Early Investors Like Peter Thiel Set for 140x Returns as OpenAI Eyes 2026 IPO

It is probably the most discussed document of recent days: the leaked cap table of OpenAI. The maker of ChatGPT was recently valued at $852 billion in a hefty $122 billion funding round and plans to go public in 2026. All the more interesting, then, is who ultimately owns the company — after all, an IPO is also a good opportunity to cash in.

The largest shareholders at a glance

At the top stand two players, each holding roughly a quarter of all shares. The OpenAI Foundation holds 25.80 percent of the company, followed by Microsoft with 26.79 percent. Together, these two entities control more than half of OpenAI. Third place goes to the SoftBank Group with 11.66 percent, followed by employees (current and former) with a combined share of around 19 percent.

Who would gain the most from an IPO?

By far the most spectacular returns would go to early-stage investors who got in as early as 2015 or shortly thereafter. This group invested comparatively minimal amounts and today sits on enormous unrealized gains.

• Early Angels (Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, and others): Approximately $10 million invested, current value $1.4 billion. That corresponds to a return of around 140x.
• Sound Ventures (Ashton Kutcher): Roughly $20 to $30 million invested, currently worth around $1.3 billion. An estimated return of 43x.
• Khosla Ventures: $50 million invested, current value $1.5 billion. A return of around 30x.
• Microsoft: $13 billion invested, current value $228.3 billion. A return of 17.6x, representing the highest absolute gain of any investor.
• Thrive Capital: $3.5 billion invested, value $16.9 billion. A return of 4.8x.

Particularly noteworthy is the position of the OpenAI Foundation: it has not invested a single dollar, as its shares were allocated to it in the course of the conversion into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). Its paper gain nonetheless amounts to nearly $220 billion.

Who has come away empty-handed so far?

Not all investors can celebrate meaningful gains. Those who only joined in the most recent funding round (Series G) at a valuation of around $852 billion currently stand at a return of just 1.0x — exactly the capital they put in.

• Temasek Holdings ($1.7B invested, 1.0x return)
• Insight Partners ($1.3B invested, 1.0x return)
• UC Investments ($1.0B invested, 1.0x return)
• NVIDIA even has a slight paper loss of around $500 million, as a large portion of its investment was likely made in the form of GPU computing capacity rather than cash.

Retail investors who entered through banking channels or ETFs such as ARK Invest are also currently sitting at cost basis only, with no meaningful gain.

Sam Altman: CEO without shares — for now

One of the most unusual details in the ownership structure concerns the CEO himself. Sam Altman currently holds no allocated shares in OpenAI. His equity package is still pending and tied to conditions that are to be established as part of the PBC conversion. In the cap table, his position is simply listed as “pending.” This means the head of the world’s most valuable AI company is formally not yet a shareholder — an extremely unusual situation in the startup world.

Notably absent from the cap table is co-founder Elon Musk. Starting in April 2026, he will face OpenAI and Sam Altman in court — among other things, to clarify how and whether OpenAI was lawfully converted from a non-profit AI lab into a for-profit company. Musk is seeking damages of between $79 and $134 billion; more on that here.

Note: The data presented is based on a reconstructed cap table and publicly available reports. This is not an official disclosure by OpenAI. Cost basis figures are estimates.