What is Sam Altman's Net Worth?
Sam Altman is an accomplished entrepreneur, programmer, investor, and blogger with a net worth of $1.5 billion. He is widely recognized as the former president/CEO of the artificial intelligence research lab OpenAI and the technology startup accelerator Y Combinator.
Altman is a prominent angel investor, having invested in influential companies like Reddit, Asana, Zenefits, Instacart, Soylent, and Airbnb. Notably, Reddit's February 2024 pre-IPO filing revealed that Sam owns 8.7% of the company.
In March 2023, it was revealed that Altman did not take any equity in OpenAI, meaning he did not benefit significantly from the company's soaring private valuation. His base salary as CEO was $65,000 per year. In November 2023, Altman was briefly fired from OpenAI but was reinstated as CEO after a few days of boardroom turmoil.
Early Life and Education
Born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois, Sam Altman was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended John Burroughs School in Ladue. He later enrolled at Stanford University to study computer science but dropped out in 2005.
Career Beginnings
In 2005, at just 19 years old, Altman co-founded Loopt and served as its CEO. The company offered a geo-social networking mobile app allowing users to share their locations selectively. Although Altman raised over $30 million in venture capital, Loopt was shut down in 2012 and acquired by Green Dot Corporation.
Y Combinator
Altman joined Y Combinator as a part-time partner in 2011. The startup accelerator has helped launch over 3,000 companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox, DoorDash, Reddit, and Twitch. In 2014, Altman became its president, succeeding Paul Graham. His investments included his company Loopt and a new proposal offering startups $150,000 for 7% equity.
In 2015, Altman announced YC Continuity, a $700 million growth-stage equity fund, and Y Combinator Research, a non-profit lab focused on researching education, basic income, urban development, and future computing. In 2016, he became the president of YC Group, encompassing Y Combinator and its entities. He transitioned to the position of chairman in 2019 to focus on OpenAI, handing over the CEO role to Geoff Ralston.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
OpenAI
In December 2015, Altman and a group of investors including Elon Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, pledging over $1 billion. OpenAI, comprising the for-profit OpenAI LP and the non-profit OpenAI Inc., aims to promote and develop friendly AI beneficial to humanity. Headquartered in San Francisco's Mission District, Altman serves as its CEO.
OpenAI has released several notable products and applications. In 2016, the company launched Gym, a public beta platform for reinforcement learning research, and Universe, a software platform to train and measure AI's intelligence across various websites, games, and applications. In 2020, OpenAI introduced GPT-3, a language model that generates human-like text by learning from trillions of words across the Internet and translating between languages.
On January 10, 2023, OpenAI secured funding from Microsoft, valuing the company at $29 billion. Microsoft plans to integrate future versions of GPT into its Bing search engine. As stated earlier, Altman did not take equity in OpenAI before becoming CEO. Altman was briefly fired on November 17, 2023, but was reinstated as CEO a few days later.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Angel Investing
Altman is a significant angel investor in companies like Airbnb, Reddit, Asana, Pinterest, Teespring, Instacart, Vicarious, Soylent, Verbling, and Stripe. In 2009, he made his first major investment, purchasing a 2% stake in Stripe for $15,000. By mid-2024, Stripe's valuation reached $65 billion, although Altman's stake had significantly diluted.
Reddit Stake
In February 2024, Reddit filed an S-1 document for its impending IPO, revealing that Altman owns 8.7% of the company, more than double the stake of its CEO Steve Huffman.
Other Endeavors
Altman also chairs the board for nuclear energy companies Oklo and Helion, emphasizing nuclear energy's critical role in technological advancement.
On the philanthropic side, Altman supported Project Covalence, aiding researchers in rapid clinical COVID-19 trials with TrialSpark. In 2020, he donated $250,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, backing Joe Biden's presidential campaign.
Personal Life
Altman, who is gay, married Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin in 2024. Although he did not complete his undergraduate studies at Stanford, he received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo in 2017.
Real Estate & Car Collection
Altman owns approximately $100 million worth of real estate, primarily on the West Coast of the U.S. (including Hawaii). Between 2020 and 2022, he acquired $85 million worth of properties:
- In March 2020, he bought a $27 million mansion in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, featuring a separate wellness center with an infinity pool.
- In December 2020, he purchased a 950-acre estate in Napa, California, for $15.7 million, which includes five residences and two private lakes.
- In July 2021, he acquired a $43 million, 12-bedroom oceanfront estate on Hawaii's Big Island.
Altman is also a car enthusiast, owning one of the 2,450 Tesla Roadsters produced, a 2013 Model S, and at least two McLarens, one valued at over $15 million.
