Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
commercialism
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
fundraise
widget
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
surety
societal
quad
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
More from TechCrunch
event
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sit down before Congress in 2023 to prove about the danger of AI . He assure American lawmakers at the time thathe owns no fairness in OpenAI , something he ’s said many times , claiming he just runs the company because he loves it .
However , Altman late said he actually did have some equity in OpenAI through a Sequoia fund at one point , a stake he has since sell . Inan interview with Bari Weissreleased Thursday , Altman was asked what kind of stake he might have if OpenAI successfully converts into a for - earnings company .
Here ’s what the OpenAI CEO said :
I have a tiny paring of fairness from an erstwhile YC fund — I used to have some via a Sequoia fund but that one turned out to be promiscuous to care sell and not keep the perspective in — so I have a very small amount that ’s quite unimportant to me . In full term of what I will or wo n’t have going forward , I do n’t screw . There ’s no current programme or promise for me to get anything .
While Altman ’s investment through Y Combinator was known , his investiture through Sequoia was not . OpenAI discloses Altman ’s indirect investing in his own fellowship through YCon its site . The startup says this “ small investment ” is the CEO ’s “ only interest ” in the company and was made before he worked full prison term at OpenAI .
Sequoia first invested in OpenAI in 2021 , according toits site , two yr after Altman became the full - time CEO of OpenAI . At that meter , OpenAI was worth approximately $ 14 billion , a valuation that ’s irrupt to$157 billion after the inauguration ’s latest support around in the first place this year — a round Sequoia enter in as well .
While Sequoia ’s bet in OpenAI from 2021 is deserving a lot more now , there are several terra incognita about Altman ’s investment funds through the speculation business firm . speculation house like Sequoia are n’t ask to disclose their circumscribed partner investor . It ’s unreadable when Altman sold the stake and for how much .
An OpenAI spokesperson substantiate Altman ’s prior photo in a affirmation to TechCrunch , but did not offer specifics on these aspects .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
“ Sam has never had any lineal possession in OpenAI . He adjudge a negligible stake , less than a fraction of a percent , in a general Sequoia fund with a broad portfolio , which he later on acquire included minimal exposure to OpenAI , ” said OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood in a statement to TechCrunch . “ Sam no longer has any ongoing commitment to the investment trust . ”
Most CEOs do have fairness in the companionship they run . The biggest percentage of a chief executive officer ’s pay if they are race a public society is fairness . And of class , startup founder commence their journey owning all of the fairness in their companies , until they grant share to employees and betray off lump to investor . But OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit , has a foreign bodily structure , and Altman has repeatedly said he does n’t own any . Just this month , Altman said he had no equity in OpenAI duringThe New York Times ’ DealBook Summit .
During a May interview with theAll In podcast , the OpenAI CEO order he originally settle to not take equity in the company because of its collective structure . According to itscharter , OpenAI ’s nonprofit board is call for to be filled with a bulk of main managing director , think they ca n’t have fairness in the society . Altman says this led him to not take any equity , in parliamentary procedure to be one of those self-governing manager . However , this has do many masses to question the chief operating officer ’s motives at the companionship , Altman said , which is likely one understanding the fellowship is shifting aside from this construction .
Altman ’s stake in OpenAI has also become more and more relevant as the companyattempts to transition its for - profit leg , which is currently controlled by the nonprofit board , into an main ship’s company . OpenAI is also reportedly contemplatinggranting the chief executive officer some equityin this transition , though the company and Altman have traverse that there are link architectural plan .
OpenAI ’s for - profit transition iscurrently at risk of being held up by Elon Musk ’s lawsuitagainst the inauguration . At its gist , Musk ’s cause claims that OpenAI is desert its original non-profit-making commission to make the fruit of its AI enquiry available to all . However , OpenAI recently claimed thatMusk wanted to commute the inauguration into a for - profitfrom the start .
At one gunpoint in Altman ’s interview with Weiss , the OpenAI CEO called Elon Musk a “ rowdy ” who “ clearly like to get in fights . ” At another point , Altman trounce out at Meta for necessitate California ’s attorney full general to block OpenAI ’s for - profit modulation .
“ I do n’t make love why Meta sent that letter , but I do eff they know that ’s not how it works . I make love that part is in tough religion , ” said Altman . “ you’re able to imagine lots of other rationality that Meta might have sent this letter . you could imagine they require to curry favor with Elon , you could imagine that they felt like it would facilitate them compete with us . ”
