{"id":18068,"date":"2025-06-27T03:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18068\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T03:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:59:11","slug":"former-openai-researcher-lucas-beyer-pours-cold-water-on-100-million-meta-signing-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18068\/","title":{"rendered":"Former OpenAI researcher Lucas Beyer pours cold water on $100 million Meta signing bonus\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trio of OpenAI engineers who co-founded the firm\u2019s Zurich office last year will indeed<\/a> be leaving to join Meta\u2014but they aren\u2019t getting $100 million apiece to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lucas Beyer<\/a> posted on X<\/a> Thursday that he, Alex<\/a>ander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua<\/a> Zhai would depart OpenAI to join the $1.8 trillion company led by Mark Zuckerberg. Beyer said it was \u201cfake news\u201d that Zuckerberg was paying him that level of compensation. However, that news came from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman himself, who called the offers \u201ccrazy\u201d this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started making these like, giant offers, to a lot of people on our team\u2014$100 million signing bonuses, more than that comp per year,\u201d Altman told his brother Jack Altman in an episode of the podcast<\/a> Uncapped. \u201cI\u2019m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take him up on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

hey all, couple quick notes:
1) yes, we will be joining Meta.
2) no, we did not get 100M sign-on, that’s fake news.<\/p>\n

Excited about what’s ahead though, will share more in due time!<\/p>\n

cc @__kolesnikov__<\/a> and @XiaohuaZhai<\/a>.\u2014 Lucas Beyer (bl16) (@giffmana) June 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Beyer, Kolesnikov, and Zhai have been members of the technical staff at OpenAI since December 2024, which they joined after being poached from rival Google<\/a> DeepMind<\/a>. They depart for Meta at a time when competition for talent among AI firms is reaching a frenzied pitch, with Zuckerberg reportedly<\/a> on a recruitment spree to counter the narrative that it is lagging behind in AI development. Reports claim the company is hiring a 50-person \u201cSuperintelligence\u201d team to ramp up its AI efforts. Meta has also purchased a $14 billion stake in Scale AI, to bring CEO Alexandr Wang<\/a> into the fold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg famously earns only $1 as CEO at Meta, although the company provides him a $14 million allowance for costs related to security for Zuckerberg and his family. He holds about 13% of the tech behemoth\u2019s stock and his fortune<\/a> is valued at $250 billion by Forbes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the top-paid executives at Meta, chief operating officer Javier Olivan was paid the most last year, with compensation valued at $25.5 million. No other top executive at Meta was paid $100 million in any of the past three years, according to the company\u2019s financial filings<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The median of the total annual compensation of all Meta employees other than Zuckerberg was $417,400<\/a> last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On X, a commenter speculated that Altman \u201cclearly just threw out the 100m figure out there to make potential takers think that they were being lowballed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it was a brilliant move, gotta give him that,\u201d posted Beyer in response.<\/p>\n

OpenAI and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n