OpenAI London Staff Averaged £2.3 Million in 2025 as AI Talent War Intensified

Q: How much of OpenAI's massive £1.5 million average equity payout is actually liquid cash for its London staff today?

Very little of that reported £1.5 million average equity payout is likely to be liquid cash today for most OpenAI London staff. In the UK accounts, the £167.8 million share-based compensation is an accounting expense, not a statement that employees were handed cash in 2025. The filings and related reporting suggest three reasons. Much of the award was in private-company equity, which generally cannot be freely sold until a tender offer or an eventual IPO. OpenAI did create some liquidity through employee share sales, including tenders in late 2025 and a much larger roughly $7 billion sale in 2026, but those events typically let staff sell only vested shares and often only up to certain limits. That means only a fraction of any grant becomes cash at a given point. The 2025 UK figure is also inflated by a group recapitalisation that converted older instruments into more standard RSUs. So part of the £1.5 million per head reflects one-off restructuring accounting rather than fresh, immediately saleable stock handed over that year. In practical terms, employees probably had access to cash mainly from salary — about £794,000 on average — plus whatever portion of vested stock they were allowed to sell in tenders. For many, that could mean none, some, or perhaps a minority of the headline equity value was actually cashable right away. The exact liquid amount per London employee is not disclosed, but the evidence points to it being well below the full £1.5 million average.

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 14

OpenAI’s 110 London employees shared £255 million in 2025—£87 million in salaries and £168 million in stock—lifting average compensation to £2,318,181 each, up from £1.1 million a year earlier.
The jump reflects a fierce scramble for elite AI researchers, with top packages concentrated among model builders and rivals such as Meta reportedly offering multi-year deals worth several hundred million dollars.
OpenAI’s UK arm also more than tripled turnover to £293 million and posted a £20.3 million profit, underscoring London’s role as its largest international research hub as it opens a new King’s Cross headquarters.
The pay figures equal 58 times median UK full-time earnings and come as OpenAI pursues a roughly $1 trillion listing ambition, while facing renewed scrutiny after recent safety incidents and a senior safety leader’s resignation.