OpenAI pivots: M&A ramp, Sora killed
OpenAI has accelerated acquisitions in Q1 2026 and shut down Sora, its AI video app, citing compute constraints — a sign the lab is prioritizing core products over experimental apps. The nonprofit arm also named leaders and plans to spend $1 billion on AI-related causes this year, highlighting a strategic split between product focus and philanthropic commitments (news.crunchbase.com) (businessinsider.com) (bloomberg.com).
Crunchbase records show OpenAI has completed six acquisitions so far in 2026 and 17 acquisitions across the past three years, with its most recent purchase announced March 19 for Astral. (news.crunchbase.com) OpenAI bought Promptfoo on March 9 to add open‑source testing and security tooling for AI agents. (techcrunch.com) The lab acquired Torch Health in January — a deal reported at roughly $60 million — and earlier disclosed paying $6.5 billion for Io in May 2025. (www.cnbc.com) (cnbc.com) (news.crunchbase.com) Crunchbase notes OpenAI closed a $110 billion private financing round in late February 2026 that left the company with an $840 billion post‑money valuation, a funding cushion that underpins continued deal‑making despite reported cash‑flow pressure. (news.crunchbase.com) Sora’s public timeline: OpenAI first made Sora accessible via ChatGPT in December 2024, rolled out a standalone Sora 2 app on Sept. 30, 2025, and pushed an in‑app editor update on March 19, 2026. (openai.com) (www.visla.us) (visla.us) OpenAI posted “We’re saying goodbye to Sora” on Sora’s X account on March 24 and said the Sora research team will refocus on world‑simulation work to advance robotics, while multiple outlets report Disney is winding down the planned $1 billion investment and licensing agreement tied to Sora. (engadget.com) (deadline.com) The OpenAI Foundation’s public update says the Foundation will deploy at least $1 billion over the next year across four program areas — life sciences and curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience, and community programs — and described the $1B as an initial ramp toward previously announced larger commitments. (openai.com) Bloomberg and other outlets report the Foundation’s leadership slate includes co‑founder Wojciech Zaremba as head of AI resilience and Jacob Trefethen to lead life‑sciences efforts, signaling specific internal owners for the Foundation’s biosecurity and disease‑research priorities. (bloomberg.com)
