OpenAI reportedly sets aside $50 billion for employee stock program

Last fall, OpenAI reportedly set aside a stock pool for employees worth about ten percent of the company. Based on the $500 billion valuation from October 2024, that comes to around $50 billion, according to The Information, citing two people familiar with the plans.

OpenAI has also already issued $80 billion in allocated shares. Combined with the new stock pool, employees now own about 26 percent of the company. Meanwhile, OpenAI is in early talks with investors about a new funding round worth roughly $750 billion.

A previous analysis found that OpenAI pays its employees more than any tech startup in history, with stock-based compensation averaging about $1.5 million per employee. That level of spending complicates the path to profitability: the company is targeting around $20 billion in ARR. But on top of hefty payroll, development costs, and day-to-day operations, OpenAI faces about $1.4 trillion in data center commitments over the next eight years.