Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, debuted on the Forbes 400 as its wealthiest newcomer, with an estimated net worth of $25.5 billion. The ranking, which Forbes released on Tuesday, placed him at No. 45 among the richest Americans.

Brockman’s fortune stems from his stake in OpenAI. During trial testimony in May, he disclosed that his stake was worth more than $20 billion and closer to $30 billion, according to Forbes. On the list, he sits one spot beneath Nike cofounder Phil Knight and one spot ahead of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who owns no direct stake in the company, is estimated to be worth $3.3 billion — far below the $4.4 billion threshold for this year’s Forbes 400, according to Forbes. OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who testified that he held a $7 billion stake in the company, is worth roughly a third of what Brockman is worth, according to Forbes.

Brockman was one of 34 newcomers to this year’s list, which Forbes said collectively represents a record $8 trillion in wealth — up $1.4 trillion from the prior year. Other newcomers include U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and six cofounders of Anthropic.

Forbes noted that AI has been a significant driver of new wealth on the list. In addition to Brockman, 14 newcomers are tied to the AI industry, including Figure AI’s Brett Adcock and Anthropic cofounders Daniela and Dario Amodei.

Brockman grew up in Thompson, North Dakota, the third of four children of two doctors. After leaving Harvard following his first year, he spent a short time at MIT before departing to join what would eventually become Stripe, where he served as the fourth hire and chief technology officer, according to Forbes.

His path to the Forbes 400 included a prominent role in legal proceedings involving OpenAI. His private journals, which included a 2017 entry asking “Financially, what will take me to $1B?”, became central evidence in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who claimed Brockman and Altman had persuaded him to fund their nonprofit before converting it into a for-profit entity, according to Forbes. On the stand, Brockman explained that the entry captured his hope that his years of effort building OpenAI would ultimately amount to something financially meaningful.

Elon Musk, who is now worth an estimated $908 billion after SpaceX’s June IPO, retained the No. 1 spot on the Forbes 400 for the fifth consecutive year.

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/greg-brockman-joins-forbes-400-134640485.html?shem=aimgspc,