Tax Filings Reveal How Much OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Was Paid in 2023: ‘Enough for Health Insurance’

  • OpenAI is an unusual company, and the salaries of its executives reflect that.

  • According to a newly released tax return, Altman earned less in 2023 than the average household income in San Francisco County, where he lives. He also earned less than many of his employees.

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As the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman leads one of the world’s foremost AI development companies. Given his position, some might think his salary has more digits than his phone number. However, OpenAI is somewhat unique, and the salary of its top executive is lower than expected for someone of his stature.

While some big tech executives, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, famously declare minimal salaries (often just $1), their actual compensation comes from substantial annual bonuses or equity packages. In the case of Altman, it’s a totally different situation.

A CEO-scale “minimum wage.” Bloomberg and Business Insider recently obtained exclusive access to tax filings disclosed by the Internal Revenue Service. Interestingly, the filings reveal Altman earned an annual salary of $76,001 in 2023.

For someone with Altman’s high level of expertise, the salary is strikingly low. Additionally, based on OpenAI’s 2022 tax form, his pay increased by 3.4% in 2023 from the $73,546 he earned in the previous fiscal year.

One of the lowest-paid executives at OpenAI. In 2022, other founders and technical managers reported higher salaries than Altman, ranging from $203,000 to $413,000 per year. These include former COO Chris Clark, former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, technical program manager Rosemary Campbell, and president Gregory Brockman.

However, these figures are still far from the million-dollar salaries some might expect, which may explain why some employees choose to leave the company.

To put Altman’s salary into perspective, data from the Census Bureau indicates that the median household income in San Francisco County, where Altman resides, is $126,730 per year. Additionally, according to the Social Security Administration, the national average wage in the U.S. was $66,621 in 2023.

Enough for health insurance. In the past, Altman has acknowledged that his salary is quite modest for someone in his position. During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2023, he said that he gets “paid enough for health insurance.” A senator even joked that Altman should hire a lawyer to renegotiate his salary, to which he responded, “I’m doing this [because] I love it.”

Unlike many senior executives, Altman doesn’t own shares in OpenAI, despite being a key contributor to its success. This is due to the company’s original non-profit status, which is set to change in the coming months as OpenAI transitions to a publicly traded, for-profit entity.

Waiting for a pay rise. With this change, the board of directors will be able to grant equity compensation and remove restrictions on profits. According to Reuters, there are plans to allocate an equity package that would give Altman a 7% stake in the company.

Given OpenAI’s valuation of more than $150 billion, according to estimates from Bloomberg, Altman’s salary is expected to increase significantly, potentially by around $10 billion.

Altman doesn’t work at OpenAI for the money. His current compensation isn’t a concern for him. He’s built a personal fortune estimated at around $2 billion from previous investments and ventures, which sometimes even create conflicts of interest with OpenAI.

According to CNBC, Altman’s 12.2 million shares in Reddit alone are worth more than $1.2 billion. This wealth has allowed him to purchase an expensive mansion in San Francisco for $27 million. Despite spending over $45 million on research related to universal basic income, Altman still enjoys significant financial success.

A testimony to OpenAI’s turbulent year. OpenAI’s 2023 tax filings provide insights not only into Altman’s salary but also into a tumultuous year for the company. A notable event was the temporary dismissal of Altman by the board of directors, only for him to make a triumphant return and hold those responsible accountable.

The company’s 2023 tax return also reveals that Emmett Shear, who briefly served as CEO during Altman’s absence, received $3,720 for just 10 days of work. This equates to $338 per day, which is proportionately more than Altman’s salary.

Image | TechCrunch

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