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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

#51

Post by plaidfuji »

ur-whale wrote: post #11

OpenAI is exactly what happens when a company finds itself in such a far, far away blue ocean strategy that there are no more traditional "economic anchors" (to call it that) to reason with. It usually ends in blood and tears, for both employees and investors. BUT: the SOTA has been greatly advanced, which matters a great deal more than the destiny of a particular corporation or the social status of sam-i-am. So, ove…

I like this viewpoint - it basically casts VC-backed AI startups as privately-subsidized applied R&D projects, which largely seems to be the case for foundational model companies.

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

#52

Post by kristianc »

suzakus wrote: post #50

OpenAI doesn't offer traditional rsus (at least to regular employees?), but instead profit sharing units. https://www.levels.fyi/blog/openai-compensation.html Might change how you evaluate the value here.

The value of any traditional RSU is to treat it as a nice bonus if you get it, so not so much different from any other stock or option package.

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

#53

Post by imiric »

TrackerFF wrote: post #37

I just can't see any clear winners in the AI race. At least not as far as the models/products go. Maybe a wild round of mergers & acquisitions, combined with regulatory capture and some monopoly will be what settles everything. Probably with a crash in the middle of it all.

The market has not settled yet. We're in the late 90s internet era when it comes to "AI". As with the dotcom bubble, real value will only become evident after the crash.

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

#54

Post by mikert89 »

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…

this is a completely false and outdated take, you can easily sell openai shares

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

#55

Post by dwaltrip »

yieldcrv wrote: post #41
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

You need company approval to sell yeah? That could be a major issue.

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

#56

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

kristianc wrote: post #52
suzakus wrote: post #50

OpenAI doesn't offer traditional rsus (at least to regular employees?), but instead profit sharing units. https://www.levels.fyi/blog/openai-compensation.html Might change how you evaluate the value here.

The value of any traditional RSU is to treat it as a nice bonus if you get it, so not so much different from any other stock or option package.

I don't think this way at all. RSU (for public companies) is real, tangible money. Sure, there is some amount of risk involved with it, but it is WAY more tangible than options than can just be diluted if the person with the cap table is feeling ornery that day. The key that makes RSU's real money is their immediate liquidity on award, so you can literally just treat them as cash compensation in this regard if you decide not to hold them.

When you work at BigCorp for an extended period of time, your salary often ends up being majority by RSU as the vest rolls start to stack up

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

#57

Post by jackling »

sinenomine wrote: post #21

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

Really, I found 5.2 to be a rather weak model. It constantly gives me code that doesn't work and gets simple APIs wrong. Maybe it's just weak on the domain I'm working in.

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

#58

Post by no_wizard »

tonfa wrote: post #43
no_wizard wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Again, that doesn’t make the assets particularly liquid. They did this and that’s fine, but if they hadn’t done this you’d be stuck with a piece of paper even after the lockup period ends.

Until traditional RSUs that once they are vested you can sell them, with few exceptions

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

#59

Post by lokar »

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.

I think the simpler answer (and thus more likely) is that statistics education in the US is very bad (they should teach stats in high school, not calculus), and reporters just don't understand it. And the ones who do, believe (correctly) that their audience does not understand it.

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

#60

Post by [deleted] »

no_wizard wrote: post #58
tonfa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Again, that doesn’t make the assets particularly liquid. They did this and that’s fine, but if they hadn’t done this you’d be stuck with a piece of paper even after the lockup period ends. Until traditional RSUs that once they are vested you can sell them, with few exceptions

[deleted]
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