Sam Altman on Tuesday mentioned his funding in nuclear vitality startup Helion, which is deep in talks on an influence buying settlement with OpenAI, has climbed to over $1.6 billion in worth.
That is up from the $375 million he invested within the firm in November 2021, main its Collection E spherical.
Whereas testifying on the trial over OpenAI’s for-profit ambitions, Altman was offered with a doc he’d signed on April 24. The exhibit gave an unusually clear image of Altman’s monetary standing, exhibiting the worth of his holdings in a slate of buzzy startups.
Altman confirmed on the witness stand that he had a stake in Helion price greater than $1.6 billion as of the tip of 2025. He mentioned his first funding within the nuclear startup was in 2015, and that he is participated in a number of funding rounds since. He estimated that he owns round a 3rd of the corporate, and mentioned he additionally owns warrants to buy extra shares.
The exhibit additionally confirmed multimillion-dollar stakes in different tech corporations. It mentioned Altman owns $632 million of Stripe, the dear fintech startup, and a $258 million stake within the antiaging analysis agency Retro Biosciences. It additionally listed smaller stakes, together with $19 million in Trialspark, a pharmaceutical firm that is rebranded to the identify Formation Bio, and $3 million in Cerebras, an AI chipmaker at present making ready its IPO.
Altman’s investments have come into focus on the trial, the place Elon Musk is looking for to show that Altman and different founders have taken to “looting” the charity, which Musk helped begin in 2015, by becoming a member of forces with Microsoft to earn a living from ChatGPT.
Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis testified that she was on the board when she first heard a few potential OpenAI deal with Helion. She mentioned she was involved in regards to the pitch as a result of each Altman and Greg Brockman had been buyers.
It “felt tremendous out of left subject,” she mentioned. “How is it the case that we wish to place a significant guess on a speculative know-how?”
On Tuesday, Musk legal professional Steven Molo grilled Altman a few deliberate energy deal between Helion and OpenAI, and whether or not Altman was taking part in either side of the settlement. Altman mentioned that he spoke with individuals at OpenAI in regards to the deal, however that he recused himself on either side: “I did not signal it, I believe OpenAI signed it.”
“Do you suppose recusal means solely that you simply did not signal it?” Molo mentioned.
“No, I believe recusal means the choice to proceed, and the ultimate approval of phrases,” Altman replied. He stepped down as Helion’s board chair in March 2026.
Molo jumped subsequent to Altman’s ties to Reddit, the place he as soon as briefly served as interim CEO; he additionally constructed up a large stake straight and in enterprise funds. After establishing that Altman managed someplace within the ballpark of $300 million in Reddit shares round its March 2024 IPO, Molo pointed to a significant content material licensing deal that Reddit and OpenAI introduced a few months later.
“You had an apparent battle in regard to that deal, proper?” Molo requested.
“Sure,” Altman mentioned. He defined that he went by means of a recusal course of along with his firm, and Molo’s prepare of questions was lower off by the choose’s name for recess.
