• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Reason why Sam Altman only makes $76,000 a year despite being CEO of $157,000,000,000 company

Home> News> Tech News

Published 16:25 11 Feb 2025 GMT

Reason why Sam Altman only makes $76,000 a year despite being CEO of $157,000,000,000 company

Turns out love is worth more than money

Harry Boulton

Harry Boulton

You might be shocked to find out that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman only makes around $76,000 a year from his job despite being one of the most important people in the tech world - but there's a good reason for it.

Much of the tech world is linked to extraordinary amounts of money, whether that be the multi-trillion dollar values of key companies, the big funding that certain organizations get from the government, or the ballooning net worth of major names like Elon Musk.

Sam Altman, however, has somewhat of a different approach, as reports from Bloomberg indicate that he takes a salary of just $76,001 from his role as CEO of OpenAI, and also holds absolutely zero equity in the company.

Altman takes just $76,001 from OpenAI with no equity in the company (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
Altman takes just $76,001 from OpenAI with no equity in the company (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

Advert

The latter is perhaps the most major part, as that's where most big tech CEOs earn their fortunes.

As per CNBC Make It, Jeff Bezos has only ever taken a similarly 'small' salary of $81,840 for decades now, but has become the second richest man in the world due to the large portion of Amazon equity he owns.

Some aren't quite as 'selfless' when it comes to salary as Altman or Bezos though, as Elon Musk for example was recently denied a $56 billion salary package for his role at Tesla, but I guess you don't get to be the richest person on the planet in any other way.

What's significant about Altman's refusal to take equity from OpenAI though is that even just 1% of the company would net him a net worth increase of around $34 billion, as recent reports suggest that the ChatGPT creator is valued at around $340,000,000,000.

Advert

That 1% stake alone would make him instantly the 50th richest person in the world, and you'd have to imagine that he'd have a larger portion of the company than that, considering he was one of it's founders and current CEO.

He refused to take any stake due to the non-profit nature of the company though, which required a majority disinterested board. He has still turned down any future equity though despite the company's implementation of a for-profit arm, which has recently earned its own controversy after Musk sued OpenAI.

Altman worries not about money when it comes to OpenAI, describing it as a 'childhood dream' (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Altman worries not about money when it comes to OpenAI, describing it as a 'childhood dream' (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Altman revealed that it's not about the money when it comes to his role at OpenAI, and instead he's simply happy to fulfil a "childhood dream job" where he gets to "sit in the room with the smartest researchers in the world and go on this crazy adventure."

Advert

It would be remiss to act like he's not already stacked with cash though, as he earned more than enough through his startup accelerator company Y Combinator, and continues to bank money through his investments in major companies like Reddit and Stripe, alongside venture capital funds like Hydrazine Capital and Apollo Projects.

Bloomberg estimates that Altman's net worth was around $2 billion in early 2024, but he could easily be among the richest if he took similar measures to almost all of his contemporaries in the world of tech.

Featured Image Credit: JOEL SAGET / Contributor / Getty
ChatGPT
AI
Money

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman shares eerie reality of what actually happens when you search with AI
  • Sam Altman gives hilarious four-word response when asked what his relationship is like with Elon Musk
  • OpenAI CEO Sam Altman makes surprising 4th July statement claiming he's 'politically homeless'
  • Sam Altman could be hitting Google with the biggest threat it's faced in a decade

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    Officials confirm plans to rebuild world's largest plane set to cost $3,000,000,000

    The aircraft was destroyed when Russia invaded Ukraine

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Stunning 2019 Bitcoin graph shows how much money it would have made you compared to normal stocks and shares

    A $1,000 investment in Bitcoin made in 2019 has outperformed every major traditional asset

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    This $70,000,000,000 Trump move just propelled AI stocks to historic highs

    The AI sector just got its biggest boost yet from the Trump administration

    News
  • 5 hours ago

    Tesla slammed after launching 'dystopian' diner in the middle of Hollywood

    Elon Musk has described the diner as 'one of the coolest spots in LA'

    News