Oh My GOD: Another Tech Bro Just Turned Down An Offer From Mark Zuckerberg Only This Time It Was for $1.5 BILLION
Jesus f*cking Christ I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. $1.5 BILLION?!?! Is that the kind of money we're talking about now? Two days ago I was writing about a kid who turned down $125 million and couldn't believe it. Here's that article...
Now we've got guys casually turning down offers TWELVE TIMES as large. So who is this kid? From the Daily Mail...
Source - Andrew Tulloch, a University of Sydney graduate who grew up in Perth, spent more than a decade working at Facebook's parent company before joining rival OpenAI.
In February, Tulloch co-founded AI start-up Thinking Machines Lab with former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati. The company is now reportedly valued at US$12 billion (A$18.5 billion).
According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg tried to buy Thinking Machines Lab earlier this year, but Murati rejected his offer. Meta's CEO then attempted to lure the company's top talent, including Tulloch.
Tulloch was allegedly offered a US$1 billion (A$1.55 billion) pay package spread over six years, with the potential for even more through bonuses and stock performance.
Mr Tulloch moved to the US in 2012 and spent 11 years at Facebook's AI company, where he rose to the role of distinguished engineer.
In 2023, he moved to OpenAI, the research organisation behind ChatGPT, before joining former colleagues in forming Thinking Machines Lab this year.The start-up cites its mission of making 'AI systems more widely understood, customizable and generally capable'.
He achieved an ATAR of 99.95 in 2007 before graduating with first class honours and the university medal in mathematics at university in 2011.
He graduated with the highest GPA in the Faculty of Science.
The Australian worked at Goldman Sachs as a quant while studying at the University of Cambridge.
Well there ya go. TL/DR he's a math genius from Australia who worked at Meta and Goldman before starting his own AI company. Fast forward literally SEVEN MONTHS and that company is valued at $12 billion. It's tough to put into words (mostly because I don't have them) just how big of a bubble we are sitting on when it comes to AI. Think the internet times 1000. The only thing that rivals the amount of money being made is the level of innovation taking place. We haven't even scratched the surface of what this technology can do and things are just getting started. Think about it: if the smartest people in the world are throwing around ten figure checks just for the opportunity to be able to compete, that means something. Zuck is going all out trying to be at the forefront too…
OpenAI boss Sam Altman revealed in June that Meta had offered US$100million bonuses ($155million) to his staff in an unsuccessful bid to convince talent to switch teams.
'I'm really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,' he said.
Sources have also said that Meta executives approached at least a dozen employees at Thinking Machines Lab earlier this year in an aggressive talent raid. So far, no one has accepted their offer.
That said, if Tulloch is correct, that initial $1.5 billion offer will seem like pennies by the time his company IPOs. Time will tell.