Altman's wealth loop revealed: Helion's holdings surge to $4.1 billion, having previously driven a $500 million investment in OpenAI.

According to Beating's monitoring, the Wall Street Journal, through leaked court documents from the Elon Musk v. OpenAI case, revealed a wealth loop by which Sam Altman used OpenAI business contracts to inflate the valuation of his personal investments. Since Altman did not hold any equity in OpenAI, his financial returns relied entirely on his investments in external startups. The wealth loop operated as follows: OpenAI signed procurement contracts or cooperation agreements to increase the valuation of startups, subsequently attracting major OpenAI shareholders (such as Thrive Capital) or partners (such as SoftBank) to invest at a high premium, thus directly resulting in a surge in Altman's personal wealth. In June 2026, after OpenAI's major shareholder Thrive Capital invested in the nuclear fusion company Helion at a valuation of $15.5 billion, sources revealed that Altman's personal shareholding in Helion had more than doubled to at least $4.1 billion. In 2025, Altman requested OpenAI to invest approximately $500 million in Helion, causing unease among some employees. OpenAI subsequently rejected the investment. However, the two parties signed a revised cooperation agreement in March 2026, and Altman resigned from Helion's board of directors that same month to avoid conflict. Furthermore, after chipmaker Cerebras secured a chip procurement commitment from OpenAI and successfully completed its IPO, Altman's stake in Cerebras increased more than sixfold compared to December 2025. And after life extension startup Retro Biosciences entered into a research collaboration with OpenAI, according to evidence disclosed in Elon Musk's lawsuit, Altman's stake in Retro was worth $258 million by December 2025. At least 10 companies invested in by Altman have related-party transactions with OpenAI. The U.S. House Oversight Committee has launched a formal investigation, and several state attorneys general have called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to review Altman.