Mira Murati Declines Meta’s $1B Offer; Mark Zuckerberg Launches Aggressive Hiring Blitz

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly attempted to acquire Thinking Machines Lab, a company founded by Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, with a massive $1 billion offer. However, Murati chose to retain control of her company and turned the offer down.

Following the rejection, Zuckerberg is said to have launched a calculated recruitment drive, targeting key employees from Thinking Machines. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, Meta approached over a dozen of the company’s 50 employees in an effort to lure them into switching teams. Among the primary targets was Andrew Tulloch, a top researcher and co-founder of Thinking Machines.

To win over Tulloch, Zuckerberg reportedly offered a six-year compensation package potentially worth $1.5 billion, including performance bonuses and Meta stock incentives. Despite the staggering amount, Tulloch also declined the proposal.

This bold hiring strategy isn’t limited to Thinking Machines. Meta has been actively recruiting talent from OpenAI and affiliated startups like Dario Amodei’s Anthropic. Sources suggest Meta has already approached over 100 OpenAI alumni and successfully hired at least 10 of them.

To explore further, read the full report at Times of India.