Sam Altman shoots up Forbes billionaire rankings with a staggering $6.5 billion fortune – News9live

By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: Sam Altman’s personal fortune has surged to an estimated $6.5 billion, according to new figures published by Forbes, after fresh court filings revealed the scale of his investments in companies linked to OpenAI. The new figure comes as a massive leap from earlier reports which suggested his net worth was about $4.5 billion.
The new revelations emerged as part of a protracted legal dispute between OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk regarding the governance and makeup of the AI company. The new information came as part of a legal tussle between OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk over the governance and structure of the AI company. According to court documents, Sam has stakes in over $2 billion in companies that have worked with OpenAI, and further, indirect exposure to OpenAI itself through Y Combinator may have also enriched his fortune, Forbes reported.
The court filings also highlighted the extent of the entanglements of other OpenAI officials with money. According to the New York Post, OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, testified that he personally has a stake in the company worth nearly $30 billion. Also rumoured to be holding it is OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who reportedly has a $7 billion holding.
These numbers followed as Elon Musk pressed on with his lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman. Elon is reportedly demanding $150 billion in damages and is seeking the court to terminate Sam’s role as both a board member and officer at OpenAI.
According to court records presented during the hearings, Sam Altman owns significant stakes in several companies that either partnered with or conducted business with OpenAI.
The biggest investment Sam has highlighted is in Helion Energy, where he has a stake worth nearly $1.7 billion. Helion is a private fusion energy company that is developing commercial fusion power systems. In 2015, Sam got to know the company’s founders personally and invested initially in the company.
The papers also included a $633 million investment holding in Stripe and a $258 million holding in Retro Biosciences, both of which have reportedly collaborated with OpenAI.
Other firms mentioned in the documents included Cerebras, the maker of AI hardware; Humane, a food delivery service; and Formation Bio, a biotechnology firm, as well as workplace software company Lattice.
The filings also revealed Sam had sold his Reddit stake by the end of 2025. Based on earlier SEC filings, his stake in Reddit was valued at over $600 million at the time of the company’s public listing in 2024.
The legal battle has also been bringing regulators and politicians to the United States’ attention. During the hearing, reports indicated that ten U.S. attorneys general have requested the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to review documents related to OpenAI before any plans are made for an IPO.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has also separately asked Sam Altman for more details about OpenAI’s conflict-of-interest policies and governance.
The hearing was largely devoted to the issue of OpenAI’s relationship with Helion Energy. Sam stated that he had requested the OpenAI board to look into collaborating with Helion, as he believed the partnership would be beneficial for the company in late 2022.
As AI companies are constantly increasing their electricity consumption for data centres and AI model training, Helion subsequently entered into an agreement in 2024 to provide OpenAI with future energy needs.
In his testimony, Sam claimed he resigned from Helion’s board in March 2026 during negotiations on a bigger contract. He also stated he disassociated himself from the previous negotiations related to the earlier deal.
Elon Musk’s lead attorney, Steven Molo, also asked Sam about OpenAI’s collaboration with Reddit and its estimated $10 billion contract to serve as its computing partner with Cerebras. Steven pointed out at the hearing that Sam’s personal investments resulted in “obvious conflicts” in some of these discussions.
Sam has rejected the claims and stated that OpenAI has adhered to its typical corporate recusal protocol. He stated that while other board members were engaged in negotiations, they also reviewed and approved final agreements.
The hearing also revisited criticism from former OpenAI insiders, including Dario Amodei, as Musk’s legal team attempted to challenge Sam Altman’s credibility and leadership record.
Click for more latest Tech news. Also get top headlines and latest news from India and around the world at News9.
Pragya is a Science and Technology reporter, has Master degree in Journalism, covering a range of stories including space, gadgets and how tech is transforming our lives. She has 4+ years of industry experience in Digital Media and Content Writing. 15+ years of practice in yoga philosophy to every day, and that’s one way she strive to build meaningful experiences.

source
This is a newsfeed from leading technology publications. No additional editorial review has been performed before posting.