4 ms·

OpenAI valuations this year have ranged $80-150bn. Since it’s funny money anyway, let’s call it $100bn for easier math. That’s a $7bn stake.

by Arubis 2y ago

dosinga 2y ago
I mean Musk wouldn't do it for that, why would Altman?
383toast 2y ago
Microsoft owns 50%, other investors own 20-30% presumably(?), 10% employee pool, that means all the other OpenAI founders/etc basically get nothing compared to Altman...
- bbor 2y ago
  Well, tbf, he’s one of the only ones left. There’s so much ethical/political/cultural attrition at these companies that even the company founded by attrition (Anthropic) looks like Theseus’ ghost ship these days. And Altman is, somehow, seen as an indispensable mascot for the general public and/or politicians worldwide. After all, what are the engineers gonna do? Quit? They’d be replaced in a month, I’m sure every open position OAI posts gets thousands of qualified applicants from people dreaming of FIRE and/or terrified of automation. And obviously they’re way too proud to consider unionization.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    > And Altman is, somehow, seen as an indispensable mascot for the general public and/or politicians worldwide. It's not rocket science. He figures out what people want to hear, tells them that, then does whatever he thinks is best regardless of what he said. When put that way, it does sound a bit sociopathic though...
    - whyenot 2y ago
      His sincerity and seriousness are so over the top, it comes off looking like an act, even if it is not.
      - mnk47 2y ago
        Sincerity? I don't know. He seems to really believe in AGI and the singularity and all that, but everything else seems to be lie after lie. This article [0] on the New York Magazine paints him as an incredibly insencere manipulator, which lines up with accusations made by Helen Toner and others. Things he repeatedly says (not caring about money, caring a lot about safety) are often at odds with his actions. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/sam-altman-artificial-intelligence-openai-profile.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/sam-altman-artificia...
        deepfriedchokes 2y ago
        “He’s smart, like for a flyover-state community college,” said a Bay Area VC. “Do you watch Succession? You could make a Tom analogy.” Wow.
  - ein0p 2y ago
    I guess we’ll see soon enough who gets the most credit for OpenAIs success and who’s disposable/replaceable. Sutskever in particular has quite a bit of mythology about him. Let’s see if he can fulfill all that.
7e 2y ago
Yeah, that's what you get when you pack the board with your sycophants.
HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
I'd like to see him go back to congress and explain his previous angelic story of not profiting by one penny from OpenAI. Current OpenAI raise is rumored to be at $150B, so 7% is over $10B.
- ToucanLoucan 2y ago
  > I'd like to see him go back to congress and explain his previous angelic story of not profiting by one penny from OpenAI. A businessman lied? Pikachu's everywhere were shocked.
- __loam 2y ago
  It's incredible that a company that has been bleeding senior staff like a stuck pig is capable of getting these kinds of valuations.
  - bananapub 2y ago
    it's not incredible at all - the "valuations" are just numbers that associates of OpenAI put in to the media, which then get republished. it truly is the ultimate triumph of the VC class.
    - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
      There is some reality to them - they are extrapolations of latest investment round. Say OpenAI had been valued at $100B, but some investors can be convinced to buy a 10% stake for $15B, then the company is now "valued" at $150B (10% = $15B => 100% = $150B).
      - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
        It's a bit like the tail wagging the pig though, since reality is probably more like a 1% (tail) share being bought for $1.5B, and that determining the "value" of the remaining 99% (the whole pig).
  - TheTxT 2y ago

OpenAI valuations this year have ranged $80-150bn. Since it’s funny money anyway, let’s call it $100bn for easier math. That’s a $7bn stake.

by Arubis 2y ago

OpenAI valuations this year have ranged $80-150bn. Since it’s funny money anyway, let’s call it $100bn for easier math. That’s a $7bn stake.

dosinga 2y ago

I mean Musk wouldn't do it for that, why would Altman?

383toast 2y ago

Microsoft owns 50%, other investors own 20-30% presumably(?), 10% employee pool, that means all the other OpenAI founders/etc basically get nothing compared to Altman...

bbor 2y ago
Well, tbf, he’s one of the only ones left. There’s so much ethical/political/cultural attrition at these companies that even the company founded by attrition (Anthropic) looks like Theseus’ ghost ship these days. And Altman is, somehow, seen as an indispensable mascot for the general public and/or politicians worldwide. After all, what are the engineers gonna do? Quit? They’d be replaced in a month, I’m sure every open position OAI posts gets thousands of qualified applicants from people dreaming of FIRE and/or terrified of automation. And obviously they’re way too proud to consider unionization.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  > And Altman is, somehow, seen as an indispensable mascot for the general public and/or politicians worldwide. It's not rocket science. He figures out what people want to hear, tells them that, then does whatever he thinks is best regardless of what he said. When put that way, it does sound a bit sociopathic though...
  - whyenot 2y ago
    His sincerity and seriousness are so over the top, it comes off looking like an act, even if it is not.
    - mnk47 2y ago
      Sincerity? I don't know. He seems to really believe in AGI and the singularity and all that, but everything else seems to be lie after lie. This article [0] on the New York Magazine paints him as an incredibly insencere manipulator, which lines up with accusations made by Helen Toner and others. Things he repeatedly says (not caring about money, caring a lot about safety) are often at odds with his actions. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/sam-altman-artificial-intelligence-openai-profile.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/sam-altman-artificia...
      - deepfriedchokes 2y ago
        “He’s smart, like for a flyover-state community college,” said a Bay Area VC. “Do you watch Succession? You could make a Tom analogy.” Wow.
- ein0p 2y ago
  I guess we’ll see soon enough who gets the most credit for OpenAIs success and who’s disposable/replaceable. Sutskever in particular has quite a bit of mythology about him. Let’s see if he can fulfill all that.

7e 2y ago

Yeah, that's what you get when you pack the board with your sycophants.

HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago

I'd like to see him go back to congress and explain his previous angelic story of not profiting by one penny from OpenAI. Current OpenAI raise is rumored to be at $150B, so 7% is over $10B.

ToucanLoucan 2y ago
> I'd like to see him go back to congress and explain his previous angelic story of not profiting by one penny from OpenAI. A businessman lied? Pikachu's everywhere were shocked.
__loam 2y ago
It's incredible that a company that has been bleeding senior staff like a stuck pig is capable of getting these kinds of valuations.
- bananapub 2y ago
  it's not incredible at all - the "valuations" are just numbers that associates of OpenAI put in to the media, which then get republished. it truly is the ultimate triumph of the VC class.
  - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
    There is some reality to them - they are extrapolations of latest investment round. Say OpenAI had been valued at $100B, but some investors can be convinced to buy a 10% stake for $15B, then the company is now "valued" at $150B (10% = $15B => 100% = $150B).
    - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
      It's a bit like the tail wagging the pig though, since reality is probably more like a 1% (tail) share being bought for $1.5B, and that determining the "value" of the remaining 99% (the whole pig).
- TheTxT 2y ago