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Richard Heathcote, Tether's former chief investment officer, is looking to sell part of his 1.26% stake in the company, a trade in one of crypto's most tightly held private businesses.
The company&nbsp;reported&nbsp; $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and more than $10 billion in profit in 2025.&nbsp;
Heathcote is working with investment bank PJT Partners on the sale, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-06/tether-s-former-cio-plans-sale-of-stake-in-stablecoin-giant" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bloomberg</a>. The talks are ongoing, and no price or valuation has been disclosed. Tether has approved the process, Bloomberg reported.
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Because Tether is privately held and its shares rarely change hands, a completed deal with a disclosed price would be one of the few external indicators of what investors believe the company is worth.
Tether is the largest stablecoin issuer, with about $184 billion in USDT in circulation. It reported more than $10 billion in profit in 2025, driven largely by interest income on its reserves.
Those reserves have made Tether a major holder of safe-haven assets.&nbsp;
In its Jan. 30 attestation, the company reported more than $122 billion in direct U.S. Treasury holdings and more than $141 billion in total Treasury exposure, including reverse repurchase agreements.&nbsp;
It also holds roughly 140 metric tons of gold across its reserves and its tokenized-gold product, XAUT, according to <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/01/28/tether-is-buying-up-to-usd1-billion-of-gold-per-month-and-storing-it-in-a-james-bond-bunker" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">prior reporting</a>.
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<h2 id="one-of-the-world-s-most-profitable-companies-per-employee">One of the world's most profitable companies per employee</h2>
Tether's profitability stands out even against the world's largest companies. The firm runs on roughly 150 employees yet <a href="https://tether.io/news/tether-attestation-reports-q1-q3-2025-profit-surpassing-10b-record-levels-in-us-treasuries-exposure-accelerating-usdt-supply-amidst-worlds-macroeconomic-uncertainty/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported more than $10 billion in profit in 2025</a>, which works out to tens of millions of dollars per employee. Bloomberg reported in early 2025 that Tether may have the highest profit per employee of any major company in the world.
By comparison, Apple and Microsoft earn roughly $600,000 to $800,000 in profit per employee, according to the same analysis, while Tether's figure has been estimated above $80 million. The gap comes down to its business model: Tether earns most of its money from interest on the U.S. Treasuries and other reserves backing USDT, a largely automated process run by a small team rather than a labor-heavy operation.
&nbsp;In March, the company <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-24/tether-s-landmark-fundraise-on-hold-as-crypto-giant-seeks-audit" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">paused a fundraise</a> that would have valued it at as much as $500 billion while it awaited its first full financial audit. Tether has historically published periodic reserve attestations rather than a full audit, and has maintained that USDT is fully backed.
Heathcote joined Tether in January 2023 and led its investment strategy before moving into an advisory role in March 2026. Zachary Lyons succeeded him as CIO.
TheStreet <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Roundtable</a> reached out to Tether for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. This story will be updated if the company responds.
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Ex-employee to sell stake in world's most profitable company

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