Elon Musk Taps Ex-Morgan Stanley Banker Anthony Armstrong As Finance Chief For xAI, X - Report

The appointment comes as xAI pushes to rival OpenAI and Google amid top-level management churn.

Elon Musk has appointed former Morgan Stanley banker Anthony Armstrong as the chief financial officer of his artificial intelligence firm, xAI, Financial Times reported late Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Armstrong has been working with xAI for several weeks and was formally appointed as CFO in recent days, according to the report. The executive is a key aide of Musk, having advised him on the Twitter takeover and later during his time at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Armstrong will helm finance at both xAI and the social media service X, according to the newspaper. Mahmoud Reza Banki, X's CFO and chief strategy officer, is leaving, according to unnamed sources cited by FT.

The appointment comes at a time of significant management churn at xAI. Its CEO, Linda Yaccarino, resigned in July, and general counsel Robert Keele and the previous CFO, Mike Liberatore, left over the summer.

xAI, which houses the X social media platform and the company's AI offerings, including Grok, is Musk's vehicle for AI development.

The billionaire has doubled down on his bet on AI, racing to build sophisticated models to compete with those from OpenAI and Google and pouring billions into AI infrastructure.

xAI, which counts Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital among its investors, is reportedly in talks to raise $10 billion at a valuation of $200 billion. Musk has, however, denied those reports.

Musk merged X and xAI in March, valuing the combined group at $113 billion.

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