Roughly 600 staff at OpenAI have walked away with an average of $11 million (£8 million) apiece after cashing out a combined $6.6 billion (£4.8 billion) in shares, in one of the largest single transfers of employee wealth that Silicon Valley has produced.

The secondary share sale, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, allowed early employees of the ChatGPT developer to sell stock to incoming investors rather than wait for an initial public offering. As many as 75 of the lucky group sold the maximum permitted by the company and walked away with $30 million each.

It is a vivid illustration of the concentration of wealth being generated by the artificial intelligence boom and a sharp reminder, for British SME founders watching from the sidelines, of the scale at which the US technology sector now operates. The single payout pool exceeds the entire annual research and development budget of most FTSE 250 companies.

OpenAI requires staff to hold their shares for two years before they can be sold, meaning last year’s deal was the first significant opportunity for early employees to realise their gains since ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022. The product’s instant global success has driven one of the steepest re-ratings of a private company in corporate history.

The lab founded by Sam Altman and his co-founders was valued at around $1 billion in 2019, when it established a profit-making subsidiary alongside its non-profit parent. By 2023, after Microsoft’s landmark investment shortly following ChatGPT’s launch, the figure had reached $29 billion. The October secondary sale that delivered last year’s payouts valued the company at $500 billion, and a further $122 billion fundraising round completed in March pushed the figure to $852 billion.

An initial public offering, expected in early 2027, could value OpenAI at more than $1 trillion and turn dozens of its earliest employees into multimillionaires several times over. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which now houses his xAI laboratory, and Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, are both reported to be eyeing public market debuts at comparable valuations.

The scale of the OpenAI payout has not gone unnoticed in the wider technology labour market. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is reported to have offered individual compensation packages worth more than $300 million in an attempt to lure leading AI researchers from rivals. The resulting talent war has pushed salaries for senior machine-learning engineers well into seven figures and is making it increasingly difficult for European start-ups, including British ones, to retain home-grown talent.

The transaction was completed even as concerns about an AI bubble reached a recent peak. Technology stocks suffered a sharp sell-off between September and October last year amid investor unease over the circular financing arrangements between AI laboratories, chipmakers and cloud providers, and over the eye-watering capital expenditure being committed by the largest players. That OpenAI was able to clear a $6.6 billion secondary at a $500 billion valuation in the middle of that wobble underlines the strength of demand from sovereign wealth funds and private investors for exposure to the sector.

The payouts also coincide with an increasingly bitter legal dispute between the company and Mr Musk, an early backer who has sued OpenAI over its conversion from a charitable foundation into a for-profit enterprise. The case, which has been in court for the past fortnight, has produced one of the more eye-popping disclosures of the boom: Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, testified that his stake in the business is worth approximately $30 billion. OpenAI has dismissed the litigation as motivated by jealousy and did not respond to a request for comment on the share sale.

For founders of British growth-stage businesses, the OpenAI numbers serve as both inspiration and warning. They demonstrate the extraordinary value that secondary markets can unlock for employees without the need to list, a route increasingly favoured in Silicon Valley as companies stay private for longer. They also underline the talent and capital headwinds facing any UK firm hoping to compete with the American hyperscalers, where stock-based compensation alone can exceed the lifetime earnings of an entire British R&D team.

Whether the AI boom proves to be a generational technological shift or a richly priced rerun of the dotcom era, the cheques have already cleared.

Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.

The 437,000 sq ft Staffordshire warehouse was mothballed by Asos in 2023

Marks & Spencer has struck a deal to acquire a warehouse from Asos in Staffordshire, a move set to generate 600 new jobs and bolster its ambitions to double online sales.

M&S confirmed the 437,000 square foot facility in Lichfield will rank among its largest distribution centres upon opening in 2027.

The warehouse was mothballed by Asos in 2023 as part of a restructuring drive aimed at reducing stock levels and costs while improving profitability.

It had employed a few hundred workers at the time, though Asos said when it announced the move that those staff were not directly employed by the group.

M&S said the site will expand capacity and enable faster order processing, supporting the retailer’s long-term ambition to double the scale of its online fashion, home and beauty operation.

“The new site will support the strategy to deliver more of M&S fashion faster than ever before, enabling customers to order later in the day and with more sizes and styles available,” the retailer said.

John Lyttle, managing director for fashion, home and beauty, said: “As we transform M&S fashion, home and beauty, our ambition is to double online sales.

“To achieve this and serve our customers faster, more efficiently and with better availability, our 24/7 distribution network needs more capacity.”

He added that the acquisition would advance its transformation agenda at considerably less expense than constructing a new site from the ground up. Asos confirmed it will pocket a minimum of £66 million from the warehouse sale while cutting approximately £6 million in annual running costs, including rent.

The transaction is set to generate a one-off profit uplift of around £85 million upon completion, which is anticipated before the end of August.

Asos shares surged 12% in morning trading on Monday following the announcement of the sale.

The retailer stated that its remaining facilities in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and Berlin will “provide sufficient capacity to support future growth”.

Asos chief executive Jose Antonio Ramos said: “The disposal of our Lichfield fulfilment centre represents a further step in strengthening Asos’s balance sheet and improving our capital efficiency.

“This transaction enables us to unlock value from one of our non-core assets while reducing our ongoing cost base, consistent with the actions we have taken over the past three years to simplify the business and enhance financial resilience.”

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The winners of the 2026 of HR in Wales Award have been revealed

The best in HR and people development in Wales has been recognised at an awards ceremony.

The outstanding contributions of six organisations and four individuals were acknowledged at the 2026 HR in Wales Awards with winners including S4C, St John Ambulance Cymru, Cartrefi Cymru Cooperative, Cardiff Community Housing Association and Creditsafe Business Solutions.

Held at the Marriott Hotel in Cardiff and hosted by former Welsh rugby international Alex Cuthbert, the awards were launched in 2025 by Lesley Richards, independent HR consultant and former head of the CIPD in Wales, to recognise the crucial role of the people profession in the workplace. This year’s awards saw another record number of entries from organisations across Wales.

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Ms Richards said: “We’re proud to have been able to celebrate the remarkable contributions of leading industry talent for a second year running. It was fantastic to see so many strong entries for this year’s HR in Wales Awards, the winners really are a testament to all the transformative work being done in Wales, despite ongoing economic uncertainty and budget pressures.

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to our sponsors and partners who joined us in celebrating the outstanding achievements of those who have been practicing great HR in Welsh workplaces. Congratulations to all winners and entrants.”

Among the four individuals recognised at the awards were Sadie Govier of Cardiff Airport and Nadine Beaton of S4C, winning in the rising star of the profession and excellence in HR Leadership categories respectively.

Rosie Sweetman from Cardiff-based Sweetmans and Partners, was also recognised in the individual impact category for her intelligent and adaptable approach to group coaching for her work with Williams Medial Supplies.

The special recognition for outstanding contribution to the people profession this year was awarded to Anne Middleton, HR manager at Atradius, in recognition of the vast contribution she has made to the profession across Wales and beyond over the last 35 years. Her achievements include playing a pivotal role in the establishment of the Welsh financial services graduate programme and leading the HR function for a global workforce of nearly 4,000 people.

Cartrefi Cymru Cooperative took home the accolade for employee engagement, with judges noting that its meaningful and impactful approach and efforts to recognise achievements at all levels made the business stand out.

Cardiff-based Creditsafe Business Solutions was awarded in the wellbeing category, while Cardiff Community Housing Association was recognised for equality, diversity and inclusion.

Welsh language broadcaster S4C won the award for transformation and Cchange with the judges applauding the organisation’s genuine cultural improvements which they say have helped staff to act with pride, clarity and autonomy.

Manufacturing firm, Siderise, which is based in Maesteg, was recognised for learning and development while St John Ambulance Cymru took home the award for the talent management category, with the judges impressed by its human-first approach to recruitment.

Ms Beaton of S4C said: “The win for the transformation and change category is a reflection of the hard work of the whole organisation and its commitment to cultural change. We couldn’t be prouder. It’s a pleasure to lead such an exceptional people and culture team. I try and make it my job to employ people who are better than me and it must be working.”

The winners of The 2026 HR in Wales Awards are: