Save article Elon Musk at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, September 2025. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr (CC BY-SA 4.0) Ross Nordeen, Musk’s apparent ‘right-hand operator’, is reportedly the last to leave. xAI reportedly lost its 11th co-founder, leaving Elon Musk as the only member of the 12-person founding team still left in the company. Ross Nordeen was the last to leave Musk, making the move just days after Manuel Kroiss reportedly told people he is leaving the company. Neither the exiting co-founders, nor xAI have made a statement regarding the departures. However, Nordeen lost the badge on X that identifies him as an xAI employee. Kroiss and Nordeen reported directly to Musk, according to the Business Insider, while Nordeen, who followed Musk from Tesla, served as his “right-hand operator”. Nordeen was also reportedly one of the few who helped coordinate large-scale layoffs at X after Musk took over the company in 2022. Earlier this month, Zihang Dai reportedly left xAI, while Guodong Zhang posted on X announcing his departure. The latest marks the last of the co-founder exodus from xAI, whose parent company SpaceX is preparing for a historic initial public offering (IPO) which could value the tech juggernaut at a market cap of around $1.75trn.