Ultraman's Wealth Ecosystem Exposed: Helion's Stake Surges to $4.1 Billion, Once Powering $500 Million Investment in OpenAI

According to Dynamo Beating monitoring, The Wall Street Journal revealed a wealth loop utilized by Sam Altman through an OpenAI commercial contract to inflate personal investment valuations, based on court documents leaked in the Musk v. OpenAI case.

Since Altman does not hold OpenAI shares, financial gains rely entirely on personal investments in external startups. The operation of the wealth loop involves OpenAI signing procurement contracts or partnership agreements to boost startup valuations, subsequently attracting OpenAI’s major shareholders (such as Thrive Capital) or partners (such as SoftBank) to invest at a high premium, allowing Altman to directly realize a surge in personal wealth.

In June 2026, following OpenAI’s major shareholder Thrive Capital's $15.5 billion valuation investment in the fusion energy company Helion, insiders disclosed that Altman’s personal stake in Helion had more than doubled to at least $4.1 billion. In 2025, Altman had requested OpenAI to invest around $500 million in Helion, causing some employees' unease. OpenAI later rejected this investment; however, in March 2026, the two parties signed a revised new cooperation agreement, and Altman also stepped down as a director of Helion in the same month to avoid conflicts.

Furthermore, after chipmaker Cerebras received OpenAI's chip procurement commitment and successfully completed an IPO, Altman's stake in Cerebras had surged by over six times since December 2025.

Following a research collaboration between the life extension startup Retro Biosciences and OpenAI, as per evidence disclosed in Elon Musk's lawsuit, Altman's stake in Retro had reached $258 million by December 2025.

Currently, at least 10 companies Altman has invested in have related transactions with OpenAI. The United States House Oversight Committee has launched a formal investigation, and several state attorneys general have called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to review Altman.