OpenAI taps Barret Zoph to lead enterprise AI sales as market share drops to 27%

OpenAI is coming for those sweet enterprise dollars in 2026

OpenAI has reorganized some of its leadership and picked a familiar face to lead its push into selling AI to business customers as the company looks to catch up to its rivals in 2026. The company appointed Barret Zoph to lead its efforts to sell its AI to enterprises, according to reporting from The Information, citing an internal OpenAI memo. TechCrunch reached out to OpenAI for confirmation and more information. Zoph returned to OpenAI last week after leaving Thinking Machine Labs, former OpenAI co-founder Mira Murati's AI startup where Zoph had served as a co-founder and chief technology officer since October 2024. The exact circumstances of his departure aren't clear, with rumors swirling about whether Zoph and a few other former OpenAI employees were fired or left on their own accord, possibly with plans to return to OpenAI all along. Zoph was previously the vice president of post-training inference at OpenAI from September 2022 to October 2024. He's stepping into a very different position and will likely play an important role at the company as it looks to grow its enterprise business -- an area where it is losing ground to competitors. OpenAI launched its enterprise-focused ChatGPT Enterprise product in 2023 more than a year before Anthropic, and multiple years before Google, launched their enterprise offerings. The company claims the product has more than 5 million business users and counts companies including SoftBank, Target and Loewe's as customers. But its market share is falling while its rivals are climbing. Anthropic holds a dominant lead over its AI rivals when it comes to enterprise large language model usage. The AI research lab holds a 40% market share, according to a December report from VC firm Menlo Ventures (which, it should be noted, has invested aggressively in Anthropic). In July, the startup's market share was estimated to be 32%. Google's Gemini adoption has been steadier, says Menlo Ventures. The company released its enterprise product last fall and has seen its enterprise LLM usage market share largely stay the same, grow from 20% in July to 21% at the end of the year. OpenAI on the other hand has seen its usage market share drop from 50% in 2023 to 27% at the end of 2025 -- a trend that appears to concern the company. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed concern that Google Gemini's growth was starting to encroach on OpenAI in an internal memo a few months ago. Enterprise growth is an area of focus for the company in 2026, OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar wrote in a blog post on Sunday. The company has since announced an expanded multi-year partnership with ServiceNow that will give ServiceNow customers access to OpenAI models.

Barret Zoph to lead OpenAI's aggressive commercial pivot

OpenAI has reorganized its leadership, appointing Barret Zoph to head its enterprise artificial intelligence sales efforts in 2026, according to an internal company memo cited by The Information. This strategic shift aims to address declining market share in the enterprise sector. Zoph returned to OpenAI last week after co-founding and serving as Chief Technology Officer at Thinking Machine Labs since October 2024. He previously held the position of Vice President of Post-Training Inference at OpenAI from September 2022 to October 2024. OpenAI introduced its ChatGPT Enterprise product in 2023, preceding Anthropic and Google's enterprise offerings. The company reports over 5 million business users for the product, with SoftBank, Target, and Lowe's among its clientele. Despite its early market entry, OpenAI's enterprise large language model usage market share decreased from 50% in 2023 to 27% at the end of 2025. In contrast, Anthropic's market share grew from an estimated 32% in July to 40% in December, according to a December report from VC firm Menlo Ventures. Google's Gemini enterprise product, launched last fall, maintained stable market share, increasing from 20% in July to 21% by year-end, Menlo Ventures reported. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously voiced concerns regarding Gemini's growth encroaching on OpenAI's position in an internal memo. OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar highlighted enterprise growth as a company focus for 2026 in a recent blog post. The company has also announced an expanded multi-year partnership with ServiceNow, providing ServiceNow customers access to OpenAI models.