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OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

wsj.com

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Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#41

Post by yieldcrv »

cmiles8 wrote: post #40

“Paying” is a relative term here. Anyone that works for startups knows that it’s not really “compensation” until it’s cash in your bank account. Until then it’s just a theoretical number on paper, which tends to end up being worth a lot less than originally advertised/hoped. I’ve lost track of the number of times that someone’s startup got acquired for (insert what sounds like a big number) and everyone is like “wow…

The private secondary markets are extremely liquid if you’re a household name

The user experience is nearly the same as cash if you have an ounce of interest in having cash

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#42

Post by htrp »

no_wizard wrote: post #24
soared wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dont all private companies require approval for secondary sales, which I assume are not ever approved?

Typically. I’d be shocked if OpenAI let employees sell their options like this without requiring approval

They don't but you effectively do it under the table

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#43

Post by tonfa »

no_wizard wrote: post #36
tverbeure wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Want does “really” mean? If there are enough opportunities to offload stock on the secondary market (which seems to be the case of them), then it’s not fiction.

If you can show me that they can sell without OpenAI approval on the secondary market, I would concede in a heartbeat. If not, I am to assume this isn’t true, and that they are functionally non liquid possible assets at the discretion of OpenAI to sell

Yes, you might need approval, but if there's regular secondary sale does it matter?

> OpenAI has finalized a secondary share sale totaling $6.6 billion, allowing current and former employees to sell stock at a record $500 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/02/openai-share-sale-500-billio...

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#44

Post by jsnell »

lokar wrote: post #23
pcurve wrote: post #4

"OpenAI’s compensation as a percentage of revenue was set to reach 46% in 2025" At least the revenue is large enough to cover the payroll. That's a good milestone. Not really a fan of Altman, but I don't mind the competition he brings to the landscape.

Does that include stock? I bet it’s just cash.

The opposite. The article is just about stock-based compensation, and that 46% number is explicitly just that, not cash compensation.

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#45

Post by cmiles8 »

jacknews wrote: post #18

oh no, that might put upward pressure on Amazon employee salary demands!

The best people have all seemed to fled Amazon the last 24 months. LinkedIn is flooded with long tenured top tech folks leaving. I doubt that gives those left a great deal of leverage and Amazon was never known for market-leading comp.

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#47

Post by faizshah »

I heard that the environment there is 996 with high turnover. So you might be paid double in comparison to a FAANG job but you work double as well. (This was about dev positions not researchers)

Anyone know if that’s true? I only heard it second hand.

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#48

Post by Insanity »

sinenomine wrote: post #21

GPT-5.2 has radically changed my outlook on OpenAI. Head and shoulders above others. The excellence is there.

5.2 is good. But at this point every few months company A trumps company B with a new “SOTA” (for some definition of SOTA).

OpenAI has no real moat. Anthropic is focusing on developers as a clear target, and Gemini has the backing of Google.

I don’t see OpenAI winning the AI race with marginally better models and arguably a nicer UI/UX (ymmv, but I do like the ChatGPT app experience).

That said, my usage decreases month over month.

Re: OpenAI is paying employees more than any major tech startup in history

#49

Post by itsdrewmiller »

functionmouse wrote: post #31
lokar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, I wish the media would stop using just the average when the distribution is not normal.

That's exactly why they use averages, though. Propaganda is insidious in that way.

Who is “they”? I believe open AI would share averages for that reason but not that media would choose to cover it that way.
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