Sam Altman, the person most associated with the AI revolution, has quietly built his largest known personal fortune not from OpenAI but from Reddit. His roughly 12.2 million shares in the social platform crossed the $1 billion valuation threshold after Reddit posted strong Q3 2024 earnings, sending shares surging approximately 20% to around $98 in after-hours trading.
That makes Altman one of Reddit’s top individual shareholders, controlling an estimated 8.7% to 9% of the company’s total shares. Only Advance Publications and Tencent hold larger positions.
A decade-long bet that paid off
Altman’s Reddit position didn’t materialize overnight. He first invested during Reddit’s Series B funding round back in 2014, when he was serving as president of Y Combinator. He continued backing the company over the years, pouring roughly $60 million into Reddit’s funding rounds in 2021. His holdings include both Class A shares and supervoting Class B shares, giving him influence that extends beyond the raw dollar value of his position.
When Reddit finally went public in March 2024 with shares priced at $34, Altman’s long patience started converting into real, liquid wealth. The stock nearly tripled from its IPO price to around $98 by late October, transforming what was already a substantial stake into a ten-figure one.
