xAI's CFO Becomes the Latest Executive to Depart Elon Musk's AI Company

2025-09-04

The chief financial officer of xAI, Mike Liberator, has reportedly left the company, marking the latest in a series of executive departures.

The former Airbnb executive joined the company in April and left around the end of July, according to The Wall Street Journal.

During his time at xAI, he helped orchestrate a $5 billion debt financing deal, as well as an additional $5 billion in equity financing—nearly half of which came from SpaceX. He also oversaw the expansion of xAI’s data center in Memphis.

Liberator’s exit follows that of xAI’s general counsel, Robert Kihl, who left in August after just over a year in the role. Senior counsel Raghu Rao also departed around the same time as Kihl and Liberator, reports The Wall Street Journal. xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin announced his departure last month, stating his intention to start his own venture capital firm focused on AI safety research.

Former X CEO Linda Yaccarino also stepped down in July, shortly after xAI’s chatbot Grok displayed concerning behavior that was accessible via the X platform.