The creator of ChatGPT is handing out stock packages that exceed its total revenue, a high stakes gamble to keep its engineers from defecting to rivals like Meta.
OpenAI is the undisputed poster child of the AI revolution, the company that forced the world to pay attention with the launch of ChatGPT. But behind the scenes, a desperate and wildly expensive battle is raging, and the cost of keeping the company’s geniuses in-house is becoming astronomical.
According to a recent report from The Information, OpenAI revealed to investors that its stock-based compensation for employees surged more than fivefold last year to an astonishing $4.4 billion. That figure isn’t just large; it’s more than the company’s entire revenue for the year, accounting for a staggering 119% of its $3.7 billion in total revenue.
This is an unheard-of figure, even for Silicon Valley. For comparison, Google’s stock compensation was just 16% of its revenue the year before its IPO. For Facebook, it was 6%.
So what’s going on? In short, OpenAI is fighting for its life in an unprecedented talent war, and its chief rival, Meta, is on the offensive. Mark Zuckerberg has been personally courting top AI researchers with massive compensation packages, successfully poaching several key minds from OpenAI’s core teams.
