Instacart Promotes Insider Chris Rogers To CEO As Fidji Simo Heads To OpenAI

Instacart (CART) has named Chief Business Officer Chris Rogers its next CEO, effective Aug. 15. He will succeed Fidji Simo, who is stepping down to join OpenAI in a senior leadership role.

According to a company statement on Wednesday, Rogers will also be inducted into the board. Simo, who has been CEO of Instacart since August 2021, will remain chair of the board.

Shares of Maplebear, Instacart's parent company, rose 1.5% in extended trading on Wednesday.

Instacart also increased a previously announced share buyback plan to $1 billion from $750 million. As of March, about $218 million remained under the repurchase plan.

Rogers joined Instacart in 2019 and was promoted to CBO in 2022. Before that, he spent over a decade at Apple (AAPL), serving in multiple roles, including managing director of Apple's Canada business.

Earlier this month, Simo announced that she would join OpenAI as CEO of Applications, a newly created role in which she will report directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. She has been on the board of OpenAI since March 2024.

The quick replacement comes at a time of strength for the grocery delivery company. The company posted strong order growth for the last quarter and recently launched a standalone app for group snack ordering at parties.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was 'bearish,' down from 'neutral' a week back.

CART shares are up 13.5% year to date.

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