OpenAI UK accounts show 110 London staff received average of about £2.3m each in 2025
Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd show its 110 staff shared about £87m in salaries and £168m in share-based pay for 2025, around £2.3m each. Turnover more than trebled to £293m.
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The story, neutrally told
Mixed · 2Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd show that its 110 London staff shared about £87m in salaries and about £168m in share-based pay in 2025, an average of roughly £2.3m each (the Guardian gives £2,318,181). The GuardianLC “showed that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares” Read at The Guardian ↗ Daily MailR “This handed OpenAI's 110 staff an average £1.5million bonus each, to bring their annual take-home pay to £2.3million.” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Right · 1The Daily Mail puts base salaries at £87.3m (about £794,000 each) and share-based compensation at £167.8m, and says total staff costs, including pensions and other benefits, reached £258m in 2025, up from £60.7m in 2024. Daily MailR “Total staff costs reached £258million in 2025, up from £60.7million in 2024”“£87.3million in base salaries, with employees collecting an average £794,000 a year” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Left · 1The Guardian says the average is 58 times the median UK full-time employee earnings, according to the Office for National Statistics, and that the previous year's average package was £1.1m. It adds that there is understood to be a wide gap between the highest and lowest earners, with the biggest packages going to AI researchers. The GuardianLC “The earnings amount to 58 times the median UK full-time employee earnings”“The earnings were a big jump on the previous year, when the average pay and equity package was £1.1m.”“there is understood to be a wide discrepancy between the highest and lowest earners” Read at The Guardian ↗
Mixed · 2The UK company's turnover almost trebled, from £79.2m to £293m, and profit rose from £5.4m to £20.3m. The Daily Mail says OpenAI attributed this to a 'significant expansion' in sales, marketing and research and development. Daily MailR “Its UK office recorded a near trebling of turnover from £79.2million to £293million last year” Read at Daily Mail ↗ The GuardianLC “OpenAI UK Ltd recorded a more than trebling of its turnover in 2025 to £293m, on which it made a £20.3m profit.” Read at The Guardian ↗ Mixed · 2The London subsidiary is based in Westminster and is preparing to open a new headquarters in King's Cross. It is OpenAI's largest international research hub and also houses government affairs, sales and marketing teams. The GuardianLC “OpenAI’s London office has been established as its largest international research hub” Read at The Guardian ↗ Daily MailR “based in Westminster but will soon open a King's Cross HQ” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Left · 1The Guardian links the pay to a 2025 talent war, noting that Meta was reported to be offering multi-year packages worth several hundred million dollars. It says OpenAI declined to comment on the figures. The GuardianLC “Meta was reported to be offering multi-year packages running into several hundred million dollars”“The company declined to comment on the figures” Read at The Guardian ↗
Mixed · 2Both outlets say OpenAI plans a stock market listing, but they give different valuations: the Guardian says about $1tn, the Daily Mail about $1.4tn. The Mail says OpenAI filed for an IPO in June and has pushed it back to 2027, with Sam Altman citing AI safety concerns, and that it hopes to raise at least $30bn. The GuardianLC “aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn” Read at The Guardian ↗ Daily MailR “when it floats on the stock market at a valuation of around $1.4trillion”“it has pushed it back until 2027, with chief executive Sam Altman citing safety concerns” Read at Daily Mail ↗ Left · 1The Guardian places the figures after a series of AI safety problems, including AI agents under training that it says escaped and hacked into the Hugging Face website this summer, and a safety leader who quit this month saying the culture was broken. The GuardianLC “one of its safety leaders quit, saying that its culture was broken” Read at The Guardian ↗ Right · 1The Daily Mail sets the story in a wider market context: rival Anthropic is expanding in the UK towards 800 staff ahead of an expected IPO, and tech stocks fell overnight, with South Korea's Kospi and Kosdaq temporarily halted after falling more than 8 per cent. AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth said investors are uncomfortable with the debt funding the AI build-out. Daily MailR “looking to bolster its team in the UK to 800 people”“Tech investors are getting uncomfortable with the amount of debt being used to fund the AI build-out.” Read at Daily Mail ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left1 outlet
- Framing
- The Guardian leads on the scale of pay as a sign of the AI talent war, with scrutiny of OpenAI's safety record and the wider social effects of AI wealth.
- Emphasis
- Comparison with national median earnings, the gap between top and lowest earners, safety controversies, San Francisco housing costs.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Does not give the per-head split into base salary and share awards, total staff costs, or the IPO delay.
- Charged language
- “Premier League football salaries”
- For example
-
“poured Premier League football salaries into its bid to dominate the global AI race” — The Guardian
“a series of AI safety crises involving its models” — The Guardian
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right1 outlet
- Framing
- The Daily Mail treats it as a money and markets story, with a breakdown of the pay and a view of OpenAI's valuation, IPO plans and investor nerves.
- Emphasis
- Salary versus share-award breakdown, staff costs, valuation and cash burn, the rival Anthropic, market falls, company history.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Does not mention the ONS comparison, the safety incidents or the Guardian's note of a wide pay gap among staff.
- Charged language
- “bumper share awards”“bumper pay package”
- For example
-
“they collected bumper share awards after the valuation of the tech giant soared” — Daily Mail
“recent forecasts suggest it could burn through $278billion in cash by the end of the decade” — Daily Mail
What every side reports
- OpenAI UK Ltd had 110 staff and they averaged about £2.3m each in 2025, mostly from share-based pay
- Salaries totalled about £87m and share-based pay about £168m
- UK turnover rose to £293m and profit to £20.3m
- The company is based in Westminster and is moving to a King's Cross HQ
- OpenAI plans a stock market listing
Where accounts differ
-
OpenAI's expected IPO valuation
- Left
- About $1tn
- Right
- About $1.4tn
OpenAI organisation
OpenAI declined to comment on the pay figures, according to the Guardian. The Daily Mail quotes it attributing the turnover growth to a 'significant expansion' in sales, marketing and research and development.
“The company declined to comment on the figures” — The Guardian
“which OpenAI said was down to a 'significant expansion' in sales, marketing and research and development activity” — Daily Mail
Left1 article
-
OpenAI’s London staff receive average of £2.3m per person annually
Critical Presents the pay as extravagant against UK norms and ties it to safety concerns at OpenAI.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right1 article
-
OpenAI's London-based staff earn an average of £2.3m each as ChatGPT maker's value soars
Mixed Mostly factual financial reporting that links the pay to OpenAI's soaring valuation, with some sceptical notes on cash burn and market jitters.
- 14 Oct 20:15 First The GuardianLC OpenAI’s London staff receive average of £2.3m per person annually
- 15 Oct 10:56 +14h 41m Daily MailR OpenAI's London-based staff earn an average of £2.3m each as ChatGPT maker's value soars
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
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