Daniel Francis, founder of Abel, has claimed that Meta offered an AI expert $1.25 billion to join the company, and the person said no.
Francis shared the details with his followers on Sunday. He clarified that the sum would have been paid over four years, averaging over $300 million a year.
“Person said no, btw,” he wrote bluntly, without naming names.
The tweet was actually an update to a prior post he floated into the X-verse earlier in the weekend, where he posted, “Meta offered someone $1 billion for four years work.”
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Now, with the $1.25 billion figure on the table and still no takers, Francis expressed, “Was informed of a $1.25 billion offer for four years, new highest I've seen. guys what the hell is going on.”
But when someone responded, comparing these offers to intellectual property (IP) valuations, Francis gave a pointed reply: “IP is in people’s heads [right now].”
Meta’s headhunt sparks industry reckoning
{{/usCountry}}But when someone responded, comparing these offers to intellectual property (IP) valuations, Francis gave a pointed reply: “IP is in people’s heads [right now].”
Meta’s headhunt sparks industry reckoning
{{/usCountry}}Notably, Companies like Meta are desperately trying to secure top-tier talent. Francis’ own company, Abel, uses AI to automatically generate police reports from body cam footage and 911 dispatch data.
Interestingly, last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed that Meta has been actively trying to recruit his top technical staff with $100 million signing bonuses. “I’m really happy that, at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” Altman said.
The concept of companies purchasing whole innovation futures through people, where real IP is moving these days.
“The highest you’ve heard is regular to me,” one user commented.
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“It sounds insane to offer someone $1.25B until you do the math — could this person raise META's market cap .07%, in a way nobody else on the market could?” another wrote.
“Yeah I mean, when you break it down, that’s only ~$850,000 a day so I get why they said no,” one wrote.