OpenAI may soon be the world’s most valuable private company—but CEO Sam Altman won’t profit much, with no equity and just a $76,001 salary

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.

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 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 sits 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 science company Neuralink. 

Aside from the sciences, Altman was also an early backer of productivity 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 business 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 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.