OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s stake in Reddit rose to more than $613 million on Thursday after the social network went public in a successful IPO. Shares of Reddit closed at $50.44 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), up 48%.<\/p>\n
Altman, 38, is one of Reddit\u2019s largest shareholders and controls 7.6% of the company\u2019s outstanding shares after the IPO, according to company filings. Altman is one of Reddit\u2019s major shareholders, along with Advance Magazine Publishers and Chinese internet giant Tencent.<\/p>\n
Although Altman\u2019s organization is huge on Reddit, insiders like him still face a six-month blackout period in which they are banned from selling their shares. Altman declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n
Before joining OpenAI in 2015, Altman was a well-known startup entrepreneur and president of Y Combinator, which he left in 2019. Its portfolio includes investments in major technology companies such as Airbnb, Uber, Instacart, Stripe and Asana. .<\/p>\n
Reddit was one of Altman\u2019s best investments. He led the company\u2019s $50 million Series B financing round in 2014, voicing his admiration for the platform he\u2019s used for nine years. Altman credits Reddit with transforming it from a simple game into a major digital forum.<\/p>\n
During the tech boom in 2021, Altman poured a total of $60 million into Reddit through two funding rounds. While Thursday\u2019s trading performance was significant for Reddit, its current valuation is still below its private sector peak.<\/p>\n
Altman\u2019s participation in Reddit has diminished his finances, especially during controversies surrounding OpenAI\u2019s leadership. Altman was briefly fired from OpenAI\u2019s board last year, but was reinstated amid outcry from employees and investors.<\/p>\n
Despite his financial success on Reddit, Altman reiterated that he is motivated by more than just making money. He testified before US senators last May that his commitment to OpenAI stems not from financial support, but from his passion for his work.<\/p>\n
Altman\u2019s journey with Reddit exemplifies the profitable potential of early-stage investments and highlights the power of the tech industry and the opportunities it offers businesspeople like himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OpenAI CEO\u2019s Investment in Reddit Pays Off Big as Social Media Giant\u2019s Shares Soar on NYSE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":36916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11422,3416,4745],"class_list":["post-38353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-reddit","tag-sam-altman","tag-tech"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}