> the company is basically just an assemblage of <people> and <capital>. They can replace the CEO if they want, but all the value of the company can walk away if they don't like it.
OpenAI is substantially different from other companies in that the capital part is almost totally ephemeral (the Azure credits). Amazon employees can’t just walk across the street and start a new company because they’d be leaving all the warehouses and trucks behind.
to put a yet finer point on it, Microsoft owns the infrastructure, and can afford to throw vast sums of money at the researchers to get them hired, if needed, assuming the GOOG or other big players don't get at them first.
Not really. For example, Google Search's value is mainly in the historical data it has amassed; its algorithms and infrastructure can be replicated elsewhere. Or, WhatsApp's value is in the network effects; a chat app infra and people can be replaced.
