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OpenAI's 110 London staff each earned £2.3m last year as ChatGPT giant prepares for stock market debut

OpenAI's London operation employed 110 staff whose combined earnings made each worker's average pay 58 times the UK median wage.
OpenAI's London operation employed 110 staff whose combined earnings made each worker's average pay 58 times the UK median wage.

OpenAI paid its 110 London employees an average of £2.3m each in 2025, combining £87m in base salaries with £168m in share awards tied to the company's soaring valuation. That works out at roughly £1,000 an hour before tax — 58 times the UK median wage. Total staff costs at the Westminster-based operation reached £258m, up from £60.7m the year before. The biggest packages go to AI researchers building cutting-edge models, with the firm now targeting a $1.4 trillion stock market valuation when it floats in 2027.

OpenAI's London arm nearly trebled its turnover in 2025 as a global talent war with rivals including Meta pushed compensation to extraordinary levels.

The company has pushed its IPO back to 2027, with chief executive Sam Altman pointing to safety concerns — even as analysts project it could exhaust $278bn in cash by the end of the decade.

Each London employee earns 58 times the UK median wage, meaning a typical British worker would need 58 years of earnings to equal a single year's average OpenAI package.

MoreDaily MailOpenAI's London staff earn £2.3m each as ChatGPT maker's value soarsThe TelegraphOpenAI’s British staff handed £800,000 each - The TelegraphThe GuardianOpenAI’s London staff receive average of £2.3m per person annuallyLADbibleOpenAI London employees get an average of £2.3m per person each year, accounts show - LADbibleNewsBytesOpenAI paid London staff average £2,318,181 amid King's Cross expansion
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