Sam Altman Has $852B in Trust But Half His Team Left

Sam Altman just closed a $122 billion funding round. OpenAI’s valuation hit $852 billion. And yet half his safety team quit, a federal jury is watching his every move, and former colleagues are calling him deceptive on the record. That’s the strangest trust story in tech right now.

Why This Matters Right Now

We’re watching something rare happen in real time. A founder’s credibility is on trial in federal court while his company sits at near trillion dollar value. The Musk v. Altman case reached federal court in May 2026, with Elon Musk accusing Altman of “breach of charitable trust,” according to NPR/WVTF. Musk is seeking up to $150 billion in disgorgement and Altman’s removal from OpenAI entirely.

The timing couldn’t be more pointed. OpenAI restructured into a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation in April 2026, paving the way for an IPO. Musk calls it a betrayal of the original nonprofit mission, according to Wikipedia/Current Events. Wall Street calls it a buying opportunity. The people who built OpenAI in the early days aren’t so sure.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in Altman’s defense in May 2026, calling the 2023 board’s attempt to fire Altman “amateur city,” according to the Financial Times. Microsoft owns roughly 27% of OpenAI, a stake worth approximately $200 billion. That’s a very expensive vote of confidence.

Two Kinds of Trust Are Splitting Apart

I want to be direct about what most people are missing. There are two kinds of trust in play here. Institutional trust and human trust. Right now they’re moving in opposite directions, and that gap tells you everything.

Institutional trust is at record highs. Amazon dropped $50 billion into OpenAI’s latest round. Nvidia committed $30 billion. SoftBank matched that with another $30 billion. The round closed on March 31, 2026, bringing OpenAI’s total valuation to $852 billion, according to Fatjoe Statistics. When the world’s biggest infrastructure companies write checks that large, they’re casting votes. And they’re voting for Altman.

But human trust is fracturing fast.

In November 2023, 95% of OpenAI employees threatened to quit unless Altman was reinstated. That was peak loyalty. By 2024 and 2025, roughly 50% of the AI safety team had walked out the door, citing a “deprioritization of safety goals” under his leadership, according to Wikipedia/Current Events. These weren’t random employees. These were the people who believed most deeply in the mission.

Then came the texts. On May 7, 2026, newly released messages from former OpenAI President Mira Murati showed her describing Altman as “deceptive” and “saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another,” according to the Economic Times. Murati was one of Altman’s closest collaborators. If she’s saying that publicly under legal scrutiny, you have to ask what the people who left quietly were thinking.

The consumer data backs this up too. ChatGPT’s U.S. mobile app market share dropped to 38.7% in March 2026, down from nearly 69% in January 2025, according to Fatjoe Statistics. That’s nearly 30 points of share lost in 14 months. Anthropic tripled its traffic in Q1 2026. Perplexity is gaining. People aren’t just using competitors. They’re telling you something about where they’re putting their trust.

I’ve seen this pattern before in business. A founder builds something extraordinary. The institutional money follows. But somewhere along the way the mission gets complicated by the money, and the people who cared most about the original purpose start leaving. That gap between institutional trust and human trust is the real story.

For founders watching this play out: your team is your most honest signal. No funding round patches a talent drain from the people who believed in you most. If you’re running a growing startup and need to keep your team properly compensated during uncertain times, a tool like Gusto makes payroll and benefits management simple so you can stay focused on the leadership calls that actually keep people around.

What This Means for You

If you’re an investor, the institutional bet still looks solid on paper. An $852 billion valuation with Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank at the table isn’t theater. But I wouldn’t ignore the ChatGPT market share slide. Falling from 69% to 38.7% in 14 months signals that consumer trust is much softer than the cap table suggests.

If you’re a founder or executive, study the safety team exodus carefully. Half the people most committed to OpenAI’s core purpose walked out. That kind of attrition doesn’t happen over salary disputes. It happens when the mission shifts and nobody tells the people who signed up for the original one. Watch the gap between what you say and what you do. Murati’s texts suggest Altman’s didn’t always match.

If you’re building on OpenAI’s infrastructure, think about diversification now, not later. The PBC restructuring, the IPO track, and the shift toward agentic infrastructure all signal a company repricing its priorities. What served your product in 2024 may not be the priority in 2027.

For crypto founders and Web3 teams watching Altman’s World ID project closely, the PBC conversion is a preview. How Altman resolves the tension between public mission and private returns at OpenAI will play out again in any decentralized project he touches. Keeping your own business finances clean while you make bigger bets matters. A platform like Wallester for business card management keeps your team’s spending organized so nothing slips through the cracks when you’re moving fast.

The Bottom Line

Sam Altman raised $122 billion and lost half his safety team. He’s worth $852 billion on paper and faces $150 billion in potential disgorgement in court. Amazon and SoftBank are in his corner. Mira Murati’s texts are in the evidence record. The money trusts him completely. The people who knew him best aren’t so sure. That gap doesn’t close on its own, and no IPO will fix it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who trusts Sam Altman the most right now?

Institutional investors are Altman’s strongest backers in 2026. Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank committed a combined $110 billion in OpenAI’s March 2026 funding round, according to Fatjoe Statistics. Microsoft, which owns about 27% of OpenAI, has also publicly backed him through Satya Nadella’s courtroom testimony in the Musk v. Altman trial.

Why did OpenAI’s safety team leave?

Roughly 50% of OpenAI’s AI safety team departed throughout 2024 and 2025, citing a “deprioritization of safety goals” under Altman’s leadership, according to Wikipedia/Current Events. The pivot toward commercial products and the move to a for-profit PBC structure accelerated those concerns significantly.

What is the Musk v. Altman trial about?

Elon Musk filed a federal lawsuit accusing Altman of “breach of charitable trust,” targeting OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit PBC, according to NPR/WVTF. Musk is seeking up to $150 billion in disgorgement and wants Altman removed from his leadership role at the company he cofounded.

Is ChatGPT losing users to competitors?

Yes, and the numbers are significant. ChatGPT’s U.S. mobile app market share fell from nearly 69% in January 2025 to 38.7% in March 2026, according to Fatjoe Statistics. Anthropic tripled its traffic in Q1 2026 as users shifted toward platforms they see as more transparent about safety and mission.

What did Mira Murati say about Sam Altman?

Texts released on May 7, 2026 showed Murati, the former OpenAI President, describing Altman as “deceptive” and “saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another,” according to the Economic Times. These messages surfaced during the Musk v. Altman federal trial and added weight to the broader credibility questions surrounding his leadership.