Success·OpenAIOpenAI may soon be the world’s most valuable private company—but CEO Sam Altman won’t fit much, with no equity and just a $76,001 salaryBy Emma BurleighBy Emma BurleighReporter, SuccessEmma BurleighReporter, SuccessEmma Burleigh is a reporter at Fortune, covering success, careers, entrepreneurship, and personal finance.
Before joining the Success desk, she co-authored Fortune’s CHRO Daily , extensively covering the workplace and the future of jobs.
Emma has also written for publications including the Observer and The China ject, publishing long-form stories on culture, entertainment, and geo.
She has a joint-master’s degree from New York University in Global Journalism and East Asian Studies.SEE FULL BIO OpenAI CEO Sam didn’t build his fortune off his modest CEO salary—the titan’s $1.9 billion net worth is thanks to early investments in Uber, Airbnb, Reddit and more.Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty ImagesOpenAI 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 s 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 wars this decade, with the market expected to be worth $4.8 trillion by 2033.
And OpenAI has been a frontrunner 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 s that would push its valuation to $500 billion—up from its $300 billion appraisal in March after a $40 billion infusion from backers Microsoft and SoftBank.
That leap would see OpenAI overtake Elon Musk’s SpaceX which currently tops all other at $350 billion.
However, even if OpenAI pulls off the envy-worthy valuation, you bably 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 company.
The billionaire 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 Crunch that the 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 the bacon. Fortune reached out to OpenAI for .
Atlman 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 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 nu fusion startup where he poured in a $375 million personal investment and currently sits as chairman.
He’s supported bio company Retro Biosciences with a $180 million investment, and also participated in funding rounds for Musk’s brain-computer science company Neuralink.
Aside from the sciences, Altman was also an early backer of ductivity management platform Asana and Reddit, serving as a board member of the platform 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—and now, the is worth $194 billion.
Altman also financially supported creator monetization platform Patreon, even putting his money towards other AI-focused companies including $35 billion titan Humane.
After nearly a decade of steering Y Combinator from 2011 to 2019, Altman got first hand insight into what gets funded, what crashes out, and what can actually scale.
The millennial billionaire’s diverse portfolio of investments span transformational nology, nu energy, fin, 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. Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world.
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