From the Editor

Last Updated Mar 10, 2026, 1:01am EDT

  • Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI and a prolific venture investor.
  • In 2005, he dropped out of Stanford to found social mapping company Loopt, which sold in 2012 for $43 million; he used proceeds to seed his own venture fund.
  • Around that time, Altman became a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator, then served as YC's president from 2014 to 2019.
  • That year, Altman left YC to become CEO of OpenAI, now worth some $500 billion, although he was briefly fired and rehired in 2023.
  • He has no equity in OpenAI, and instead owes his wealth to his investments, including stakes in Stripe, Reddit and nuclear fusion firm Helion.
Wealth History
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Personal Stats
Age
41
Source of Wealth
Investments, Self Made
Residence
San Francisco, California
Citizenship
United States
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