Greg Brockman
American software engineer; co-founder and president of OpenAI; former chief technology officer of Stripe
| Greg Brockman
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 1988 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Software engineer; company executive |
| Known for | Co-founder and president of OpenAI; first chief technology officer of Stripe |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Brockman |
| Education | Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (did not graduate) |
Greg Brockman (born 1988) is an American software engineer. He co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and is its president. He was previously chief technology officer of the payments company Stripe.[1][2][3] Testifying in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI in May 2026, he said his stake in the company was worth nearly US$30 billion.[4][3] He and his wife, Anna, were founding backers of the pro-AI political operation Leading the Future. In September 2025 each of them gave US$12.5 million to it and US$12.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., according to FEC filings.[5][6][7] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Greg Brockman 95th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$25.49 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as OpenAI.[1][8]
Early life and education
Brockman wrote that he started programming seriously during a gap year after high school. He began at Harvard, transferred to MIT and left without graduating to join an unlaunched start-up in Palo Alto, which became Stripe.[9] Forbes gives his year of birth as 1988.[1]
Career
Brockman joined the founding team of the start-up then called /dev/payments, later Stripe, and helped it grow from four people to nearly 250 employees. He announced in May 2015 that he was leaving.[2][9] Forbes says he joined Stripe in 2010 and became its chief technology officer in 2013.[1] In a 2016 post he wrote that Patrick Collison had asked him to talk to Sam Altman before he left, and that the conversation led to the founding of OpenAI.[9] Forbes says he co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever and has been its president since then.[1] He testified in 2026 that OpenAI's first office was his San Francisco apartment.[3]
2023 board crisis
On 17 November 2023 OpenAI's board dismissed Altman as chief executive. OpenAI said that Brockman would step down as chairman of the board but remain with the company. Hours later he resigned, writing "based on today's news, I quit".[10] CNBC reported that Brockman was briefly expected to join Microsoft to form a new AI lab. Altman was reinstated on 22 November, and an investor statement welcomed both men's return to the company.[11]
Musk v. Altman
Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and Brockman, alleging that they had converted a charity he helped start into a for-profit business.[3][12] Testifying on 4 May 2026, Brockman said his stake was worth nearly US$30 billion and that he had not personally invested any money in OpenAI.[4] He said the board granted him the stake in 2018, that he did not take part in that vote, and that OpenAI remained controlled by a non-profit foundation.[3] He also testified that he had never made commitments to Musk about the company's corporate structure.[12] On 18 May 2026 a unanimous jury found that Musk had waited too long to sue, so Altman, Brockman and OpenAI were not liable on any claim. The judge adopted the findings, and Musk's lawyers said they would appeal.[13]
Wealth
Forbes gives OpenAI as the source of his wealth. It says he testified that his stake was worth more than US$20 billion, about 2.5–3% of the company. AP and NBC News, reporting the testimony on the day, gave a figure of nearly US$30 billion.[1][4][3][8]
Wealth history
Brockman does not appear in any of the 26 annual Forbes World's Billionaires lists from 2001 to 2026. He appears on the Forbes real-time list of 20 October 2026.[14][8]
Political activity
Leading the Future launched on 25 August 2025 with more than US$100 million in initial commitments. Its launch release named Andreessen Horowitz and "Greg and Anna Brockman" among its backers. It operates federal and state super PACs and 501(c)(4) advocacy groups to support candidates who back its pro-AI agenda.[5]
FEC records show that on 12 September 2025 Greg Brockman gave US$12.5 million to Leading the Future and US$12.5 million to MAGA Inc.[6] Records filed under Anna Brockman's name show two further contributions of the same size to the same committees on the same date.[7] Together these come to US$50 million. Forbes gives a higher figure for the couple's 2025 total, US$75 million; the FEC records retrieved for this profile do not account for the difference.[1]
Across the 2 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$25,000,000 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were LEADING THE FUTURE (US$12,500,000), MAGA INC. (US$12,500,000).[6]
| Cycle | Total (US$, lower bound) | Records | Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $25,000,000 | 2 | LEADING THE FUTURE ($12,500,000); MAGA INC. ($12,500,000) |
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No direct involvement found. Leading the Future, which he backs, frames its policy aims partly as competition with China.[5]
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
US citizen. A major donor to MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC, and to the AI industry's Leading the Future political operation, which says it opposes policies that would "enable China to gain global AI superiority".[6][5]
Other international links
No documented personal involvement found in sources checked.
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Greg Brockman (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/greg-brockman/) Forbes, live record, read 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Greg Brockman, Leaving Stripe Greg Brockman (blog, Svbtle), 6 May 2015, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 David Ingram, Musk lawyer hammers OpenAI co-founder over his $30 billion stake NBC News, 4 May 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Barbara Ortutay, OpenAI president discloses his stake in the company is worth $30B Associated Press, 4 May 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Leading the Future, AI Industry Launches "Leading the Future" to Drive U.S. AI Leadership, Economic Growth, National Security, and Innovation (press release) PR Newswire, 25 August 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "BROCKMAN, GREG"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; records filtered by employer/occupation and name, memo entries excluded U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "BROCKMAN, ANNA"; 2024 and 2026 cycles; records filtered to the two 12 September 2025 super PAC contributions (unrelated small payroll PAC records under a different employer excluded) U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 21 October 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 20 October 2026 11:51 UTC, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Greg Brockman, My path to OpenAI Greg Brockman (blog, Svbtle), 3 May 2016, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Manish Singh, Greg Brockman quits OpenAI after abrupt firing of Sam Altman TechCrunch, 17 November 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ CNBC, OpenAI brings Sam Altman back as CEO days after ouster CNBC, 22 November 2023, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ashley Capoot and Lora Kolodny, OpenAI trial: Brockman rebuts Musk's take on startup's history, recounts secret work for Tesla CNBC, 5 May 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ David Ingram, Jury tosses Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman NBC News, 18 May 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 20 October 2026.