This sounds convincing, especially considering this story where Sam Altman was involved in a "long con" to seize board control of Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/comment/c...).

I think Sam may have been angling to get control of the board for a long time, perhaps years, manipulating the board departures and signing deals with Microsoft. The board finally realized this when it was 3 v 3 (or perhaps 2 v 3 with 1 neutral). But Sam was still working on more funding deals and getting employee loyalty, and the board knew it was only a matter of time until he could force their hand.