The appointment of Barret Zoph to oversee the enterprise sales efforts was reported by The Information, referencing an internal OpenAI memo.
OpenAI was contacted by TechCrunch for confirmation and further details.
Zoph rejoined OpenAI after departing from Thinking Machine Labs, where he held the positions of co-founder and chief technology officer under former OpenAI co-founder Mira Murati since October 2024.
Speculations are circulating about the circumstances of his departure, with rumors suggesting that Zoph and some other former OpenAI employees either left voluntarily or were let go, possibly with intentions to return to OpenAI eventually.
In his previous role at OpenAI as the vice president of post-training inference, Zoph is now taking on a new and crucial role within the company to boost its enterprise business, an area where it is trailing behind its competitors.
OpenAI introduced its ChatGPT Enterprise product in 2023, well ahead of Anthropic and Google, attracting over 5 million business users and securing clients such as SoftBank, Target, and Lowe’s.
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Despite its early success, OpenAI’s market share is diminishing while its competitors are gaining ground.
Anthropic leads the market with a 40% share in enterprise large language model usage, according to a report by VC firm Menlo Ventures, which has a vested interest in Anthropic. Google’s Gemini has also been steadily growing, maintaining a 21% market share as of the end of the year.
In contrast, OpenAI’s market share has dropped from 50% in 2023 to 27% by the end of 2025, prompting concerns within the company. CEO Sam Altman raised alarms about Google Gemini’s encroaching growth in a recent internal memo.
With a focus on enterprise growth in 2026, OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar, emphasized the company’s commitment to expanding its reach in the business sector.
An extended collaboration with ServiceNow was announced, allowing ServiceNow customers to access OpenAI models for enhanced AI outcomes.
