Elon Musk has initiated a new round of leadership changes and job cuts at xAI as the startup prepares for a potential initial public offering.
According to reports, several employees were dismissed following an internal review led by executives brought in from SpaceX and Tesla. The restructuring focused on xAI’s coding division, which Musk reportedly viewed as underperforming.
Co-founder Guodong Zhang confirmed he was leaving the company after being removed from leadership of the Imagine team, while another co-founder, Zihang Dai, departed earlier in the week. The exits leave only two of the original twelve co-founders still at the company founded in 2023.
The shakeup comes after SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock deal valuing the combined entity at roughly $1.25 trillion. Musk has been tightening operations across the company while recruiting new engineering talent, including hires from AI coding startup Cursor, as xAI continues expanding its model and software development efforts.
