Who are the owners of OpenAI?

OpenAI is backed by Microsoft and a number of venture capital firms. It's run by its board of directors, which is separate from its investors.

Does OpenAI belong to Microsoft?

OpenAI does not belong to Microsoft. Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, but according to Microsoft, it only has a claim on its profits.

Who is controlling OpenAI?

OpenAI is ultimately controlled by a board, which now includes Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, former executive vice president at Sony; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; former Salesforce Co-CEO Bret Taylor; Doctor of Machine Learning Zico Kolter; former U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone and Adam D'Angelo. Altman runs the company on a day-to-day basis.

Does OpenAI own ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is owned by OpenAI. It was developed by OpenAI and remains under its control.

Who Owns ChatGPT? Largest Shareholders & More

Who Owns ChatGPT? Largest Shareholders & Board of Directors

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Mar 31, 2026 at 12:38 PM EST | Fact-checked by Parker Hicks

Key Points

OpenAI, known for AI products like ChatGPT, is structured as a hybrid profit organization.
Microsoft, having invested $13 billion, is a significant backer but does not own OpenAI.
Investors can indirectly engage with OpenAI by investing in Microsoft, leveraging their partnership.

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2. Reid Hoffman

Another major investor in OpenAI is Reid Hoffman. The LinkedIn co-founder was one of several investors who committed to investing a combined $1 billion in the company when it was founded.

Hoffman served on the board of directors until November 2023, when he stepped down to avoid an appearance of conflict. He also co-founded Inflection AI, although the start-up company later folded.

3. Peter Thiel

Like Hoffman, Peter Thiel was one of an early group of Silicon Valley bigwigs to pledge to invest a combined $1 billion in OpenAI. Thiel has long been something of a mentor for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Thiel has had a prolific career in Silicon Valley as a co-founder of PayPal (PYPL +1.96%) and current chair of Palantir (NYSE:PLTR).

4. Elon Musk

Tesla (TSLA +2.96%) CEO Elon Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI and a key source of funding early in the company's history. OpenAI says Musk invested close to $45 million of his own money in OpenAI.

Musk left the company in 2018 over a dispute that arose when the company added a for-profit component. Musk suggested taking a majority equity stake in the company and attaching it to Tesla, but the board balked at the idea. It's unclear whether Musk still owns a stake in OpenAI, but he played a pivotal role in OpenAI's early days. For that, he's worth including in the conversation.

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5. YCombinator

YCombinator, the Silicon Valley incubator, was the first institutional investor to invest in OpenAI, doing so in 2016, according to Crunchbase. Before running OpenAI, Altman was the CEO of YCombinator.

6. Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures was another of the first VC firms to invest in OpenAI, putting in $50 million in 2019 and taking a 5% stake. Principal Vinod Khosla said there was no good way to do due diligence on the company, but he had confidence that AI would be a significant technology. He's been proven right. The stake is now worth more than $1 billion.

7. Tiger Global

VC firm Tiger Global first invested in OpenAI in 2021 in a funding round with several other VC firms. Tiger Global was also one of several firms to push back against OpenAI when the board fired Sam Altman for a few days, only to bring him back after an employee and investor uproar.

8. Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz, one of the best-known Silicon Valley VC firms, participated in OpenAI's funding round in April 2023. However, co-founder Marc Andreessen criticized OpenAI's defense capabilities, saying its security protocol was "Swiss cheese." Andreessen Horowitz is also in the process of raising $6 billion to invest in AI, showing it's betting big on the new technology.

9. Sequoia Capital

Sequoia first invested in OpenAI in 2021 and is also focused on AI, with 60% of its investments in AI companies in 2023, up 15% from 2022. It has invested in a number of other AI companies, like Collaborative Robotics.

10. Thrive Capital

VC firm Thrive Capital led the September 2024 $6.6 billion investment round with a $1.3 billion investment of its own. Thrive also has the option to invest as much as $1 billion in OpenAI at the same valuation. Founded by Joshua Kushner, Thrive is known for successful early-stage investments in tech companies like Meta Platforms' (META +1.81%) Instagram, Spotify (SPOT +0.84%), and Stripe.

11. Nvidia

According to reports, Nvidia invested around $100 million in OpenAI's latest funding round. It's not a surprise that the chip giant would invest in OpenAI, as the success of each company is very much connected.

Nvidia's stock soared shortly after the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which set off a boom in generative AI. Looking ahead, Nvidia's success makes OpenAI's success more likely, and OpenAI's success makes Nvidia's success more likely.

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4. Nicole Seligman

Nicole Seligman also joined the board of directors in March 2024. Seligman is the former executive vice president of Sony (SONY +1.12%). She also serves on the boards of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA), MeiraGTx Holdings (MGTX +6.75%), and Intuitive Machines (LUNR +1.10%).

5. Sam Altman

Altman rejoined the board in March 2024. Altman has been OpenAI CEO since May 2019, reshaping it as a "capped-profit" company and forging a partnership with Microsoft. Earlier in his career, Altman was the CEO of YCombinator, the tech incubator.

6. Zico Kolter

Zico Kolter, a professor and director of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University, joined OpenAI's board in August 2024. Kolter's previous work focused on AI safety, alignment, and machine learning classifiers. He serves on the board's safety and security committee.

7. Paul M. Nakasone

OpenAI named Paul M. Nakasone to its board in June 2024. Nakasone is a retired U.S. Army General and the former leader of USCYBERCOM. He's considered an expert in cybersecurity and joined the board's safety and security committee.

8. Adebayo Ogunlesi

Adebayo Ogunlesi joined OpenAI's board in January 2025. Ofgunlesi is the CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), one of the top infrastructure investing platforms in the world. He's also a senior managing director at BlackRock (BLK +2.65%).

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About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Jeremy Bowman has positions in Arm Holdings, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Machines, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, PayPal, Pfizer, Salesforce, Spotify Technology, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends BlackRock and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2026 $65 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Who Owns ChatGPT? Largest Shareholders & Board of Directors