Ultraman failed! OpenAI CEO ranks among the top 50 richest people in the United States with $25.5 billion

The threshold for making the list this year is US$4.4 billion. He missed the list by US$1.1 billion, so he did not make the list.

25.5 billion versus 3.3 billion, the former is nearly 8 times the latter.

In the same week, FT and The Information revealed one after another that OpenAI was in initial contact with investors for a new round of financing, and its valuation may reach US$1.2 trillion or even higher.

A few days ago, Ultraman personally confirmed that OpenAI will not be launched this year.

Although the listing presses the pause button, OpenAI has already sent its number two person into the top 50 richest people in the United States.

一本日記

Written from 1 billion to 25.5 billion

In August 2017, Brockman wrote a sentence in his diary: “Financially, what can make me $1 billion?”

At that time, OpenAI was still a non-profit organization.

Several Lianchuang companies are still arguing over whether to set up a for-profit department and whether Musk should take control of it.

Nine years later, this private diary became the most damaging evidence when Musk sued OpenAI.

Musk used it to accuse Altman and Brockman of betraying him by persuading him to support a nonprofit and then turn it into a for-profit company.

On April 30 this year, Altman (middle) and Brockman (right) arrived at the federal court in Oakland, California.

Testifying in court in Oakland, California, Brockman explained that this sentence meant that he hoped that the hard work he poured into OpenAI would be worth something.

Later, the jury dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that Musk sued too late.

Four months later, the capital market put a price tag on Brockman’s hard work.

He is on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of US$25.5 billion, more than 25 times the “small goal” of US$1 billion that year.

This number is more than three times the value of OpenAI shares held by another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever.

Where does the $25.5 billion net worth come from?

Forbes said much of Brockman’s wealth comes from his stake in OpenAI.

According to Forbes estimates, Brockman’s shareholding ratio in OpenAI is slightly less than 3%.

He himself also disclosed during the court hearing in May that the value of this part of the shares exceeds 20 billion US dollars, closer to 30 billion US dollars.

Multiply OpenAI’s post-money valuation of US$852 billion in March this year by 3%, which is US$25.56 billion. Taking into account “slightly less than 3%” and his other assets, it is basically comparable to the US$25.5 billion given by Forbes.

In addition to OpenAI’s shares, Brockman also has another card in his hand: Stripe.

Brockman was born in a small town in North Dakota, the son of both doctors.

Later, he dropped out of Harvard and transferred to MIT. He dropped out again a few months later and became the No. 4 employee and CTO of the payment startup Stripe. Until now, he still holds a stake worth about $471 million in Stripe, which was valued at $159 billion in February this year.

In addition, he has some small investments in Cerebras, CoreWeave, Helion and other companies, totaling less than US$5 million. All three companies have done business with OpenAI.

In 2015, Brockman left Stripe to co-found OpenAI and served as CTO. Since then, he has been standing behind the scenes for nearly ten years, while the outside world has focused on Altman.

What really made him bet all his wealth was the boardroom storm in 2023.

After Altman was abruptly fired, Brockman announced his resignation within hours. He knew very well that if he left, he might not be able to keep his stake in OpenAI.

Brockman’s loyalty to stake his fortune has already been foreshadowed.

The trial also revealed a detail:In 2017, Altman gave Brockman a US$10 million share of his family office, which shows their friendship.

As the valuation of OpenAI continues to rise, Brockman, who has a direct shareholding, has seen his book wealth rise along with it.

The wealth gap between the two creates a strange contrast with their positions at OpenAI.

Behind the contrast is the difference between holding shares and not holding shares.

Ultraman hits the brakes

Investors step on the gas pedal

On March 31 this year, OpenAI officially announced that it had completed US$122 billion in financing, with a post-money valuation of US$852 billion.

This is the official caliber of the current valuation.

In June, OpenAI secretly submitted an IPO application, and the market once expected it to be listed within the year.

Then, Ultraman pressed the pause button on the listing.

In an exclusive interview with Fortune on September 12, he said that considering everything that is going on in terms of security, it is not wise to go public now, and the time to go public will not be 2026.

Altman accepted an exclusive interview with Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell at the OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco and confirmed that OpenAI will not be listed this year.

The listing has been delayed, but the enthusiasm of the capital market has not diminished at all.

Within a few days, the media revealed that OpenAI had initially contacted investors for a new round of financing, and its valuation may reach US$1.2 trillion or higher.

The Financial Times also specifically mentioned that this round of negotiations was initiated by investors. The specific progress of the negotiations and the level of valuation will largely depend on when OpenAI plans to go public.

If the rumored round of financing is completed at US$1.2 trillion, OpenAI’s valuation will be approximately US$348 billion higher than in March, an increase of approximately 41%.

In half a year, it rose another 40%.

紙面富豪

Already spending real money

Most of Brockman’s $25.5 billion is still on paper.

But this does not prevent him from using the money for political investment.

In the past year, he and his wife Anna donated US$75 million, all of which went to super PACs, which are political organizations in American elections that can raise unlimited funds and advertise for candidates.

Among them, US$50 million was donated to two super PACs that support “AI-friendly” candidates, with the Democratic and Republican parties betting at the same time; the other US$25 million was donated to the super PAC “MAGA Inc.” that supports Trump.

This amount of money aroused opposition from some OpenAI employees, and also set off a movement among users to unsubscribe from ChatGPT.

While spending money, people are still walking out.

Of the 11 co-founders of OpenAI, only Brockman, Altman, and Wojciech Zaremba, who is in charge of the non-profit department, are still in the company.

Executives are also leaving in droves.

In April, Sora head Bill Peebles and OpenAI for Science head Kevin Weil resigned one after another.

Subsequently, head of marketing Kate Rouch and application business CEO Fidji Simo stepped down.

In August, veteran Brad Lightcap left. Chief revenue officer Denise Dresser has only been in the job for eight months.

With the end of power, OpenAI has entered the “Brockman Era”.

He is also in charge of OpenAI’s computing infrastructure and product business, becoming the company’s second-ranking figure.

AI companies haven’t sounded the bell yet

The rich list has changed a group of people

Zooming in on the entire list, this is a year when AI will create wealth.

The total net worth of those on the Forbes 400 list in 2026 will reach a record high of US$8 trillion.

Among the 34 newcomers, in addition to Brockman, there are 14 others who have been put on the list by this wave of AI.

The second newcomer after Brockman is Brett Adcock, the founder of Figure AI, with a net worth of approximately US$23.4 billion.

This humanoid robot company has only been established for four years and has not yet made much revenue, but its valuation has reached tens of billions of dollars.

The most eye-catching one is the Anthropic phalanx:

Six co-founders, Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Jared Kaplan, and Sam McCandlish, are on the list at the same time, each with a net worth of approximately US$15.5 billion, tied for 75th place.

The sum of 6 people is 93 billion US dollars.

AnthropicThere are 7 Lianchuangs in total. The other one is not included in the statistical scope of this American rich list because he is a Canadian citizen.

In 2021, they left OpenAI because they were worried that OpenAI was making AI too fast, regardless of safety.

Five years later, the company they founded was valued at $965 billion.

Earlier this year, these seven joint ventures also collectively promised to donate 80% of their wealth in the future.

Most of them are still young. Daniela and Tom Brown are both 39, Jack Clark is 37, and Sam McCandlish is only 36.

The youngest person on the list is also from AI.

30-year-old Steven Hao is the co-founder and CTO of Cognition, a company that makes AI programmer Devin.

Steven Hao

In September, Cognition announced the completion of US$2 billion in financing, with a valuation of US$48 billion, less than three years after its establishment.

The wave of AI wealth creation has arrived

Just like the Internet back then, the wave of wealth creation through AI has arrived.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic are mass-producing super-rich people before going public, and Anthropic is ahead of the curve.

According to the Financial Times, Anthropic is expected to make a profit for the second consecutive quarter on an adjusted basis and be listed as soon as October with a valuation of approximately US$2 trillion.

Model capabilities push up income, income attracts capital, capital revalues ​​equity, and equity creates rich people. This link has already been completed, and most of it is completed before listing.

The private market will set the price first, and the public market will accept it.

OpenAI is on hold for now, but one day, the valuation given by the private market will be put on the public market for everyone to test.

Nine years ago, Brockman asked himself in his diary how he could make $1 billion.

Today, the answer given by the market is more than 25 times this number.

AI capital has been soaring, and the revalued wealth has first fallen into the hands of founders who hold tight equity.

References:

https://www.forbes.com/profile/greg-brockman/

https://openai.com/index/accelerating-the-next-phase-ai/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.ft.com/content/27509db8-b032-4437-9b2a-e909f466022f?utm_source=chatgpt.com&syn-25a6b1a6=1

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