OpenAI is rewriting Silicon Valley pay norms: OpenAI is paying employees more than any tech startup in history, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis—an eye‑catching marker of how intense the artificial‑intelligence talent race has become. (wsj.com)
The Journal, citing financial data OpenAI shared with investors, found the company’s stock-based compensation averages $1.5 million average stock pay per employee across roughly 4,000 workers in 2025. The figure is more than seven times Google’s level ahead of its 2004 IPO and 34 times the average among 18 large tech firms in the year before they went public, based on an analysis of Equilar data. (wsj.com)
OpenAI’s equity outlays are unusually large relative to its sales: Stock awards equal 46% of 2025 revenue, the Journal reported, and management has signaled stock comp could rise by roughly $3 billion annually through 2030. The company also ended a policy that required new hires to work six months before their equity began vesting—another sign it’s leaning on equity to recruit and retain. (wsj.com)
Frontier AI researchers and seasoned engineers are scarce, and rivals are bidding aggressively. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in June 2025 that Meta dangled signing bonuses as high as $100 million to poach his staff—offers he said did not succeed but that illustrate the market’s new reality. (reuters.com)
Amid the pay surge, OpenAI has continued to expand employee ownership. In January 2026, Reuters reported that, per The Information, OpenAI set aside a $50 billion new employee grant pool—about 10% of equity at a $500 billion valuation—on top of tens of billions in already‑vested shares. OpenAI declined to comment and Reuters noted it hadn’t independently verified the figures, but the report aligns with the company’s heavy reliance on stock to compete for talent. (reuters.com)
Liquidity has also been part of the equation. In February 2024, Bloomberg reported OpenAI completed a tender offer letting employees sell shares at an $86 billion valuation, a step that helped turn paper awards into cash and keep talent from drifting to public competitors. (bloomberg.com)
All eyes are on whether these unprecedented awards translate into sustained leadership in AI—and whether revenue growth can keep pace with dilution. For now, the numbers underscore a simple reality: in the race to build smarter models, OpenAI is paying up to stay in front. (wsj.com)