It’s been only three years since ChatGPT’s debut, yet OpenAI’s early employees have amassed enough wealth to buy every home sold in San Francisco over the past year
That comparison comes from analyst and San Francisco real estate agent Rohin Dhar, following news that OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion secondary share sale at a valuation of about $500 billion.
In the deal, current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion worth of private shares to investors. Because it was a secondary sale, the proceeds went directly to those shareholders rather than into the company’s balance sheet.
The sale provides enough liquidity for employees to snatch up residential properties at an alarming rate, Dhar wrote, adding that such a sudden influx of wealth could fuel upward pressure on local real estate prices.
OpenAI isn’t alone in generating massive windfalls for staff. Companies like Anthropic, Databricks, and Gusto have also offered sizable secondary share sales as part of the broader race to attract and retain AI talent.
The figures underscore both the extraordinary success of generative AI’s early leaders and the growing concern that these fortunes could widen the wealth gap, particularly in housing markets like California’s, where affordability is already under strain.
San Francisco and the Bay Area are among the nation’s least affordable housing markets
San Francisco and nearby tech hubs like San Jose remain among the most unaffordable housing markets in the United States.
A recent InvestorsObserver study found that 50% to 90% of neighborhoods across these regions are considered unaffordable for married-couple households, based on how much of a household’s monthly income would be consumed by mortgage and related housing payments.
A separate InvestorsObserver report using 2024 data also noted that San Francisco and San Jose rank among the least affordable cities when comparing mortgage payments to average rents, underscoring how even high earners struggle to transition from renting to owning.
Several structural factors drive the crisis: a limited housing supply constrained by strict zoning and geographic barriers, coupled with an influx of wealth from the tech sector. High-income buyers, particularly those in Big Tech, routinely outbid other residents, pushing prices even higher.
Based on Dhar’s analysis, the latest wave of wealth, fueled by the AI boom, is set to deepen the divide. The surge in liquidity from companies like OpenAI signals a new concentration of buying power — one likely to further widen housing inequality across the Bay Area.
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