The future of iconic startup OpenAI was in jeopardy Monday, as the vast majority of employees threatened to quit if the board that fired its CEO, Sam Altman, didn’t resign itself and restore him to power.

At the same time, it seemed like a demand that might have arrived too late. Microsoft said late Sunday that it was hiring Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president who resigned in protest after Altman was ousted, and was opening its doors to more joining from the company behind viral chatbot ChatGPT.