Sam Altman, the chief executive of prominent artificial intelligence lab OpenAI, is positioned to receive a massive financial windfall when social media platform Reddit finally makes its long-awaited stock market debut next month.
As per Reddit’s initial public offering documentation filed this week, Altman owns a sizable 4.5% chunk of Class A shares and a 9.3% stake in Class B shares, giving him an overall equity position of 9.2% and making him the third-largest shareholder behind Advance Magazine Publishers and Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings.
Altman’s relationship with Reddit runs deep, having initially invested in the social media upstart while serving as president of the famed start-up accelerator Y Combinator. He even enjoyed a brief stint as Reddit’s chief executive in 2014 before going on to lead OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed AI research organization that shot to fame in late 2022 after unveiling its much-hyped conversational bot ChatGPT.
While Reddit was valued at an impressive $10 billion during a 2021 funding round, the specific valuation it will target for its hotly anticipated share offering remains unclear. However, it is projected to sell off nearly 10% of its stock when it finally hits the New York Stock Exchange in March.
According to CNBC estimates, Altman has steered at least $60 million into Reddit over the years. When the company completes its blockbuster IPO and meets expected first-day valuation targets, his stake could balloon into the hundreds of millions overnight.
Reddit co-founder and current CEO Steve Huffman also stands to earn a windfall if the company meets or exceeds a $5 billion market cap off the bat. Other early investors, like prestigious venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and original backers Y Combinator, are also expected to enjoy significant returns after patiently waiting nearly two decades for an exit.
