Some Early OpenAI Workers Became Very, Very Rich

Landing a job at OpenAI has turned out to be less "career move" and more "winning lottery ticket" for hundreds of employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that more than 600 current and former staffers were allowed to sell their company shares last fall and reaped a collective $6.6 billion. About 75 people sold the maximum amount allowed and made $30 million each. The stock sale—possible only after a two-year waiting period—offers an early look at how the AI boom is minting fortunes even before blockbuster IPOs arrive for OpenAI, Anthropic, and others, notes the Journal.

OpenAI's valuation has soared more than 100-fold for early employees over seven years, dwarfing the broader market's gains and reshaping pay norms: some technical roles now advertise salaries above $500,000, plus rich equity and occasional multimillion-dollar bonuses. The influx of money is pushing up San Francisco rents and stoking worries over inequality, even as some executives and rank-and-file workers pledge large chunks of their windfall to philanthropy (and reap tax breaks in return). Read the full story.