Few people knew Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, before ChatGPT became a worldwide sensation in 2022. However, when the AI tool gained popularity, so did the company behind it and its CEO was in the limelight. Reports about who Altman is, what he did before OpenAI, his brief alliance with Elon Musk, etc surfaced. However, there is one thing that stayed away from news headlines until now - that Altman holds more shares in Reddit than its CEO Steve Huffman. And since Reddit is now going public, the OpenAI CEO is probably going to get millions out of it.
Altman stands to make millions following Reddit's public debut, given his strategic investments in the platform dating back to 2014. The OpenAI CEO, holding 9.2 percent of voting power, has a significant stake ahead of Reddit's initial public offering, as disclosed in the company's prospectus.
According to a report in The Verge, Altman led Reddit's $50 million Series B funding round in 2014, expressing his appreciation for the platform in a blog post. Over the years, he continued supporting Reddit, investing $50 million in the first half of 2021 and an additional $10 million later that year, with his initial investment showing a 45% increase in value. Hence, we can say that he is a pretty big deal at Reddit as he is also the third-largest investor in the company. And as Reddit prepares for its IPO, Altman's investments position him favorably, particularly as the company plans to offer shares to its users, known as Redditors.
Altman, known for his interest in raising funds for chip development to meet OpenAI's AI computing demand, has invested in various other startups as well, such as Asana and Instacart. Before his role at OpenAI, he served as the president of Y Combinator, providing exposure to numerous small companies.
Circling back to Reddit, Altman was also on the company's board until 2021. He then stepped down from being a board member at Reddit, probably to focus on OpenAI.
"Reddit also extends a profound thank you to Sam Altman who departed from Reddit’s Board of Directors after seven years of service," the post read. It also quoted Huffman talking about Altman's exit as a board member and saying, "Sam was an incredible board member and provided invaluable support and counsel to Reddit and myself over the years. We’re deeply grateful for the impact he made on the company."
