OpenAI paid its London staff an average of £2.3m each last year

By Rebecca Stone

OpenAI's London staff received an average of £2,318,181 per person last year, according to accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, the Westminster-based arm of the company behind ChatGPT.

The filings show that 110 employees shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares. The equity portion accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total payout. The figures place OpenAI's UK payroll in the territory of Premier League football wages, and they arrive as the company prepares for a stock market listing at a target valuation of about $1tn.

How much did each OpenAI employee in London actually get?

The headline number is £2,318,181 per head. That figure combines cash compensation with share awards granted through the company's equity structure. The 110 staff covered by the accounts worked for OpenAI UK Ltd during the last financial year.

The split matters. Salaries totalled £87m, or roughly £790,000 per person in cash. Shares added £168m on top, nearly double the cash component. For a company reportedly aiming at a $1tn listing valuation, equity is the primary instrument for retaining researchers and engineers in a market where rivals compete aggressively for the same narrow pool of talent.

Where is OpenAI's UK operation based?

OpenAI UK Ltd is registered in Westminster. The company is opening a new headquarters in London's King's Cross area. The move places OpenAI in the same district as other major technology employers and research labs that have expanded in London in recent years.

The UK operation remains small relative to OpenAI's headcount in the United States, but the compensation figures indicate that the London office is being staffed as a priority rather than an outpost.

Why does the pay figure matter?

The disclosure gives a rare concrete view of what top-tier AI companies pay for talent. OpenAI is private, and detailed compensation data for its US workforce does not appear in public filings in this form. UK companies must file accounts, which forces the numbers into the open.

The stakes are straightforward. OpenAI is competing in what the accounts' context describes as the global AI race, and it is spending accordingly. Paying average packages above £2m per person is one strategy for hiring and keeping the researchers who build frontier models. The £168m in share awards ties that cost directly to the company's expected valuation at listing.

The numbers also carry a policy dimension. Regulators and governments tracking the concentration of AI talent and capital will read these filings as evidence of how sharply compensation at the top of the sector diverges from typical UK wages. A company preparing for a $1tn flotation while paying its London staff Premier League-level salaries sits at the centre of that debate.

What happens next?

OpenAI is opening the King's Cross headquarters and pursuing a listing at a valuation of about $1tn. If the flotation proceeds, the £168m in shares already distributed to London staff converts from paper value into market-priced holdings, and the next set of UK accounts will show whether the company's London headcount — and its payroll — grew to match the ambition.