The extraordinary wealth being created by artificial intelligence is already reshaping an industry far removed from the laboratories where the technology is developed. Wealth managers are cutting fees, recruiting advisers and redesigning services across Silicon Valley in anticipation of a new class of wealthy technology workers whose fortunes could expand dramatically when OpenAI and Anthropic enter public markets.
The Financial Times, which reported the figures and developments, describes the emerging competition as a race to win over employees of the two AI companies before their expected initial public offerings create a wave of newly minted millionaires. The contest reflects not only the scale of equity wealth accumulating among a relatively small number of technology workers, but also a shift in the negotiating power between financial advisers and their prospective clients.
Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division took in more than $74bn in net new assets from IPOs last quarter following SpaceX’s blockbuster listing, through its work managing employee equity plans. When OpenAI and Anthropic follow with their own flotations, expected within the next 12 months, wealth managers are preparing for another substantial opportunity, particularly investment-bank-affiliated advisers such as Morgan Stanley that act on the IPOs.
The potential scale of the OpenAI windfall is striking. The company handed out nearly $11bn in equity pay in 2024 and 2025, according to its financial statements. If OpenAI were to list now, that amount would rank seventh among US public companies for total employee equity remuneration, despite the company employing only about 8,000 people.
For wealth managers, the challenge is that these prospective clients do not necessarily fit the traditional model of private wealth acquisition. Many may possess substantial paper wealth while having comparatively little liquid money available to invest. Their financial circumstances can also change rapidly as restrictions on their shares expire and they begin selling portions of their holdings.
That has forced advisers to reconsider both pricing and the way they approach potential clients. “Showing up from Wall Street in a fancy suit and delivering a classic three-meeting sales process . . . is not the way that these prospective clients will make their decision,” said Jason Van de Loo, chief executive of wealth group Choreo, which has $19bn in regulatory assets under management.
Choreo agreed last month to a management fee of less than 0.5 per cent with more than 100 current and former SpaceX employees who negotiated collectively ahead of the company’s listing. Wealth managers commonly charge about 1 per cent of assets, although fees typically decline for larger accounts.
Other firms are similarly adapting their pricing structures. Mariner Wealth Advisors reduces its fees once the number of clients from a particular company reaches a critical mass. It has also sought to attract employees by charging separately for pre-IPO tax and equity-compensation planning rather than applying a fee to illiquid shares. Once employees sell some of their shares, they move to a more conventional model in which fees are based on assets under management, according to Steve Moyer, director of wealth strategy.
Some firms are pursuing the companies themselves. Citi last month announced a partnership with Palantir, demonstrating another route through which wealth managers can establish relationships with employees before substantial wealth is realised. Advisers are also waiving account minimums for some clients, recognising that the value of their prospective customers may lie more in future equity wealth than in their present assets.
“If they’re in a lock-up or, in the case of Anthropic or OpenAI, they don’t actually have any money today, we’re looking down the road,” said Jessica Caruso, executive managing partner at Mercer Advisors. “We should price them knowing where they’re going to end up versus where they are now.”
The expected AI wealth boom is also influencing the competition for financial professionals. Around San Francisco, firms are recruiting advisers as aggressively as they are pursuing clients. Mercer said it was hiring faster in the broader Bay Area than anywhere else in the firm.
The services demanded by the emerging AI wealthy are also beginning to resemble those associated with much richer and more established clients. Some employees are seeking assistance with philanthropy and funding new business ventures, areas more commonly associated with family offices — private wealth management companies serving wealthy individuals. Mercer has therefore given some AI employees access to a “family office-style offering” before they would normally qualify for such services.
Yet there are notable differences between these new clients and traditional family office customers. Advisers say AI employees are not, at least so far, demanding the extensive lifestyle services often associated with established fortunes.
“We’re not yet seeing that bleed into concierge services, bill-pay, private aviation, dog-walking,” said Choreo’s Van de Loo. “I think that speaks to the generation we’re serving and the way that these investors are wired.”
The emerging competition therefore centres on a distinctive form of wealth: fortunes built largely through equity in companies whose public-market futures remain ahead of them. For wealth managers, the opportunity is substantial, but so is the need to adapt. The expected flotations of OpenAI and Anthropic could turn large amounts of paper wealth into investable assets, while the employees holding those stakes are already demonstrating that they are willing to negotiate over how that wealth will be managed.
The result is a rapidly changing relationship between Silicon Valley’s technology workers and the financial institutions seeking their business. As the Financial Times’ reporting makes clear, the coming AI fortunes are not simply creating new millionaires. They are also creating a new market in which those millionaires, before their wealth is even fully realised, are gaining greater influence over the advisers competing to manage it.
