OpenAI founder Sam Altman has become the de-facto face of AI. Given his spot in the limelight, how much is Sam Altman’s net worth in 2024? We find out.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman is one of the figures in the tech industry right now. From his tenure as a young founder to his stint at running one of the tech industry’s most well-known startup incubators, Y Combinator, Altman has been around the block, and has the resume, and assets, to show for it.
But, given that Sam Altman appears to be the de-facto face of OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Sora, many people have the same question on their lips: Just how much is he worth, given the AI disruption the tech industry is currently going through?
What is Sam Altman’s net worth?
Sam Altman’s net worth is $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This does not include any stake in OpenAI, which has been valued at $86 billion. Altman has stated that he does not own any equity in OpenAI itself, and instead, he instead invests in other companies. Altman owns 8.7% of Reddit, alongside investments in Hydrazine Capital, and Apollo Projects, among several more.
Altman has also famously invested $180 million into Retro biosciences, who are trying to “delay death” back in 2021, alongside a fusion power startup named Helion Energy. In an interview with TechnologyReview, Altman stated: “I basically just took all my liquid net worth and put it into these two companies,”.
This investment follows Altman’s history with startup incubator Y Combinator, which gave Altman insight into prime investments in the tech industry.
Sam Altman’s older ventures: Y Combinator, Reddit & Loopt
Altman was a part of Y Combinator way back in 2005, alongside Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. During his tenure, Altman worked as a part of social media startup Loopt, which he founded in 2005. Loopt’s technology was used by the likes of Apple and Blackberry, before being purchased for $43 million in 2012.
In 2014, Altman became president of Y Combinator, made the Forbes 30-under-30 venture capital list in 2015, and had the vision to transform the way the company was originally run. But, he left his position in 2019 to take his place as the CEO of OpenAI.
Altman also enjoyed a brief stint as interim CEO of Reddit for eight days in 2014, following the resignation of previous CEO Yishan Wong. Altman commented on his time at Reddit being “sort of fun”.
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How much of OpenAI does Sam Altman own?
Sam Altman holds no equity in OpenAI. according to a testimony given to the U.S. Senate Committee in May 2023. “I’m paid enough for health insurance and have no equity in OpenAI… I’m doing this because I love it”, Altman stated.
In 2015, Sam Altman and a group of researchers founded a non-profit venture named OpenAI. One of Altman’s co-founders, Ilya Sutskever, was an understudy to Geoffrey Hinton, creator of the first neural networks, which now power almost every AI application. Big names like Elon Musk, as well as Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman were initial investors in OpenAI’s initial $1 billion seed funding round.
Musk has since sued OpenAI for shifting to a for-profit model, but emails shared by OpenAI itself show that Musk had knowledge of the change before it happened, and wanted “full control” of the company.
In 2019, OpenAI shifted to a for-profit model, after three years of having a public beta platform. The company has since retained close ties with Microsoft, and the company itself remains to be privately held, with shareholders that include Mark Zuckerberg, and other big names in the tech industry. OpenAI’s for-profit structure also has capped financial payouts to its investors.
Altman owns 75% of OpenAI’s startup fund, which has raised $175 million to offer to smaller and younger AI companies. However, Altman himself has not personally invested his own money, and will not profit directly from the startup fund itself.
Most recently, Altman was ousted as CEO, and joined Microsoft. but has since returned to his position on the board.