the iPhone maker acquired the startup for around $50 million. At Apple, he worked on a number of AI projects, before leaving to co-found the developer tooling startup Safe Superintelligence Inc.. Friedman and Gross have worked together at NFDG for some years already, where they focus on identifying hot AI startups and investing anywhere between $1 million to $100 million in seed and growth rounds. NFDG has backed some notable companies over the years, including the payments firm Stripe Inc., the generative AI chatbot builder Character Technologies Inc., the machine learning operations company Weights and Biases Inc. and the AI search engine firm Perplexity AI Inc. The Information didn't specify in its report exactly what Friedman and Gross would be doing at Meta, but Reuters reports that the former GitHub boss is currently a member of the company's Advisory Group, which is an external advisory council that was established to give it independent guidance and technology and product development. In recent weeks, Meta has been scrambling to sign up more talent in an effort to bolster its flagging efforts in the AI industry. The company has invested billions of dollars into research and development in an attempt to keep pace with the likes of OpenAI and Google. Although it has had success with its open-source Llama LLM models, few people have described Meta as being ahead of its rivals. Its latest Llama models have only had a lukewarm reception, and it has reportedly come unstuck in its efforts to improve on them. Last week, Meta paid a reported $14.3 billion to acquire the AI training startup Scale AI Inc., in a deal which also secured the services of its former CEO Alexandr Wang. The company reportedly targeted Wang specifically to lead its new AI research lab, which is focused on developing "artificial general intelligence" that can match or surpass the capabilities of humans. Meta has also been trying to poach top AI talent from companies including OpenAI and Google LLC's DeepMind, offering compensation packages that include $100 million signing bonuses. That's according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said Meta made such an offer to one of its chief researchers, Noam Brown, only to be turned down. "[Meta has] started making these, like, giant offers to a lot of people on our team," Altman said in a podcast this week. "You know, like, $100 million signing bonuses, more than that [in] compensation per year [...] I'm really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on that." Altman speculated that his employees turned down Meta because they believe that his company has a better chance of achieving AGI first, and will one day become much more valuable than the social media giant.

Meta in Advanced Talks to Hire SSI Co-Founder Daniel Gross, Reports Reveal | AIM

Meta is in advanced talks to hire prominent AI investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross to help lead its artificial intelligence efforts, according to a recent report by The Information. As part of the negotiations, Meta is discussing a partial buyout of its venture capital fund, NFDG, which holds stakes in top AI startups. The fund, worth billions of dollars on paper, could cost Meta over $1 billion to buy out. If the deal is successful, Gross, who co-founded Safe Superintelligence (SSI) with former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, would leave the startup to join Meta. At Meta, Gross is expected to focus primarily on AI products, while Friedman's role is anticipated to be broader. Both Friedman and Gross are AI investors and have been involved in leading companies. They work closely with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, who joined Meta in a $14.3 billion deal. Friedman was the CEO of GitHub (acquired by Microsoft) and is now an investor and advisor, particularly through his venture fund NFDG. As per the report, he has also been consulting with Meta on its AI strategy since 2014. In addition to the buyout, Meta is negotiating the purchase of a substantial portion of NFDG's holdings, gaining minority stakes in the startups backed by the fund, such as SSI, but without gaining control or access to sensitive information about these companies. Meta has been aggressively pursuing top AI talent. In a recent podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that Meta is offering $100 million signing bonuses to attract talent. He also added that none of their top people have accepted those offers yet.

What Meta's Efforts to Poach Top Talent Can Teach You About Crashing Tough Markets

That was followed by accounts that Meta was also trying to buy a company called Safe Superintelligence, which is led by Open AI's co-founder and ex-chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. The bid failed, but Meta now plans to hire the company's CEO and co-founder Daniel Gross instead. Meanwhile, rumors continue swirling that Meta is also trying to recruit former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to add yet more talent to its AI research efforts. What gives? The bid for Safe Superintelligence happened earlier this year, CNBC reports. The company was valued at $32 billion in a fundraising round in April, which gives us a scale for the amount of money that may have been involved in the bid. But Sutskever turned down Meta's overtures, and also Meta's effort to hire him directly, according to sources familiar with the situation. Sutskever left OpenAI in the wake of the complex leadership drama that unfolded in 2022 when the company's board ousted controversial CEO Sam Altman, and founded Safe Superintelligence (with the goal of only releasing AI models that wouldn't harm human society) last year.

Meta Plans to Poach AI Startup Safe Superintelligence's CEO After Failed Buyout, Report Says

Meta's AI hiring blitz comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly been frustrated with the company's progress. Meta Platforms (META) is doubling down on its strategy of investing billions of dollars to poach top AI talent, with plans to add another AI startup CEO to its ranks. The Facebook parent plans to hire Daniel Gross, CEO of Safe Superintelligence, and former Github CEO Nat Friedman, according to reports citing The Information. The pair run an investment firm, NFDG, which Meta will acquire a stake in, the reports said. Safe Superintelligence was launched by former OpenAI research director Ilya Sutskever, who reportedly rebuffed Meta's attempts to hire him or buy the startup. When Sutskever declined, Meta turned to Gross. Meta, Safe Superintelligence, and Gross did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Gross and Friedman are expected to work under Alexandr Wang, the ex-CEO of Scale AI who just last week said he would join Meta's AI team. Meta also acquired a stake in the company worth billions of dollars. Meta's AI hiring blitz comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly expressed frustration with the company's progress in AI development. Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Meta was pushing back the launch of its latest Llama 4 large language model amid concerns about whether enough improvements had been made compared to previous iterations. To speed up development, Zuckerberg is reportedly working to build what has been referred to internally at Meta as a "superintelligence group" that will sit near him at Meta's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Shares of Meta were about 1% lower in recent trading. The stock has gained nearly 20% so far in 2025.

Meta Poaches the CEO of a $32 Billion AI Startup -- After Trying to Buy the Company and Being Told No

In exchange, Gross and his venture capital partner, Nat Friedman, will join Meta as part of its Superintelligence lab. Meta is taking an aggressive approach to hiring new members of its Superintelligence lab, the group tasked with developing AI that is more intelligent than human beings. CNBC reports that earlier this year, Meta attempted to acquire Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a top AI startup valued at $32 billion. OpenAI founding member Ilya Sutskever co-founded SSI in June 2024, one month after leaving his post as chief scientist at OpenAI. The startup aims to take a security-first approach to building superintelligence, or an AI with advanced capabilities. Sutskever reportedly turned down Meta's offer to buy SSI and refused Meta's offer to hire him, sources told CNBC. Meta then began talks for a possible deal with SSI's CEO, Daniel Gross, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. Gross and Friedman run a venture capital firm together called NFDG, named after the combination of their initials. Related: Meet Alexandr Wang, the 28-Year-Old Who Went from MIT Dropout to Billionaire Meta Hire: 'I Wanted to Make a Difference' Now, multiple sources tell CNBC that Meta is taking a stake in NFDG in exchange for Gross and Friedman joining Meta as part of its Superintelligence lab. The size of Meta's investment in NFDG is unclear. Gross and Friedman will reportedly work on AI products at Meta under another new hire: Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Wang announced last week that he would be leaving Scale AI for Meta as part of a $14.3 billion investment Meta made in the startup. The new hires will reportedly be compensated well. According to a Bloomberg report last week, Meta is offering up to a nine-figure pay for researchers on its Superintelligence team. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed this week that Meta tried to recruit OpenAI researchers by offering $100 million signing bonuses and even higher compensation packages as leverage. According to Bloomberg, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been personally leading the recruitment effort for the Superintelligence team. He has invited leading AI researchers and engineers from other companies to meet with him at his homes in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe to talk about offers to join Meta. Zuckerberg's aim is for Meta to be the first company to achieve superintelligence, which it can then use to power its products, like its AI chatbot and AI smart glasses. Related: Meta Is Reportedly Planning to Release New AI Smart Glasses With Oakley and Prada Meta's move to bring on fresh talent like Wang, Gross, and Friedman arrives as the company tries to hold onto existing AI talent. Menlo Ventures venture capitalist Deedy Das posted on X last week that he had heard of three cases last week of Meta losing AI researchers to OpenAI and Anthropic despite offering compensation of $2 million or more. "The AI talent wars are absolutely ridiculous," Das wrote.

Mark Zuckerberg made abortive attempt to buy ex-OpenAI executive Ilya Sutskever's AI startup: Report

Days after Sam Altman accused Zuckerberg of trying to poach OpenAI's talent, reports have emerged that Meta has been out shopping for other startups, including Ilya Sutskever's $32 billion Safe Superintelligence, launched just a year ago.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $14.2 billion investment in Scale AI last week, and roping in its CEO Alexandr Wang, appears to have been part of a larger game plan to build expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). Days after Sam Altman accused Zuckerberg of trying to poach OpenAI's talent, reports have emerged that Meta has been out shopping for other startups, including Ilya Sutskever's $32 billion Safe Superintelligence, launched just a year ago. Sources told news channel CNBC that Meta tried to acquire the startup founded by Sutskever, former chief scientist at OpenAI, earlier this year. However, Sutskever rebuffed the big tech giant's efforts. Subsequently, Zuckerberg started eyeing the chief executive of the startup, Daniel Gross. Zuckerberg is setting up a team of experts to achieve so-called "artificial general intelligence" (AGI), or machines that can match or surpass human capabilities. The Meta chief's apparent plans to personally recruit around 50 people, including a new head of AI research for the AGI team, is driven partly by frustration over the performance and reception of Meta's latest large language model, Llama 4. Altman swiped at Zuckerberg in his brother's podcast, 'Uncapped', saying that Meta tried to poach the company's AI talent for its superintelligence team. Additionally, he said Meta is not "great at innovation". The "special thing" about OpenAI is that the company has built a culture that is good at "repeatable" innovation, Altman noted.

After Failed SSI Takeover, Meta Now Eyes CEO Daniel Gross And Ex-GitHub Chief Nat Friedman - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

After a failed attempt to acquire Safe Superintelligence (SSI), an AI startup co-founded by OpenAI's former chief scientist, Meta Platform Inc. META is intensifying its pursuit of artificial intelligence through an aggressive recruitment strategy aimed at attracting top talent. What Happened: As per a CNBC report, a stealth-mode startup valued at $32 billion declined Meta's acquisition offer. SSI is committed to independently developing aligned superintelligence, marking one of the boldest moves in the AI landscape. Founded on June 19, 2024, SSI was launched by Ilya Sutskever, former co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, and Daniel Gross, ex-Apple Inc. AI director. Gross currently serves as SSI's CEO. Why It Matters: Following the failed acquisition, Meta has shifted its strategy to talent acquisition. According to The Information, the company is now attempting to recruit Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub. Gross and Friedman are also partners at the VC firm NFDG, which has invested in prominent AI startups like Perplexity AI and Character.AI. This pursuit comes shortly after Meta brought in Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, along with several executives from Scale to lead its superintelligence initiatives. Also Read: Why Meta's 'Superintelligence' Project Lead Alexandr Wang Says It Is A Strange Time To Be A Scientist Meta's Plan: Amid delays in unveiling Llama, Meta's foundation language models, the company appears to be pivoting toward research-heavy, cutting-edge AI development, moving beyond chatbots and hardware toward long-term superintelligence goals. Read Next: Comparative Study: Meta Platforms And Industry Competitors In Interactive Media & Services Industry Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Skorzewiak / Shutterstock.com METAMeta Platforms Inc$683.79-1.72%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum85.25Growth92.62Quality86.76Value27.48Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meta Reportedly Tried To Buy AI Video Startup Runway Before $14 Billion Scale AI Bet: Report - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms Inc. META held acquisition discussions with artificial intelligence video startup Runway before completing its $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. What Happened: The talks between Meta and Runway, known for AI video-generation tools, did not advance significantly and ultimately dissolved, CNBC reported, citing sources. The approach represents part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's aggressive push to strengthen Meta's AI capabilities amid intensifying competition in the artificial intelligence sector. The social media giant secured a 49% stake in Scale AI in June and recruited founder Alexandr Wang along with several employees. Meta has pursued multiple AI acquisition targets this year, including approaches to Safe Superintelligence and Perplexity AI, the report noted. While the company failed to acquire Safe Superintelligence outright, it successfully recruited CEO Daniel Gross and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join its AI division under Wang's leadership. Meta and Runway did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment. See Also: What's Next For Apple -- Chamath Palihapitiya Fires Back: 'Don't Think They Have Any Chance Of Anything,' Dismisses Glasses And AI Hopes AdvertisementArrivedBuy shares of homes and vacation rentals for as little as $100. Get StartedWiserAdvisorGet matched with a trusted, local financial advisor for free.Get StartedPoint.comTap into your home's equity to consolidate debt or fund a renovation.Get StartedAdvantage GoldMarkets are volatile: diversify your retirement fund with a gold IRA. Get StartedRobinhoodMove your 401k to Robinhood and get a 3% match on deposits.Get Started Why It Matters: The acquisition strategy comes as Meta deepens its defense technology partnerships. The company recently announced a collaboration with Anduril Industries to develop augmented reality devices for the U.S. Army, submitting a joint bid for contracts worth up to $100 million as part of a $22 billion military modernization initiative. Price Action: Meta stock closed at $698.53 on Monday, up 2.37% for the day. In pre-market trading on Tuesday, the stock rose further to $704.19, gaining an additional 0.81%. Year to date, Meta shares are up 16.57%. Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate a consistent upward trend for META over the short, medium, and long term. You can explore more detailed performance insights here. Read Next: Jamie Dimon Says These Are The 3 Skills Businesses Seek, Admits 'We Are Short On Labor' Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Skorzewiak / Shutterstock.com GOOGLAlphabet Inc$167.221.23%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum28.55Growth87.70Quality84.97Value52.95Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMETAMeta Platforms Inc$704.190.81%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$488.440.50%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Reportedly Looking To Hire Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman And Investor Daniel Gross As Part Of Aggressive AI Expansion Strategy - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms, Inc. META is reportedly looking to bring high-profile AI talent in-house as it doubles down on its efforts to lead the next wave of artificial intelligence innovation. What Happened: Meta is in discussions to hire Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, to support its artificial intelligence efforts, reported Reuters (via The Information). The company is also reportedly in talks with Daniel Gross, Friedman's partner at investment fund NFDG, about a potential AI-related role. Meta is also considering a partial acquisition of NFDG, the report said. The move would further integrate top-tier AI talent and resources into the company's growing portfolio. Also Read: Meta Hits 1 Billion Monthly AI Users, Eyes Future With Subscriptions Friedman currently serves on Meta's Advisory Group, an external council that advises the company on technology and product development. Why It's Important: Earlier this week, during a podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that Meta offered $100 million compensation packages to lure top AI talent from his company and Google DeepMind. Previously, it was also reported that Meta is struggling with a wave of departures from its AI division, as more employees head to competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Meanwhile, Meta has made a strategic minority investment in Scale AI, pushing the startup's valuation beyond $29 billion. As part of the deal, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang will join Meta to assist with its AI initiatives while continuing to serve on Scale's board. Price Action: Meta shares are up 16.11% year-to-date. On Wednesday, the stock dipped 0.21% during regular trading and edged down another 0.062% after hours, as per Benzinga Pro. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show META maintaining an upward trajectory across short, medium and long-term timeframes. Additional performance data is available here. Photo courtesy: Skorzewiak / Shutterstock.com Read Next: Cathie Wood Dumps Palantir As Stock Touches Peak Prices, Bails On Soaring Flying-Taxi Maker Archer Aviation Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. METAMeta Platforms Inc$695.34-0.27%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum85.39Growth92.68Quality89.97Value26.81Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Report: Meta Aims to Hire AI Investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The company aims to have Friedman and Gross help lead its AI efforts, The Information reported Wednesday (June 18), citing unnamed sources. Meta did not immediately reply to PYMNTS' request for comment. According to the report, NFDG has invested in AI startups like Perplexity, The Bot Company and Safe Superintelligence. If Meta partially buys out the VC fund, the company would have minority stakes in the startups but would not get information about them, the report said. Gross, in addition to his involvement with the venture capital fund, is a co-founder of Safe Superintelligence. If he joins Meta, he would leave that position, the report said. Friedman is a member of an advisory group that consults with Meta executives about the company's AI efforts, per the report.

Meta in talks to buy out AI venture fund for over $1 bln- The Information By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Meta Platforms is in advanced talks to partially buy out an artificial intelligence venture fund run by investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross for over $1 billion, The Information reported on Wednesday. The deal will also see Meta (NASDAQ:META) hire the two, the report said, citing a personal familiar with the matter. Friedman is the former CEO of coding database GitHub, while Gross is the co-founder of Safe Superintelligence. The two run the investment fund NFDG, which holds stakes in several major AI and technology startups, including Stripe, Character AI, and Perplexity. The Information report comes as Meta attempts to further bolster its AI staff, with the company having last week announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI, while also hiring founder Alexandr Wang. Other reports showed Meta was also seeking to poach employees from OpenAI, as the company races to gain an edge over its rivals in the fast-growing AI industry. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was seen personally assembling a team aimed at creating artificial general intelligence, a theoretical but widely sought-after form of AI that has cognitive and reasoning capabilities on par with humans.

Meta poaches 3 OpenAI researchers for superintelligence project- WSJ By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) has hired three OpenAI researchers to work on a superintelligence project led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday evening. The social media giant hired Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, who were working at OpenAI's Zurich office, the WSJ report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The three formerly worked together at Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) DeepMind, the WSJ report said. Wednesday's report comes just days after an earlier report showed Meta aggressively recruiting researchers for its superintelligence project. The social media firm had reportedly offered OpenAI researchers bonuses of as high as $100 million. This comes as Meta attempts to course-correct after the release of its latest model, Llama 4, drew a lukewarm reception. Zuckerberg is also personally leading the company's efforts to build AI superintelligence.

Meta in talks to hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join AI efforts, The Information reports

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms is in talks to hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to join the Facebook parent's AI efforts, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The social media giant is also in discussion with Daniel Gross, Friedman's partner in the investment fund NFDG, about joining the company to work on AI, the report added. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company is also in talks to partially buy out NFDG, the report said. Big tech companies are doubling down on AI partnerships and investment to stay ahead in the race for dominance. Meta announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI last week, its second-largest investment to date. The company hired Scale AI CEO, Alexandr Wang, to work with Meta and lead its new superintelligence unit. Friedman is part of Meta's Advisory Group, an external advisory council established by the company to provide guidance on technology and product development. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

Meta wanted to buy OpenAI co-founder's startup but settled for hiring its CEO: Report

Both new hires will work under Scale AI's Alexandr Wang at Meta. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence lately, and his latest hires are a testament to this. After investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI last week and bringing on its founder Alexandr Wang, Zuckerberg has now reportedly brought two prominent figures onboard: Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman. Daniel Gross is the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup launched by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. According to CNBC, Meta had earlier tried to buy Safe Superintelligence, which was reportedly valued at around $32 billion in a fundraising round in April. However, Sutskever turned down both the acquisition offer and Meta's attempt to hire him. After that deal failed, Meta reportedly shifted focus to hiring Gross. Along with Gross, Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO and Gross's business partner at venture firm NFDG, is also joining Meta. According to the report, both Gross and Friedman will work under Wang at Meta, and the tech giant is also said to get a stake in NFDG. Also read: Microsoft eyes more job cuts as it shifts focus to AI and data centers Meta would be sharing more information about its superintelligence efforts and the new team members in the coming weeks. Meta's move is part of the AI hiring battle between top tech companies like Meta, Google, OpenAI and Microsoft. These companies are racing to build powerful AI models. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said on a podcast that Meta offered huge signing bonuses of $100 million to lure people from his company, although none of his top employees have accepted the offers so far. Meta's hiring spree isn't the only big move in the AI world. OpenAI itself paid $6.5 billion to bring in iPhone designer Jony Ive and buy his startup. Google and Microsoft have also made major hires and acquisitions to strengthen their AI teams.