Sam Altman

Sam Altman is an American technology entrepreneur and investor, best known as the chief executive officer of OpenAI. His ties to Reddit date to the company's earliest days: Altman was part of Y Combinator's first batch in 2005, the same cohort that produced Reddit, and he later became president of Y Combinator. He developed a long financial and governance relationship with the company that would eventually become one of his most lucrative investments.

In 2014, Altman led Reddit's roughly $50 million Series B funding round and joined its board of directors. That same year, following the resignation of CEO Yishan Wong, Altman briefly served as Reddit's chief executive for about a week; he later wrote that 'although my eight days as the CEO of Reddit have been sort of fun, I am happy they are coming to a close,' before Ellen Pao took over as interim CEO.

Altman remained on Reddit's board for several years. In January 2022, Reddit announced he would step down after roughly seven years of service. His early investment, however, left him with a very large equity stake heading into the company's public listing.

When Reddit completed its initial public offering in March 2024, Altman emerged as one of its largest individual shareholders, owning roughly 12.2 million shares and ranking ahead of CEO Steve Huffman in share count. Reporting later valued his stake at well over a billion dollars as Reddit's share price climbed. Altman's dual position—major Reddit shareholder and head of OpenAI—drew added scrutiny given Reddit's data-licensing deals with AI companies, including a reported arrangement with Google valued around $60 million a year to allow training of AI systems on Reddit content.