- OpenAI is on the brink of becoming the world’s most valuable private company, anticipated to reach a $500 billion valuation after a $6 billion planned shares sale. But its cofounder and CEO, Sam Altman, won’t be shooting up the billionaire list for the major accomplishment—he currently holds zero equity in the AI company, earning an annual salary of $76,001. Instead, the bulk of his $1.9 billion fortune comes from his early investments in industry titans, including Reddit, Uber, Asana, and Airbnb.
The AI race is one of the hottest business wars this decade, with the market expected to be worth $4.8 trillion by 2033. And OpenAI has been a front-runner in the fierce battle, with ChatGPT amassing a staggering 800 million active users, according to CEO Sam Altman.
It’s now on the cusp of becoming the world’s most valuable company, with talks to sell $6 billion in shares that would push its valuation to $500 billion—up from its $300 billion appraisal in March after a $40 billion infusion from backers like Microsoft and SoftBank. That leap would see OpenAI overtake Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which currently tops all other private companies at $350 billion.
However, even if OpenAI pulls off the envy-worthy valuation, you probably won’t catch Altman shooting up the billionaires list off the back of it. The CEO currently earns a salary of $76,001, up slightly from $73,546 in 2022, for leading the pioneering tech company. The billionaire tech boss said he makes “whatever the minimum for health insurance is,” according to the New York Times—but more surprisingly, owns zero equity in OpenAI.
At one point he owned a “quite insignificant” indirect stake in the company through a Sequoia-backed VC fund associated with Y Combinator. But an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch that the share was reportedly less than a fraction of a percent, and has already been sold for an undisclosed amount.
Altman’s lack of equity is quite unusual; most CEOs have some skin in the game, standing to make big wins or crushing losses depending on how they lead their companies. But he has other tricks up his sleeve to bring home the bacon.
Fortune reached out to OpenAI for comment.
Altman is a billionaire with a $76,001 salary. Here’s how he makes his fortune
Just because Altman doesn’t own a part of OpenAI, doesn’t mean he’s living paycheck-to-paycheck on his modest CEO salary. The 40-year-old tech entrepreneur currently boasts a net worth of $1.9 billion—starkly lower than the CEO of the company he’s trying to outpace, as Musk sits on a $410 billion fortune. But he’s still amassed a sizable nest egg thanks to his diverse investments across several industries.
Altman is a major backer of Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion startup where he poured in a $375 million personal investment and currently serves as chairman. He’s supported biotech company Retro Biosciences with a $180 million investment, and also participated in funding rounds for Musk’s brain-computer interface maker Neuralink.
Aside from these science- and tech-focused firms, Altman was also an early backer of productivity management platform Asana and Reddit, serving as a board member of the latter until 2022. His stake in Reddit was estimated to be worth $600 million after the platform’s IPO.
The OpenAI CEO also made a lucky early infusion of $100,000 in Airbnb back in 2008 when the company was in its short-term-rental infancy. Plus, there was his early $100,000 investment in Uber—which today is worth $194 billion.
Altman also financially supported creator monetization platform Patreon, even putting his money toward other AI-focused companies including $35 billion titan Humane.
After nearly a decade of steering Y Combinator from 2011 to 2019, Altman got firsthand insight into what gets funded, what crashes out, and what can actually scale. The millennial billionaire’s diverse portfolio of investments spans transformational technology, nuclear energy, fintech, and social platforms. All the holdings he controlled up to early 2024 were estimated to be worth at least $2.8 billion, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. The OpenAI CEO said his venture funds had invested in more than 400 companies, as of last year.