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OpenAI offers stock compensation averaging $1.5 million per employee, highest in tech history
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The company employs about 4,000 staff with equity pay far exceeding pre-IPO tech firms
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Equity awards are 34 times greater than average at 18 large tech firms before IPOs
OpenAI is paying staff more than any other tech start-up in recent history, with stock-based compensation averaging about $1.5 million per employee, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company employs roughly 4,000 people, and the scale of its equity awards dwarfs what major technology firms disclosed before going public. OpenAI’s average stock-based pay is more than seven times the level Google reported in 2003, a year ahead of its IPO, WSJ reported.
Equilar's analysis found OpenAI’s average compensation is around 34 times higher than the average pay at 18 large technology companies in the year before they floated.
Across major tech IPOs over the past 25 years, stock-based compensation typically accounted for only about 6% of revenue in the year before listing.
Equity Push Aimed At Retaining Top AI Talent
OpenAI has increased equity payouts to researchers and engineers to protect its lead in artificial intelligence (AI), with some packages making employees among Silicon Valley’s wealthiest.
Pay pressure rose sharply this summer as competition for elite AI talent escalated. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg began offering packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars and, in rare cases, up to $1 billion to senior hires across rival AI labs, the reported added.
That recruitment drive drew more than 20 OpenAI employees, including ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao. In response, OpenAI awarded some research and engineering staff a one-off bonus in August, with some payouts worth millions.
Stock Compensation Expected To Climb Through 2030
Investor documents shared over the summer show OpenAI expects stock-based compensation to rise by roughly $3 billion a year through 2030. OpenAI has also told staff it will end a policy requiring employees to wait six months before equity starts vesting — an adjustment likely to lift pay further.
The WSJ said OpenAI’s stock-based compensation could reach 46% of revenue in 2025, the highest among the companies reviewed, aside from Rivian, which had no revenue in the year before its IPO.
Separately, the Journal also stated that OpenAI has advertised a senior “Head of Preparedness” role focused on AI risk, offering $555,000 a year plus equity, with Sam Altman describing it as: “This will be a stressful job, and you’ll jump into the deep end pretty much immediately.”
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