OpenAI CEO Sam Altman leads a $157 billion company. But his compensation from the A.I. giant is anything but. Altman was paid a meager $76,001 in 2023, according to a recently released tax filing that was first reported by Bloomberg. This means the OpenAI CEO only received around a 3 percent pay rise from 2022, when he was paid $73,546. But don’t worry about Altman’s financial standing—despite his modest salary (and he claims he owns no equity in OpenAI), Altman has a net worth that stretches into the billions thanks to a large network of investments.
The former president of the startup incubator Y Combinator, Altman has spent years in the worlds of startups and venture capital. His fortune was valued at more than $2 billion as of March by Bloomberg, including $1.2 billion worth of investments contained across venture capital funds linked to the name Hydrazine Capital and $434 million in funds at Apollo Projects, which invests in bleeding-edge innovation projects.
Altman owns equity in a variety of emerging and established tech companies. These include a $180 million investment made in 2022 in the longevity-focused Retro Sciences and a $375 million investment in the nuclear fusion startup Helion in 2021. Much of the billionaire’s wealth also comes from an early stake in the payments company Stripe that now reportedly totals at less than 2 percent. And Altman notably owns around 12.2 million shares of Reddit (RDDT), which gives him a roughly $1.8 billion stake.
Altman’s salary from OpenAI is just large enough to cover “health insurance,” he told a senate judiciary subcommittee last May. Despite recent reports suggesting that Altman could receive a 7 percent stake in OpenAI as the company looks to transition into a for-profit corporation, the CEO reportedly shut down these rumors during a September all-hands meeting.
While Altman’s salary is modest, other OpenAI employees are reaping the rewards of their company’s success. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s former chief scientist who stepped away from the company earlier this year, received $322,201 in compensation last year, according to OpenAI’s tax filing.
Sutskever notably played a key role in Altman’s brief ousting as CEO last November, which saw Emmett Shear, the former head of Twitch, act as interim CEO for approximately three days before Altman was reinstated. Shear received a total of $3,720 for his short-lived leadership tenure.
Other highly paid OpenAI officers in 2023 included Chris Clark, who received $347,354 in his role as secretary and treasurer. Clark also resigned from OpenAI earlier this year. Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president who is currently on sabbatical through the end of 2024, received a similarly conservative pay to Altman’s with $85,184 in compensation in 2023. OpenAI’s tax filing doesn’t include figures about stock-based compensation.
Despite Altman unremarkable salary, OpenAI employee compensations are generally high—Elon Musk, a co-founder, has even described them as “lavish” in legal filings against the A.I. company. Higher-range salaries for software engineers can reach more than $1 million, according to data from Levels.fyi, which reports the company’s median yearly compensation at $534,197.
