Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, may be the most influential business leader. Altman's company launched ChatGPT in November 2022, kicking off the AI boom, and it's led generative AI since. Microsoft has invested $13 billion in it and partnered with it to power AI on Azure, Github, and Office. In addition to ChatGPT, OpenAI's Dall-E and Sora text-to-image and video generators have impressed.
Altman managed Silicon Valley start-up incubator Y Combinator before becoming OpenAI CEO. His successful investments in start-ups through various funds made him a billionaire. Read on for Altman's four stocks.
1. Reddit Perhaps Altman's most famous investment is Reddit. The social media business listed Altman as a substantial investor in its IPO paperwork. Reddit's post-IPO boom valued his shareholding at $600 million.
Altman is familiar with Reddit. He was the company's board member and CEO for eight days. When he announced his investment in Reddit in 2014, he said he had used it daily for nine years and met its founders at Y Combinator.
Reddit feels it has a competitive advantage in AI training data and has marketed itself on its AI potential. OpenAI used Reddit's content to train its AI models. Altman understands the company well, and his investment has paid off.
2. Airbnb Altman is close to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. The two collaborated on several projects, and Chesky defended Altman after he was briefly sacked as OpenAI's CEO. Airbnb was a short-term rental startup when Altman funded $100,000 in 2008.
Whether Altman sold his stake is unknown, but it paid off well for the OpenAI CEO. Airbnb's competitive edge is its high top line growth and large operating margin. Airbnb leads its market with a $106.8 billion market worth.
3. Uber Altman invested $100,000 in Uber (NYSE: UBER) early on, seeing the potential for an app-based transportation industry. Altman wrote in 2014 that Uber was undervalued since it offer a cheaper alternative to car ownership.
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