Technology
xAI's Chief Financial Officer Anthony Armstrong has departed, becoming one of the latest in a wave of senior management exits at the company. Armstrong assumed the role in October last year, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley. His departure comes about two months after SpaceX acquired xAI, as SpaceX prepares for an IPO.
OneStream has become a private company again after completing its $6.4 billion privatization deal with Hg, with its Class A common stock ceasing to trade on Nasdaq and the leadership team unchanged. Founder and CEO Tom Shea stated that with Hg's partnership, the company will accelerate innovation and expand its global scale.
Oracle announced on Monday that Hilary Maxson, former CFO of Schneider Electric, has officially taken over as the company's chief financial officer, succeeding Doug Kehring. Maxson will lead financial operations to support the company's aggressive expansion in AI and data centers. Her compensation package includes a base salary of $950,000, a target performance bonus of $2.5 million, and $26 million in equity grants.
U.S. layoffs in March rose 25% month-over-month, with AI becoming the largest single cause for the first time; the technology sector led with 18,720 layoffs, and developments at companies such as Dell, Oracle, and Meta are drawing attention.
Tom Steer, the new CFO of London-based cross-border payment company Sokin, said in an interview that there are "enormous opportunities" in the North American market. The company plans to increase investment in North America, leveraging the Series B funding completed in December last year (valued at $300 million) and the $100 million debt financing obtained in January this year, while advancing emerging payment solutions like stablecoins. Steer joined Sokin in October last year, having previously worked at fintech investment bank FT Partners.
Employee experience platform Culture Amp released research stating that 96% of executives expect AI to boost productivity, but 77% of employees report that AI tools have increased their workload. The study shows that teams are forced to 'do more with less,' and key employee experience metrics decline. Additionally, Culture Amp points out that treating employee engagement and performance as an either-or choice may miss out on shareholder value.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a CNBC interview that the company is close to completing a $120 billion funding round, $10 billion more than the $110 billion announced in February. The round has attracted new investors such as T. Rowe Price and D.E. Shaw Ventures. Meanwhile, reports about the company preparing for an IPO continue to heat up.
The latest working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows that surveyed CFOs expect AI to have a limited impact on overall headcount this year, but routine clerical positions will decrease by 2% and the share of technical roles will rise over the next three years. The survey also found that the primary motivation for corporate investment in AI is not cost reduction, but rather improving productivity.
A report released Tuesday by finance software provider Datarails found that nearly one-third of corporate finance job postings explicitly mention artificial intelligence or machine learning skills, up from one-quarter a year ago. The study analyzed 5,000 finance job postings published between January 2025 and January 2026, covering roles such as CFO, FP&A, finance director, and accountant.
Mastercard announced it will launch a "virtual CFO" tool within the year as the first capability in its "virtual executive team" series, targeting small businesses without a dedicated CFO. The tool aims to provide core functions such as cash flow forecasting and payment insights through AI agents, and will be embedded in partner ecosystems including financial institutions and accounting platforms. Mark Barnett, Mastercard's global head of small and medium enterprises, emphasized that the tool enhances rather than replaces human leadership, and plans to ensure insight accuracy through phased deployment and a combination of user data and network intelligence.