Elon Musk's $97 Billion Bid for OpenAI Sparks Fierce Clash with Sam Altman

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are fighting about OpenAI again. Here's what they've said

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are trading barbs about OpenAI again -- this time after Musk's reported offer to buy the artificial intelligence startup's assets for $97.4 billion. On Monday, Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, submitted a bid to OpenAI's board of directors for all of its assets, the Wall Street Journal reported. A group of investors led by Musk has reportedly offered to buy the nonprofit controlling the AI startup for $97.4 billion. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement shared with the Wall Street Journal through his lawyer. "We will make sure that happens." The offer to buy OpenAI's assets is being backed by Musk's rival AI startup, xAI, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that Musk has other investors backing him including Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC. Altman has since responded via X and through a series of press interviews at the AI Action Summit in Paris. Here's what Altman and Musk have said to and about each other in the past 24 hours. In response to the report about Musk's bid for OpenAI, Altman responded on X, the social media platform owned by his rival. "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman said. Musk replied to Altman's post, calling him a "Swindler." Musk later called the OpenAI chief executive "Scam Altman" in different posts on X -- one in response to a thread by Autism Capital about the Wall Street Journal report, and the other with a video clip of Altman telling Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) that he has "no equity in OpenAI" during a hearing with the Senate Judiciary subcommittee in 2023. Altman reportedly told OpenAI staff on Monday that the AI startup's board had rejected Musk's offer before even seeing an official bid, and called the effort "just embarrassing to watch," according to The Information. On Tuesday, Altman told Axios that the AI startup "is not for sale." "OpenAI's mission is not for sale -- to say nothing of the fact that, like, a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, 'I'm gonna buy this' with total disregard for the mission is a likely path there," Altman said. He added that other "versions of Elon" have tried to "take control of OpenAI for a long time." Altman told Bloomberg during a TV interview on Tuesday that he wished Musk "would just compete by building a better product." "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity," Altman said. "I feel for the guy. I don't think he's, like, a happy person." Altman referenced a controversial claim by Musk that landed the billionaire in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "I'm not the one who tweeted 'funding secured,'" Altman said Tuesday about Musk's 2018 assertion that he had support to take Tesla (TSLA-1.94%) private, according to CNBC. "I just actually try to show up and build." The OpenAI leader told CNBC that he is "not particularly" taking Musk's offer seriously. "I think it's to slow down a competitor and catch up with his thing, but I don't really know ... to the degree anybody does," Altman said, according to CNBC.

OpenAI's Sam Altman Mocks Elon Musk's Unsolicited $97.4 Billion Takeover Bid, Claims That Musk's 'Whole Life' Is Shaped By 'Insecurity'

The years-long battle between the two tech personalities is heating up. A billionaire tech battle is heating up as the chief executive of OpenAI, Sam Altman, brushes off Elon Musk's unsolicited bid to buy his artificial intelligence company and suggests that Mr. Musk lives his whole life "from a position of insecurity" and is probably not "a happy person." Mr. Altman offered his searing assessment of his fellow tech giant during a conversation with Bloomberg on Tuesday morning, responding to Mr. Musk's $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI by declaring that the company is "not for sale." Mr. Altman further dismissed the Tesla head's bid as an effort "to slow us down" as Mr. Musk builds up his own AI company, xAI. "They are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective from getting the product into the market and I wish he would just compete by building a better product," Mr. Altman said. He added that "there has been a lot of tactics" and "many, many lawsuits" but that "we'll try to just put our head down and keep working." The unsolicited bid, which was unveiled on Monday, is backed by a slew of well-known venture capital firms like Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, and Atreides Management. Mr. Musk's xAI is also a backer, and could merge with OpenAI should a deal be accepted. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Mr. Musk said in a statement provided to the Wall Street Journal. "We will make sure that happens." Mr. Altman quickly responded to the bid in a post on X, writing "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," a reference to Mr. Musk's social media platform, which is now called X. Mr. Musk replied: "Swindler." Years before the two tech personalities soured on each other, Mr. Musk and Mr. Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit research organization with the mission to "advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return." Four years later, Mr. Musk left OpenAI after falling out with the company's board and Mr. Altman was named chief executive. Under Mr. Altman's leadership, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary to raise money from investors like Microsoft. In 2022, the company unveiled its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, which is credited with launching widespread public interest in AI. Mr. Musk launched his own AI company a year later. Mr. Musk's offer comes as the Tesla head has launched a significant effort to challenge Mr. Altman's efforts to convert OpenAI to a for-profit company. Mr. Musk first sued OpenAI in February 2024 for prioritizing profit over the company's initial mission of benefitting humanity by becoming a "closed-source de facto subsidiary" of its investor, Microsoft. Although Mr. Musk dropped that suit in June, he refiled the complaint in August with additional allegations. OpenAI's leaders have brushed off Mr. Musk's legal attacks as a reaction to the company's success. "We believe the claims in this suit may stem from Elon's regrets about not being involved with the company today," Open AI's chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, wrote in an internal memo reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. In December, the company released documents that it claims serves as evidence that Mr. Musk previously supported turning OpenAI into a for-profit but walked away when he was denied full control of the company. In the meantime, Mr. Musk has buddied up to President Trump who has placed the billionaire businessman at the helm of a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is tasked with cutting unnecessary government spending. Mr. Musk's closeness to the 47th president, however, does not appear to concern Mr. Altman. When asked by Bloomberg on Tuesday if the relationship worried him, Mr. Altman responded: "Maybe I should, but not particularly." He added: "I try to just wake up and think about how we are going to make our technology better." Mr. Altman, for his part, was selected to appear alongside Mr. Trump the day after the inauguration as the 47th president announced his plan to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Mr. Musk, who wasn't involved in the announcement, took to X to bash the venture, suggesting that the companies behind the project didn't have sufficient funds to follow through on their pledges. Mr. Altman disputed his claims as "wrong" and offered to take Mr. Musk to visit the first site that is "already under way."

How Elon Musk $97.4 billion bid complicates matters for OpenAI

PARIS (AP) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed a $97.4 billion takeover bid led by rival Elon Musk, but the unsolicited offer could complicate Altman's push to transform the maker of ChatGPT into a for-profit company. "We are not for sale," Altman said Tuesday at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris. Musk's bid, announced Monday, is the latest in a bitter years-long battle with Altman over control of the AI startup they both helped found a decade ago as a nonprofit and is now a leading force in the global boom surrounding generative AI technology. "OpenAI has a mission," Altman told France's AI minister in an on-stage discussion Tuesday mobbed by tech industry workers and investors. "We are an unusual organization and we have this mission of making AGI benefit all humanity. And we are here to do that." Its stated aim since its founding in 2015 is to safely build futuristic, better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Musk, an early investor and board member, quit OpenAI in 2018 after an internal power struggle left Altman in charge. Their public feud has escalated over the past year as Musk sued OpenAI and is working to grow his own AI company called xAI, part of a business empire that includes Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X. Musk also now holds power as a top adviser to President Donald Trump in reshaping the U.S. government, and has publicly questioned OpenAI's Trump-backed private investment project for building AI data centers in the United States. The offer complicates OpenAI's plan to shift its structure away from its nonprofit roots to a company beholden to shareholders. OpenAI's nonprofit board will need to consider Musk's offer. It's not Altman alone who can accept or reject it. The board will need to weigh not just the value of the company's assets but also the value of controlling the company developing this technology. Musk's offer also seems to set a floor for how much the nonprofit should be paid if it does relinquish control of its subsidiaries. Rose Chan Loui, executive director for the Lowell Milken Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofits at UCLA Law, said the board should consider the credibility of Musk's offer, including if he and his investors will pay in cash. And they should consider whether a new board under the control of Musk and other investors would be independent and what guarantees they can give about protecting its public mission. Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover in 2022 also started with an unsolicited offer and a legal fight with Twitter's board, led by former Facebook and Salesforce executive Bret Taylor, who now chairs OpenAI's board. However, taking over OpenAI would be more complicated because of its charitable purpose. "There is a legally binding purpose," said Jill Horwitz, a professor at UCLA School of Law. "It is the promise that was made to the public when OpenAI, the nonprofit, was formed. That promise is legally enforceable." The sudden popularity of ChatGPT two years ago brought worldwide fame and new commercial possibilities to OpenAI and also heightened internal turmoil over the future of the organization and the advanced AI it was trying to develop. Its nonprofit board fired Altman in late 2023. He came back days later with a new board. OpenAI's nonprofit purpose, as defined most recently in 2020, is "(to) ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, including by conducting and/or funding artificial intelligence research." The question is, can it do that if it sells its assets and loses control of the company developing this technology? "To make the promise to the world that you are bound by a legal purpose and to build with that promise, including telling your investors not to expect any returns and to think of your investments as more akin to a donation than an investment," said Horwitz. "And then to say once you've gotten big enough, 'You know what? We'd like to own this. That seems like a real violation of the promise." Musk sued OpenAI last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab that would benefit the public good. A lawyer for Musk has said he invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018. Lawyers for OpenAI and Musk faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block OpenAI's for-profit conversion. The judge hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in the courtroom said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned transition. But she also suggested Musk had plausible enough arguments to take to a jury trial. Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund ,and firms run by Musk allies Ari Emanuel and Jon Lonsdale. Musk attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAI's current board "are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." Altman has sought to characterize Musk's tactics as those of a competitor trying to catch up. "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Altman told Bloomberg TV at the Paris summit on Tuesday. Continuing their deeply personal feud, Altman said Musk is probably not a "happy person." "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy," Altman said. -- - O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Beaty from Seattle. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives.

Musk's Bid to Control OpenAI Complicates For-Profit Transition

A decade ago, Sam Altman, Elon Musk and a group of other founders launched OpenAI as a nonprofit with a mission to build artificial intelligence that benefits humanity. Now, Altman and OpenAI are pushing to restructure as a more conventional for-profit business -- and Musk is using every tool at his disposal to stop it. Musk, who has since launched a rival AI firm, has fired off angry posts about Altman on his social media platform, filed two lawsuits against the company for allegedly straying from its founding principles and asked a court to block the ChatGPT maker's restructuring efforts. Last week, a judge said she was reluctant to immediately issue such an order in a case pitting "billionaires versus billionaires." Following that setback, Musk is shifting his battle with OpenAI from the courtroom to the boardroom. Musk has enlisted a group of wealthy allies for an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to buy the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. In a statement, Musk said he hopes to return OpenAI to being "the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." Musk's proposal was quickly rebuffed by Altman, who called it a tactic by a competitor to "slow us down" and stressed that the company is "not for sale." Meanwhile, OpenAI board director Larry Summers told Bloomberg News he has not received any formal outreach from Musk's side, raising questions about the seriousness of the offer. Marc Toberoff, a lawyer representing Musk and the other investors, said in a statement Tuesday that he emailed a four-page letter of intent on behalf of the consortium to two members of OpenAI's outside legal counsel the day before. The letter was addressed to the board of "the charity," he said, referring to OpenAI's directors. "Whether Sam Altman chose to provide or withhold this from OpenAI's other Board members is outside of our control," Toberoff said. (A person close to OpenAI said that the company's outside counsel has not yet received a letter of intent.) Assuming the board rejects the offer, as Altman suggested, Musk's effort will still complicate the company's complex restructuring effort at a time when it's in talks with SoftBank Group Corp. to raise a massive new funding round at a valuation as high as $300 billion. OpenAI declined to comment. Revaluing OpenAI's Assets Currently, OpenAI has a for-profit subsidiary that is governed by the nonprofit and its board. As part of the planned corporate shift, the company is expected to pay out a fair value for the nonprofit's assets. Previously, OpenAI said it will compensate the nonprofit in the form of equity. Legal experts have said regulators will be watching for what stake the nonprofit receives. With the new bid, Musk may have just raised the floor for how much OpenAI needs to allocate. "OpenAI's board is on perfectly solid footing to say no to Musk's bid," said Robert Bartlett, a professor at the Stanford Law School and co-director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance. "But that doesn't mean they can ignore the ramifications on what the bid means for valuing the assets of OpenAI's nonprofit." OpenAI has previously discussed giving the nonprofit a stake of around 25% in the for-profit company after it restructures, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations. But talks are ongoing and that number could change. At OpenAI's current $157 valuation, that stake amount to roughly $40 billion - far less than the amount Musk's group is offering. A significant valuation difference could raise questions about whether OpenAI's board is securing the highest possible amount for its nonprofit's assets. "That value cannot be determined by insiders negotiating on both sides of the same table," Toberoff said in a statement about the bid. "After all, the public is OpenAI Inc.'s beneficiary, and a sweetheart deal between insiders does not serve the public interest." However, Bartlett said there are a number of reasons that the board could cite to push back on the idea that Musk is making a "bona fide" offer, including whether he has fully secured the financing to back the bid. A Hostile Takeover Asked on Tuesday about the impact that Musk's unsolicited bid may have on the restructuring plans, Summers said OpenAI will "speak to that, as appropriate, if and when the board actually receives an offer, as distinct from reading media reports." It remains unclear how seriously OpenAI needs to evaluate Musk's takeover offer. As a nonprofit, OpenAI's board is tasked with performing its "fiduciary duties in furtherance of its mission," according the company's website. And that mission is building more advanced AI that's safe and "broadly beneficial." The board could reject a bid that it doesn't think serves that mission. "In this context, we don't have a public company. We have a nonprofit board," Bartlett said. "Their fiduciary obligation is to the charitable mission that established the nonprofit's existence." In the year-plus since Altman was briefly ousted from OpenAI, the board has also been overhauled and is now generally viewed as more aligned with the CEO. In addition to Summers, the board includes Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce Inc., and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, among others. Altman rejoined the board last year.

Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman: Billion-dollar feud, OpenAI takeover drama, and the future of AI power struggles

Sam Altman and Elon Musk's feud has taken a dramatic turn with Musk's $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI's nonprofit arm. Altman rejected the offer, mocking Musk with a counteroffer to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion. The rivalry, rooted in OpenAI's transformation and Musk's departure, now involves legal battles, political figures like Donald Trump, and AI dominance. With Stargate, a $500 billion AI project, adding to the tension, this power struggle is shaping the future of artificial intelligence. The battle between two of AI's biggest names is far from over, and the stakes couldn't be higher.The ongoing battle between Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and billionaire Elon Musk took another dramatic turn on February 10, 2025, when Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI's non-profit entity. Altman quickly dismissed the bid, reigniting a long-standing dispute that has stretched over years, involving lawsuits, public insults, and competitive AI ventures. Here's a detailed look at the timeline of this high-profile feud and its implications for the AI industry. On February 10, Elon Musk made a bold move by offering $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI's non-profit arm, a deal that could potentially lead to a merger between Musk's xAI and OpenAI. However, Altman dismissed the offer, calling it one of Musk's many attempts to "slow us down." In an interview with Bloomberg, Altman remarked that OpenAI is "not for sale" and described Musk's approach as "crazy." Adding a personal touch to the feud, Altman commented that he doesn't believe Musk is a "happy person" and that Musk operates "from a position of insecurity." In a mocking response, Altman even joked that OpenAI would be willing to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion, referencing the platform's declining value since Musk's $44 billion purchase in 2022. Also Read : Beyoncé 2025 London Tour: Ticket prices, presale details, and concert dates revealed Musk retaliated by labeling Altman a "swindler" and nicknaming him "Scam Altman" in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter). On January 24, Musk took another shot at Altman by reposting a Financial Times report suggesting OpenAI's ambitious $500 billion Stargate project lacked financial backing. Musk backed a commenter who claimed the project was "falling apart before it even starts." The previous day, January 23, former U.S. President Donald Trump publicly addressed the feud, implying Musk's distaste for Altman. Altman, in turn, posted a cryptic message on X: "Just one more mean tweet and then maybe you'll love yourself..." -- a pointed jab at Musk's online behavior. On January 22, Musk ramped up his criticism of OpenAI's Stargate project, questioning its legitimacy and calling Altman a "liar." He even resurfaced Altman's 2021 post celebrating Trump's 2020 election loss. Altman responded by calling Musk's attacks "self-serving," pointing out that Musk's AI ambitions conflict with OpenAI's interests. A day earlier, January 21, Altman stood alongside Trump to unveil Stargate, a massive initiative focused on AI infrastructure. Trump praised Altman as "by far the leading expert" in AI, while Altman credited Trump for making the project possible. This partnership between Altman and Trump further fueled Musk's criticism. Musk sued OpenAI on March 1, 2024, alleging it had become a "closed-source de facto subsidiary" of Microsoft, contradicting its original open-source mission. He later sought an injunction to stop OpenAI from pursuing a for-profit model, calling it a "market-paralyzing gorgon." Musk also labeled Altman as "untrustworthy" in an interview with Tucker Carlson in October 2024. Musk officially entered the generative AI race on July 12, 2023, with the launch of xAI. The company introduced Grok, an AI chatbot Musk positioned as an "anti-woke" alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT, which had debuted on November 30, 2022. Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2018, with the company initially framing it as a move to avoid conflicts of interest due to Tesla's AI advancements. However, later accounts revealed Musk had sought a controlling stake and the CEO position at OpenAI, which was rejected, leading to his departure. Both Altman and Musk were among the 11 co-founders of OpenAI in 2015. The organization was launched as a non-profit dedicated to advancing AI for humanity's benefit, free from financial pressures. Early backers included billionaires Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel, each bringing ideological and financial influence to the initiative. Also Read : Honeymoon over? Russia says relations with Donald Trump administration are on the brink of collapse; here's what could happen next The Altman-Musk conflict is a major storyline in the AI industry, where OpenAI and xAI compete alongside Google's DeepMind, Meta, and Amazon-backed Anthropic. Microsoft remains OpenAI's largest investor, having poured $14 billion into the company over five years. OpenAI's latest funding round valued the company at $157 billion, far surpassing Anthropic ($60 billion) and xAI ($50 billion). Musk, with a net worth of $392 billion, holds significant stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, while Altman, despite his OpenAI leadership, does not own equity in the company. Bloomberg reports that OpenAI is considering granting Altman a 7% equity stake, which would be worth $11 billion. With legal battles, social media spats, and competitive AI developments shaping the feud, the dispute between Sam Altman and Elon Musk shows no signs of slowing down. Musk's OpenAI buyout attempt signals his continued interest in influencing AI's future, while Altman remains focused on OpenAI's independent growth. The industry will be watching closely as the two tech leaders continue their battle over the future of artificial intelligence. Why is Elon Musk trying to buy OpenAI? Musk claims he wants OpenAI to return to its open-source, safety-first mission. What is the Stargate AI project? It's a $500 billion AI infrastructure plan involving OpenAI, Oracle, and global investors.

Musk v Altman: The battle to become king of AI

Elon Musk's bid to buy OpenAI for $97.4bn (£78.7bn) came unsolicited on Monday night and was quickly rejected by his former friend and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. It's the latest in a long-running spat between the former tech buddies. Back in 2015, Mr Musk and Mr Altman founded OpenAI along with nine other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to ensure "artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity". But the idealistic partnership wasn't to last. Three years later, Mr Musk left after a power struggle. "Elon wanted us to merge with Tesla or he wanted full control," the company wrote in a blog post about the split in 2024. When Mr Altman and the others refused to hand over control, Mr Musk left acrimoniously, taking a promised $1bn donation with him, according to OpenAI. However, he had been right about one thing. When he'd offered to let OpenAI treat Tesla as a "cash cow", he'd said it was the only way to compete with Google's DeepMind project, which was developing quickly. OpenAI wasn't bringing in enough cash and everyone agreed the company would need more resources if it wanted to reach the AI holy grail: artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is a hypothetical AI system that can perform any intellectual task that a human can. So, after rejecting Mr Musk's offer, Mr Altman set up a "capped-profit" subsidiary of the company and got investments from Microsoft and others. Elon Musk was not happy. He founded his own company, xAI, and then took OpenAI to court, suing for a breach of contract. He accused the ChatGPT developer of transforming into "a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company, Microsoft", according to a court filing. "It is not just developing but is actually refining an AGI [artificial general intelligence] to maximise profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity", the filing said. OpenAI denied this and also said it never promised to open-source its technology, just to spread the benefits of it. "The Open in openAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI after it's built, but it's totally OK to not share the science...", wrote former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever in an email to Elon Musk in 2016. "Yup," he replied, according to OpenAI. But the subsidiary still wasn't bringing in enough money and rumours began swirling in 2024 that Mr Altman would turn OpenAI into a for-profit company. Despite Mr Musk asking a judge to block this from happening, in December, Mr Altman officially released his plans for OpenAI's for-profit arm to take control and "raise the necessary capital" to reach general artificial intelligence. The non-profit side of the company would still exist to work on AI for the public good, the company reassured people. In order to make the switch from non-profit to for-profit, OpenAI's board is currently going through a complex process to value parts of the company. Sam Altman will then have to essentially buy the company from the non-profit, which is currently thought to be worth around $40 billion. Musk throws a 'wrench' into Altman's profit-making plans But Elon Musk has now "thrown a wrench" into those proceedings with his $97.4bn (£78.7bn) offer, according to Yale professor Jonathan Macey, who specialises in corporate governance. "The non-profit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it's a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit." OpenAI "may not be able to ignore" the bid, according to analyst Gil Luria, because it has credible investors backing it, including Ari Emanuel, chief executive of entertainment company Endeavour, and multiple other investment groups. However, others think this could just be another dig from Elon Musk to his former friend. "It's partially a troll, and partially setting a price that may cause Sam to pay more than he might want to," wrote Dan Primack, Axios's business editor, on X. However, when Sam Altman spoke to Sky News from an AI summit in Paris on Tuesday morning, he sounded confident. "The company is not for sale, neither is the mission." He was asked whether he can still afford to keep control of OpenAI after Mr Musk's bid. "The board will decide what to do there... the mission is really important and we're totally focused on making sure we preserve that," he told Sky's science and technology editor Tom Clarke. Read more from Sky News: Has Elon Musk just put OpenAI in a tricky situation? In China's Silicon Valley, where DeepSeek founder keeps a low profile 'Consolidating power' If Mr Musk's bid were to be successful, some are worried about the degree of influence it could give him. "Musk obviously already controls [X]," Sherif Elsayed-Ali, executive director of the Future of Technology Institute, told Sky News. "If he were to take control of OpenAI, or ChatGPT, which is the most widespread AI system out there, then you can see how that's really starting to consolidate power," he said. "The reality is, Musk is a political actor as well, so this is not a pure business transaction."

Why Elon Musk's $97 billion bid for OpenAI could disrupt Sam Altman's plans

OpenAI LLC, the for-profit artificial intelligence corporation seeking $40 billion in financing, will likely have a harder time raising money after Elon Musk, owner of xAI, offered on Monday to buy OpenAI Inc., the non-profit that owns OpenAI LLC. Musk's bid of $97.4 billion offer was first reported by the Wall Street Journal's Jessica Toonkel and Berber Jin, citing a statement by Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. Also: Need stock images? I tested Getty's 'safe' AI generator - and it's good (with caveats) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman brushed aside the offer, quipping on X, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Altman subsequently took jabs at Musk, telling Bloomberg reporters at the Paris AI summit that Musk is not a "happy person," and that the bid is a tactic to slow progress at OpenAI, which competes with xAI. The effort by Musk seems more likely a tactic to throw into chaos Altman's effort to raise $40 billion from a group of investors including Japan's SoftBank Group. The amount of money Musk is offering could set a value for the non-profit -- OpenAI Inc. -- which could hamper what Altman can get for the for-profit, OpenAI LLC. As the Journal's Jin, Theo Francis, and Tom Dotan explained last September, Altman has already pledged to transform OpenAI LLC from a subsidiary into a standalone, for-profit corporation by 2026. He had to accept this term in return for a $6.5 billion investment made last year by Microsoft and Nvidia. To make the LLC independent, Altman essentially has to buy out the non-profit parent. There has yet been no public statement by any of the parties involved on how much the parent company's assets are worth. Musk, by publicly declaring a willingness to pay $97.4 billion, is forcing Altman's hand, setting a public-market price that Altman would then have to match to get approval from OpenAI Inc.'s board, and from California regulators who are responsible for protecting the value of assets of non-profit entities. Also: OpenAI's new Deep Research agent can do in 5 minutes what might take you hours If OpenAI Inc.'s board were to accept Musk's offer, then Altman would end up negotiating with Musk, a hostile party, in order to proceed with the LLC's conversion to a for-profit, infinitely complicating Altman's path to independence. Even if the board were to reject Musk's offer, the result could be a much harder negotiation for Altman. If the parent, OpenAI Inc., suddenly has a much larger valuation, that means Altman might have to give his new investors smaller stakes in the company, which might alienate the investors, or make do with a smaller amount of money raised, which might not meet Altman's needs. OpenAI LLC has yet to turn a profit, according to reports, and Altman has pledged to help with the cost of the enormous Stargate Project that he is pursuing with SoftBank. Also: OpenAI eyes the wearables business: Robots, headsets, watches and a whole lot more The tricky situation for Altman was nicely laid out in an article Tuesday by the Journal's Dotan and Jin. Musk's apparent desire to deeply complicate Altman's world is the latest chapter in a tech bromance gone sour. Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with lavish rhetoric about using AI as a force for the good of humanity. Musk subsequently left and is suing Altman and the company, claiming that they have departed from the non-profit mission the two originally outlined. In theory, no corporation, for profit or otherwise, can be forced to accept a buy offer. However, it's unclear what additional pressures Musk could bring to bear on the situation with his nearly unlimited resources as the wealthiest individual on the planet and his tight relationship with US President Donald Trump.

Sam Altman calls out Elon Musk's 'insecurity' after hostile OpenAI...

Sam Altman said Tuesday that Elon Musk's "insecurity" was a factor in his decision to make a hostile $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, escalating an ugly war of words between the rival tech billionaires. Altman reiterated that OpenAI is "not for sale" after the unsolicited offer from a group led by Musk - who is currently trying to block the startup from restructuring to a for-profit entity as part of a broad federal antitrust lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker, key investor Microsoft and Altman himself. "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity," Altman said during an interview with Bloomberg at the high-profile Paris AI summit. "I feel for the guy. I don't think he's a happy person." Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI as a non-profit in 2015, but fell out after having disagreements over its long-term direction. Musk has since founded xAI, which directly competes with OpenAI in the race to develop the technology. The OpenAI boss accused Musk of "probably just trying to slow us down" with his latest tactic. "He obviously is a competitor," Altman added. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this." Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff unveiled the shock offer on Monday and said the world's richest man had secured backing from an array of well-known investors, including venture firms such as Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management and Vy Capital, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. In a statement, Musk said it was "time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." Within minutes after the offer first surfaced, Altman publicly rejected it while taking a shot at the $44 billion price that Musk paid to buy X, formerly known as Twitter. "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X. When Altman unveiled his $500 billion "Stargate" AI infrastructure project alongside President Trump last month, Musk publicly alleged that he had it on "good authority" that Altman and his partners "don't actually have the money." "Wrong, as you surely know," Altman said at the time. "Want to come visit the first site already under way? This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you'll mostly put [America] first." The takeover offer further complicates talks about the future of OpenAI, which has pledged to key investors that it will restructure within the next two years - or return their money. OpenAI is aiming to restructure as a public benefit corporation. The startup has said that the nonprofit entity that currently oversees its operations will continue to exist, though it will no longer be in control. At the same time, OpenAI is reportedly close to securing $40 billion in funds from SoftBank as part of a round that would value the startup at $300 billion. Musk's attorney Toberoff said in a statement that the non-profit must "be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." By making a $97.4 billion offer for OpenAI's assets, Musk may have set a floor price for the restructuring that is far higher than Altman and his allies had hoped. Musk and his partners say they are prepared to match any offers. If a deal were to happen, Musk's xAI could merge with OpenAI. Even outside of OpenAI, the takeover bid has generated a fair amount of skepticism. "We view this bid as not competitive but with the intention to slow down the OpenAI capital raising process as the Board now has to look at this bid even though the valuation is likely closer to $300 billion," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to clients.

A Musk-backed group just offered a $97 billion unsolicited bid for OpenAI

In what is becoming an increasingly tiresome and petty personal spat between a pair of tech billionaires, the Wall Street Journal reports Monday that a consortium backed by xAI CEO Elon Musk has made an unsolicited, $97.4 billion bid for control over rival OpenAI. This offer comes mere months after Musk sued the company over its plan to transition to a for-profit business structure. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," the WSJ cited Musk as saying in a statement provided by his lawyer, Marc Toberoff, to the OpenAI board. "We will make sure that happens." Recommended Videos The WSJ reports that the bid is being backed by xAI, which would likely merge with OpenAI, should the deal eventually go through. The board has not made any decisions about the offer as of yet, but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly rejected Musk's overtures, offering to instead purchase Twitter (now, officially, X "The Everything App") for the same amount. no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want — Sam Altman (@sama) February 10, 2025 Musk and Altman have been at this for years now. The two co-founded OpenAI in 2015, though Musk resigned from his position as co-chair of the company's board in 2018 after his demands for "majority equity, absolute control, and to be CEO," were rejected. He went on to found xAI in 2023 -- purveyors of the Grok chatbot -- and has since committed to relentlessly harassing OpenAI, and Sam Altman in particular. In March 2023, half a year before founding xAI, Musk cosigned an open letter calling for "all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4." It is surely only a coincidence that xAI itself publicly launched almost exactly six months after that letter was published. In November of that year, shortly after Altman had been (temporarily) rousted from his leadership position at OpenAI, Musk shared an unsigned and anonymous letter that he "received" that accused Altman of numerous unethical dealings as CEO. The source of those accusations were eventually tracked to unverified posts made to Board.com, an anonymous message board site. Musk has sued OpenAI multiple times in 2024 alone. In March, he sued the company along with Altman and the company's President, Greg Brockman, over allegations that they had violated the company's founding contract in their pursuit of commercial interests at the expense of the public good, though he subsequently withdrew the suit the day before a judge was scheduled to hand down their ruling on whether it could proceed or would be dismissed. He revived that lawsuit in August with the same claims as before. "Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon -- and in just eight years," the complaint reads. "After Musk lent his name to the venture, invested significant time, tens of millions of dollars in seed capital and recruited top AI scientists for OpenAI Inc, Musk and the non-profit's namesake objective were betrayed by Altman and his accomplices." In November, Musk abruptly amended the suit, expanding it to target OpenAI-backer, Microsoft, while naming Shivon Zilis, mother of three of Musk's children, as a plaintiff. OpenAI responded in December with a blog post titled, "Elon Musk wanted an OpenAI for-profit," detailing Musk's initial support for the for-profit transition and provided email records to back up those assertions. The courts have not yet ruled on the ongoing lawsuit, but given that the running feud between the two men now stretches more than six years, there's little hope that this latest salvo will be the last of their fight.

Altman responds after Musk-led group makes $155.3 billion bid for OpenAI

A group of investors led by Elon Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion (AUD$155.3 billion) bid to take control of OpenAI - adding new intrigue to the billionaire's legal war with the ChatGPT maker and its CEO Sam Altman. Musk's stunning offer to buy the pioneering startup as it attempts to transition to a for-profit firm includes financing from prominent venture firms such as Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management and Vy Capital, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bid also is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, the outlet reported. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement. "We will make sure that happens." Minutes after Musk's team went public with the offer, Altman shot it down -- and appeared to poke fun at the $44 billion price that Musk paid to buy X, formerly known as Twitter. "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X. Musk replied to Altman's post with one word: "Swindler." Musk's group is looking to buy the nonprofit entity that currently controls OpenAI and presented its offer to the AI giant's board of directors on Monday, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. The offer was submitted even as Musk actively sues OpenAI in an effort to upend Altman's plans to turn OpenAI into a for-profit entity. During a court hearing earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that parts of Musk's lawsuit could proceed to trial, as long as Musk testifies on the stand. Musk and his allies are ready to match any competing offers for the nonprofit, Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," Toberoff told the outlet. Toberoff did not immediately return The Post's request for comment. Musk's bid raises new questions about OpenAI's future and who could ultimately control the business. OpenAI has insisted that the non-profit arm will receive the full value of its stake in the firm, though it will no longer oversee its operations. OpenAI is planning to restructure as a for-profit public benefit corporation, in which leaders weigh both societal impact and profit when making decisions. Altman is expected to receive an ownership stake as part of the transition. Last fall, the ChatGPT maker recently raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation. OpenAI has committed to completing the shift within the two years, or else investors will be allowed to renegotiate the valuation. Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman in 2015 and was a key early investor, but the two later fell out after having disagreements over the company's long-term direction. The tech billionaires have since become bitter rivals and have frequently traded public jabs while their firms compete to win the AI race. When Altman appeared alongside President Trump and others at the White House to unveil a $500 billion "Stargate" AI infrastructure project last month, Musk publicly claimed that they didn't have enough money to follow through on the plan. Last year, Musk filed a broad amended lawsuit accusing OpenAI, key investor Microsoft, billionaire Reid Hoffman and others of violating federal antitrust law in a bid to dominate the AI market. Musk alleges that OpenAI abandoned its original goal of developing AI to benefit humanity while transforming from a "tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon." OpenAI has repeatedly blasted Musk's claims in the lawsuit as baseless and accused him of waging an "increasingly blusterous campaign to harass OpenAI for his own competitive advantage."

How Elon Musk $97.4 Billion Bid Complicates Matters for OpenAI

PARIS (AP) -- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed a $97.4 billion takeover bid led by rival Elon Musk, but the unsolicited offer could complicate Altman's push to transform the maker of ChatGPT into a for-profit company. "We are not for sale," Altman said Tuesday at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris. Musk's bid, announced Monday, is the latest in a bitter years-long battle with Altman over control of the AI startup they both helped found a decade ago as a nonprofit and is now a leading force in the global boom surrounding generative AI technology. "OpenAI has a mission," Altman told France's AI minister in an on-stage discussion Tuesday mobbed by tech industry workers and investors. "We are an unusual organization and we have this mission of making AGI benefit all humanity. And we are here to do that." Its stated aim since its founding in 2015 is to safely build futuristic, better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Musk, an early investor and board member, quit OpenAI in 2018 after an internal power struggle left Altman in charge. Their public feud has escalated over the past year as Musk sued OpenAI and is working to grow his own AI company called xAI, part of a business empire that includes Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X. Musk also now holds power as a top adviser to President Donald Trump in reshaping the U.S. government, and has publicly questioned OpenAI's Trump-backed private investment project for building AI data centers in the United States. What happens next? The offer complicates OpenAI's plan to shift its structure away from its nonprofit roots to a company beholden to shareholders. OpenAI's nonprofit board will need to consider Musk's offer. It's not Altman alone who can accept or reject it. The board will need to weigh not just the value of the company's assets but also the value of controlling the company developing this technology. Musk's offer also seems to set a floor for how much the nonprofit should be paid if it does relinquish control of its subsidiaries. Rose Chan Loui, executive director for the Lowell Milken Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofits at UCLA Law, said the board should consider the credibility of Musk's offer, including if he and his investors will pay in cash. And they should consider whether a new board under the control of Musk and other investors would be independent and what guarantees they can give about protecting its public mission. Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover in 2022 also started with an unsolicited offer and a legal fight with Twitter's board, led by former Facebook and Salesforce executive Bret Taylor, who now chairs OpenAI's board. However, taking over OpenAI would be more complicated because of its charitable purpose. "There is a legally binding purpose," said Jill Horwitz, a professor at UCLA School of Law. "It is the promise that was made to the public when OpenAI, the nonprofit, was formed. That promise is legally enforceable." The sudden popularity of ChatGPT two years ago brought worldwide fame and new commercial possibilities to OpenAI and also heightened internal turmoil over the future of the organization and the advanced AI it was trying to develop. Its nonprofit board fired Altman in late 2023. He came back days later with a new board. OpenAI's nonprofit complications OpenAI's nonprofit purpose, as defined most recently in 2020, is "(to) ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, including by conducting and/or funding artificial intelligence research." The question is, can it do that if it sells its assets and loses control of the company developing this technology? "To make the promise to the world that you are bound by a legal purpose and to build with that promise, including telling your investors not to expect any returns and to think of your investments as more akin to a donation than an investment," said Horwitz. "And then to say once you've gotten big enough, 'You know what? We'd like to own this. That seems like a real violation of the promise." Musk sued OpenAI last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab that would benefit the public good. A lawyer for Musk has said he invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018. Lawyers for OpenAI and Musk faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block OpenAI's for-profit conversion. The judge hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in the courtroom said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned transition. But she also suggested Musk had plausible enough arguments to take to a jury trial. Who else is backing Musk's OpenAI bid? Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund ,and firms run by Musk allies Ari Emanuel and Jon Lonsdale. Musk attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAI's current board "are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." Altman has sought to characterize Musk's tactics as those of a competitor trying to catch up. "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Altman told Bloomberg TV at the Paris summit on Tuesday. Continuing their deeply personal feud, Altman said Musk is probably not a "happy person." "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy," Altman said. -- - O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Beaty from Seattle. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Elon Musk reportedly bidding $97.4 billion on OpenAI

As OpenAI attempts to become a for-profit venture, Elon Musk appears to be a throwing a wrench into the works. A report from The Wall Street Journal revealed today that Musk, alongside a number of investors, is offering nearly $100 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. The investor group includes Ari Emanuel and Musk's own artificial intelligence company, xAI. At the time of writing, OpenAI has not officially released a statement about the bid. However, OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, did post on Twitter, "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk, apparently, unamused, responded, "Swindler." He has continued making anti-Altman posts on Twitter including a video where he wrote "Scam Altman." This is the latest development in the ongoing feud between two of tech's biggest AI supporters in the United States. The bid was said to have been submitted to the OpenAI board of directors by Marc Toberoff, a lawyer who is also leading a lawsuit instigated by Musk against OpenAI last year. The move also comes as OpenAI is in the midst of another fund-raising push as part of project Stargate, a Trump-backed plan to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States. It shares the same name as a project introduced last year by OpenAI and Microsoft. At the same time, Altman has been in the process of turning OpenAI from a nonprofit venture into a for-profit company. It's unclear if Musk's bid alters those plans as some valuations have the company set at $157 billion. This feud goes as far back as 2015. OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others that year. Publically, the feuding seemed to begin in 2018 when Musk left OpenAI's board of directors. It was initially described as a conflict of interest removal. However, later reporting seemed to reveal a more contentious ousting as Musk apparently attempted to take on chief executive role and merge OpenAI with Tesla. Five years later in 2023, Musk launched xAI which quickly released the AI chatbot Grok that was described as an anti-"woke" response to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Last year, things ramped up in March when Musk first launched his lawsuit claiming that Altman had violated the company's principles. That lawsuit continued in November with a preliminary injunction to OpenAI from becoming for-profit. The announcement of Stargate during the first week of the second Trump administration induced a childish war of words on Twitter between Musk and Altman with Musk claiming OpenAI"s main backer, SoftBank, didn't have the money. A brief tit-for-tat ensued from there. Musk called Stargate "fake" and questioned Altman's loyalty to Trump. Now, we have this $97.4 billion unsolicited bid and mocking words from Altman. While both men are billionaires, Elon Musk is quite possibly the richest person on Earth with estimated worth of $392 billion. Altman, by comparison, is worth $1.2 billion, largely thanks to investments in Reddit and Stripe. Allegedly, he does not have equity stake in OpenAI. They both also seem to have President Trump's ear, with Musk running amok through the government with his DOGE plan and Altman's support of the Stargate program which includes building data centers throughout the United States -- something that the administration isn't actually paying for and was already in progress before Trump was sworn in. The feud appears no closer to ending or coming to an amicable end.

Elon Musk kicks off $97.4 billion effort to buy OpenAI by immediately starting social media beef with Sam Altman

A group of investors led by Musk want to assume control over OpenAI. A Wall Street Journal report says a group of investors led by X owner Elon Musk has made an offer to buy the non-profit organization that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion. Musk said in a statement that the offer was made in order to return OpenAI "to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," adding, "We will make sure that happens," but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seems determined to ensure it doesn't happen. The offer to purchase OpenAI is the latest twist in a dispute that goes back almost a full year: Musk sued OpenAI in March, claiming the company had abandoned "its mission to develop AGI for the benefit of humanity" in exchange for the pursuit of profit. OpenAI was founded as a non-profit but set up a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 after Musk's departure, and the money has been flowing free and fast ever since. That all sounds noble and altruistic, but in December 2024 OpenAI released a statement saying Musk had pushed a for-profit structure for OpenAI in 2017, prior to his departure, and had demanded majority equity in and the role of CEO of the for-profit division. OpenAI ultimately rejected the offer, telling Musk it worried that "as the company makes genuine progress towards AGI, you will choose to retain your absolute control of the company despite current intent to the contrary." Musk then proposed a deal between OpenAI and Tesla in order to facilitate fundraising; shortly after that offer was rejected, Musk resigned. In 2023 he founded his own competing AI venture, xAI. The whole thing brings to mind Musk's infamous Twitter fiasco of 2022, when the world's richest man made an off-the-cuff offer to buy Twitter for $44 billion and then did his best to get out of it before months of legal wrangling arm-twisted him into closing the deal. But the big difference in the OpenAI offer is that it's not just social media dick-swinging that's spiralled out of control. The WSJ says the proposal is backed by several big-money investors, and that means two things: It's a serious offer, and it (maybe) won't be derailed by Musk's erratic behavior. It's hard to say how this all might work out. $97.4 billion is an awful lot of money, but a recent funding round put OpenAI's valuation at $300 billion, and the company is also leading a joint venture called Stargate that will see the US government sink $500 billion into the development of AI infrastructure. Numbers basically have no meaning at that point, except to the extent that a sub-$100 billion offer may not be enough to get the job done, particularly given Musk's handling of Twitter, now called X, which has struggled badly under his tenure. If the deal does eventually go through, it would presumably leave Musk with a significant and possibly controlling interest in OpenAi; how that would impact OpenAI -- whether it might be merged with xAI, somehow intertwined with Tesla and/or SpaceX, or just left to be mauled by DeepSeek -- is anyone's guess. Whatever the future holds, it already looks like personal beef will be a big and entertaining part of it. Altman alluded to X's financial troubles and post-Musk value plunge in his response to the offer, writing, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." In a one-word response, Musk called Altman a "swindler." He later posted a brief video clip of Altman testifying before the US senate, calling him "Scam Altman."

Elon Musk-led group makes shock $97.4B bid for OpenAI -- but Sam...

A group of investors led by Elon Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI - adding new intrigue to the billionaire's legal war with the ChatGPT maker and its CEO Sam Altman. Musk's stunning offer to buy the pioneering startup as it attempts to transition to a for-profit firm includes financing from prominent venture firms such as Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management and Vy Capital, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bid also is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, the outlet reported. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement. "We will make sure that happens." Minutes after Musk's team went public with the offer, Altman shot it down -- and appeared to poke fun at the $44 billion price that Musk paid to buy X, formerly known as Twitter. "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X. Musk replied to Altman's post with one word: "Swindler." Musk's group is looking to buy the nonprofit entity that currently controls OpenAI and presented its offer to the AI giant's board of directors on Monday, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. The offer was submitted even as Musk actively sues OpenAI in an effort to upend Altman's plans to turn OpenAI into a for-profit entity. During a court hearing earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that parts of Musk's lawsuit could proceed to trial, as long as Musk testifies on the stand. Musk and his allies are ready to match any competing offers for the nonprofit, Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," Toberoff told the outlet. Toberoff did not immediately return The Post's request for comment. Musk's bid raises new questions about OpenAI's future and who could ultimately control the business. OpenAI has insisted that the non-profit arm will receive the full value of its stake in the firm, though it will no longer oversee its operations. OpenAI is planning to restructure as a for-profit public benefit corporation, in which leaders weigh both societal impact and profit when making decisions. Altman is expected to receive an ownership stake as part of the transition. Last fall, the ChatGPT maker recently raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation. OpenAI has committed to completing the shift within the two years, or else investors will be allowed to renegotiate the valuation. Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman in 2015 and was a key early investor, but the two later fell out after having disagreements over the company's long-term direction. The tech billionaires have since become bitter rivals and have frequently traded public jabs while their firms compete to win the AI race. When Altman appeared alongside President Trump and others at the White House to unveil a $500 billion "Stargate" AI infrastructure project last month, Musk publicly claimed that they didn't have enough money to follow through on the plan. Last year, Musk filed a broad amended lawsuit accusing OpenAI, key investor Microsoft, billionaire Reid Hoffman and others of violating federal antitrust law in a bid to dominate the AI market. Musk alleges that OpenAI abandoned its original goal of developing AI to benefit humanity while transforming from a "tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon." OpenAI has repeatedly blasted Musk's claims in the lawsuit as baseless and accused him of waging an "increasingly blusterous campaign to harass OpenAI for his own competitive advantage."

Elon Musk heads group trying to buy control of OpenAI: Report

Elon Musk is leading an investment group offering $97.4 billion for the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, marking a new front in his war with the ChatGPT-maker, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Musk attorney Marc Toberoff said he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board of directors, according to the Journal. "No thank you, but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," OpenAI chief Sam Altman wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, apparently responding to the offer. Musk, who bought X under its former moniker for $44 billion in 2022, replied to the post by simply writing: "Swindler." Musk's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Tesla boss and close ally of US President Donald Trump has been mired in an ongoing feud with Altman, with Musk filing repeated lawsuits against the San Francisco-based OpenAI. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, with the company becoming the world's leading AI startup since he left in 2018. He launched his own generative AI startup, xAI, in 2023. "We created a bespoke structure: a for-profit, controlled by the non-profit, with a capped profit share for investors and employees," OpenAI said in a December blog post that outlined a plan to become a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation. The shift would require the company to balance the interests of shareholders, stakeholders, and the public in a tilt away from non-profit, according to the post. Musk established xAI in early 2023 to have a foothold in the technology expected to disrupt how people live and work. OpenAI is one of the world's highest valued startups, but loses money on the high costs of turning out its expensive technology. Trump in January announced a major investment to build infrastructure for AI led by Japanese giant Softbank, cloud giant Oracle and OpenAI. The venture, called Stargate, "will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States," Trump said in remarks at the White House. OpenAI co-founder and boss Altman, SoftBank's chief Masayoshi Son and Oracle founder Larry Ellison attended the announcement. But Musk was quick to cast doubt on the project, saying the money promised for the investment actually was not there. The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world's richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the new US administration after spending $270 million on the Republican's election campaign.

Sam Altman Says He Feels Sorry for Elon Musk and His Bottomless Insecurity

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk was leading a massive $97.4 billion bid to take over the nonprofit that controls ChatGPT maker OpenAI. It didn't take long for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who runs the company's for-profit arm and sits on the board of its non-profit as well, to slap down the offer. "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote in a scathing rebuke shortly after the WSJ published its story, referencing Musk's disastrous acquisition of the social media platform, which has since lost almost 80 percent of what it was worth when he bought it. The battle of the outsized egos, which has been many years in the making, didn't end there. During a Bloomberg interview at the Paris AI Action Summit today, Altman took another jab at the richest man in the world. "Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time," he said. "This is the latest -- you know, this week's episode." "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity," Altman added. "I feel for the guy. I don't think he's like a happy person. I do feel for him." The beef between the two CEOs dates back many years. In 2019, roughly four years after the pair co-founded OpenAI, Musk rage quit the nonprofit, citing disagreements with the group's direction. Since then, Musk has filed several lawsuits against the ChatGPT maker, claiming that it had lost track of its "open-source" roots, and instead becoming beholden to corporate incentives and multibillion-dollar deals. That's despite having founded his own AI company, dubbed xAI, a for-profit entity that has raised billions of dollars, much like OpenAI. Emails leaked by OpenAI have also shown that Musk believed early on that OpenAI should be turned into a for-profit. In terms of valuation, Musk's AI company has historically lagged behind OpenAI. In December, xAI raised $6 billion at a valuation of $50 billion, less than a third of what OpenAI was valued at the time. That's not to mention OpenAI's current attempt to raise another $40 billion to effectively double its valuation in less than half a year, to an astronomical $340 billion. Technologically, xAI has also lagged, with an "anti-woke" chatbot that often shares progressive political opinions instead. Put simply, there are plenty of reasons to suggest that Musk has been raging against his number one competitor in the AI space out of "insecurity." As Reuters pointed out, it could also be a "textbook" example of "founder's syndrome," a situation when one or more founders maintain huge amounts of influence, which eventually leads to a litany of problems. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics," Altman told Bloomberg today. "Many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this. And we'll try to just put our head down and keep working." In some ways, Musk has taken on the qualities of people he once mocked. The billionaire once took it out one of his favorite punching bags, Amazon founder and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos, accusing him in 2021 of retiring "in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX." Given the many complaints he has filed against OpenAI, Musk has seemingly taken on that position himself. Nobody knows how OpenAI's non-profit board will view Musk's extremely overvalued offer. But bearing in mind Altman's notable influence over the board -- which changed significantly after he was booted and reinstated as the CEO in late 2023 -- it's unlikely to be taken all too seriously. Apart from calling Altman a "swindler" for not taking him up on his unusual offer, Musk has yet to respond to Altman's latest attack. However, Musk is unlikely to roll over and leave it at that, so expect more drama as the richest man in the world pursues the opportunity he walked away from over five years ago.

Elon Musk-led group makes surprise bid of nearly $100bn for OpenAI

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO and co-founder, responded that he would not accept and offered to buy X instead Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI, Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," said Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors. Altman posted his reaction on X shortly after the news broke, saying, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk famously bought Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and renamed it X. Musk responded to that post, saying, "Swindler." Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but left the company in 2019 and started his own AI company called xAI. Over the past several years, he's tussled with Altman over the direction of the company. He sued OpenAI over the company's re-structuring plans last year, dropped the suit, then re-filed it. The bid is backed by xAI and several investment firms, including one run by Joe Lonsdale, who co-founded the stealth government contractor Palantir. Ari Emanuel, who's the CEO of the entertainment company Endeavor, has also joined the group through his investment fund. "At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow. We've made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators," Musk said in a statement. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens." Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal that Musk's consortium of investors is ready to match or go higher than any other bids on OpenAI that may arise. OpenAI has maintained that its restructuring is essential to the longevity of the company and being able to access capital. It has said that if it keeps its non-profit structure as is, it won't be able to keep up in the highly competitive world of AI innovation. OpenAI said it plans for the restructuring to be done by 2026. Although Musk is close Donald Trump ally, Altman has also met with the president and attended his inauguration. Trump tapped OpenAI to be part of a group of AI companies to work on a $500bn deal called Stargate to invest in the burgeoning technology. Musk's xAI is not part of this deal.

How Musk's $97.4B bid could gum up OpenAI's for-profit conversion | TechCrunch

On Monday, Elon Musk, the world's richest man, offered to buy the nonprofit that effectively governs OpenAI for $97.4 billion. The unsolicited buyout would be financed by Musk's AI company, xAI, and a consortium of outside investors, per a letter sent to California and Delaware's attorneys general. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly dismissed Musk's bid, and took it as a chance to publicly dunk on him. "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote in a post on X just hours after reports emerged of Musk's offer for OpenAI. Musk owns X, the social network formerly known as Twitter; he paid roughly $44 billion for it in October 2022. The two have a history. Musk is an OpenAI co-founder, and both he and xAI are currently involved in a lawsuit that alleges that OpenAI engaged in anticompetitive behavior, among other things. But Altman's rejection a $97.4 billion takeover offer is more complicated than just saying "no thanks," according to corporate governance experts who spoke with TechCrunch. For background, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit before transitioning to a "capped-profit" structure in 2019. The nonprofit is the sole controlling shareholder of the capped-profit OpenAI corporation, which retains formal fiduciary responsibility to the nonprofit's charter. OpenAI is now in the process of restructuring - this time to a traditional for-profit company, specifically a public benefit corporation - in a bid to raise much more capital. But Musk - who is notorious for drowning his enemies in legal troubles - may have stalled the transition and raised the price of OpenAI's nonprofit with his bid. Delaware and California's attorneys general have requested more information from the ChatGPT maker about its plans to convert to a for-profit benefit corporation. The situation also forces it to consider outside bids seriously. OpenAI's board will almost certainly refuse the bid, but Musk has been setting the stage for future legal and regulatory battles. He's already attempting to stall OpenAI's for-profit conversion via an injunction, for instance. The bid appears to be an alternative offer, of sorts. Now, OpenAI's board will have to demonstrate that it's not underselling OpenAI's nonprofit by handing the nonprofit's assets, including IP from OpenAI's proprietary research, to an insider (e.g. Sam Altman) for a steep discount. "Musk is throwing a spanner into the works," said Stephen Diamond, a lawyer who represented Musk's opponents in corporate governance battles at Tesla, in an interview with TechCrunch. "He's exploiting the fiduciary obligation of the nonprofit board to not undersell the asset. [Musk's bid] is something OpenAI has to pay attention to." OpenAI is said to be gearing up for a funding round that would value its for-profit arm at $260 billion. The Information reports that OpenAI's nonprofit is slated to get a 25% stake in OpenAI's for-profit. With his bid, Musk has signaled there's at least one group of investors willing to pay a sizable premium for OpenAI's nonprofit wing. That puts the board of directors in a tight spot. Still, just because Musk threw out an eye-popping offer doesn't mean that OpenAI's nonprofit has to accept. Corporate law gives tremendous authority to incumbent boards to protect against unsolicited takeover bids, according to David Yosifon, a Santa Clara University professor of corporate governance law. OpenAI could make the case that Musk's bid is a hostile takeover attempt given that Musk and Altman aren't the best of friends. The company could also argue that Musk's offer isn't credible because OpenAI is already in the midst of a corporate restructuring process. Another approach OpenAI could take would be challenging Musk on whether he has the funds. As The New York Times notes, Musk's wealth is largely tied to his Tesla stock, meaning that Musk's investment partners would have to supply much of the $97.4 billion total. OpenAI's board may need to review Musk's offer to fully asses whether it aligns with the nonprofit's mission, not just specific financial or strategic goals, according to Scott Curran, the former General Counsel to the Clinton Foundation. That means Musk's offer could be weighed against OpenAI's mission: "to ensure that artificial general intelligence - AI systems that are generally smarter than humans - benefits all of humanity." "When Altman posted that response [on X], that was probably done without legal guidance," Yosifon said. "It's not good for a regulator to see that kind of dismissive, knee-jerk tweet." The board is likely to side with Altman. Nearly all the directors joined after Altman was briefly fired, then rehired, by the nonprofit's board in late 2023. Altman himself is also a board member. If nothing else, Musk's bid may raise the potential market value of the OpenAI nonprofit's assets. That could force OpenAI to raise more capital than it originally anticipated, and complicate talks with the startup's existing backers. It could also dilute the value of stakes held by OpenAI investors in the for-profit arm, including major partners such as Microsoft. That's sure to anger Altman, who's been working with investors for months to determine how to fairly compensate the nonprofit. The gist is: OpenAI's corporate restructuring plans just got more complex.

'I Don't Think He's a Happy Person': Sam Altman Turns Down Elon Musk's Offer to Buy OpenAI as the Billionaires Exchange Personal Jabs on X

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected the bid, saying that Musk is trying to slow down OpenAI's product development. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, 39, made it clear on Tuesday that OpenAI was not for sale following a surprise $97.4 billion offer from Elon Musk on Monday for the company's operating assets. "Elon tries all sorts of things," Altman told Bloomberg at the Paris AI Action Summit on Tuesday. "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down." Altman pointed out that Musk, 53, is the CEO of xAI, a rival AI startup that last raised $6 billion in December 2024. xAI is "trying to compete" with OpenAI by trying to get new technologies and products to the market faster than OpenAI, according to Altman. Related: Elon Musk Is Accusing OpenAI of 'Offering Vastly Inflated Compensation.' Here's How Much OpenAI Employees Really Make, From Technical to Communications Roles Altman was later asked in the interview if Musk trying to take over OpenAI came from a position of insecurity about xAI's technology. Altman responded with a personal jab at Musk. "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity," Altman said. "I feel for the guy, I do, I don't think he's a happy person." Musk led a group of investors to make an unsolicited offer to buy OpenAI, submitting a bid to OpenAI's board of directors on Monday, per the Wall Street Journal. Musk said in a statement provided by his lawyer, Marc Toberoff, that his intention with the bid was to bring OpenAI back "to the open-source, safety-focused force of good it once was." Altman quickly responded with a post on X on Monday, writing, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter, now X, in October 2022. Musk replied to Altman's post with one word: "Swindler." Shortly after the exchange, Musk posted on X "Scam Altman" with a clip of Altman testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2023. In the clip, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) asks Altman if he makes a lot of money. Altman says he is paid enough for health insurance and has no equity in OpenAI. Kennedy says that Altman "needs a lawyer or an agent," and Altman responds by saying that he is working at OpenAI "because [he] loves it." Altman makes $76,000 per year as OpenAI's CEO but is worth at least $2 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index because of investments in Stripe, Reddit, and nuclear energy startup Helion. Musk helped cofound OpenAI and left in early 2018 after Altman and other company founders rejected Musk's proposal to take control of and run the company. He has since filed lawsuits against Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, accusing them of going against the founding principles of OpenAI and working to maximize profits for Microsoft, a now key investor that has poured close to $14 billion into the company. Related: Elon Musk Accuses ChatGPT-Maker OpenAI of Being a 'Market-Paralyzing Gorgon': Lawsuit Altman took another jab at Musk by telling Bloomberg on Tuesday that he wished Musk would compete with OpenAI by building better products, instead of filing lawsuits and the $97.4 billion bid. "There's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this," he said referring to the bid. "We'll try to put our heads down and keep working." Musk is the richest man in the world with a net worth of $395 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

OpenAI's Altman appears to reject Musk's $97.4B bid for control

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has seemingly knocked back Elon Musk's $97.4 billion bid to buy out the ChatGPT maker. The Wall Street Journal reported that a Musk-led group of investors submitted a $97.4 billion bid to OpenAI's board of directors to buy the nonprofit on Feb. 10. Altman responded in a Feb. 10 X post, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk purchased the platform, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk seemingly hit back by sharing a video on X of Altman's 2023 testimony before Congress, where he told lawmakers that he owns no equity in OpenAI, with the caption "Scam Altman." Altman and Musk were co-founders and co-chairs of OpenAI when it launched in 2015 as a nonprofit. Musk's reported bid comes amid an ongoing feud with Altman over the direction of the artificial intelligence firm as Altman wants to shift the company to a for-profit venture, which Musk disagrees with. Musk sued OpenAI and Altman in August, claiming they violated promises to operate as a nonprofit. He had originally dropped the lawsuit after OpenAI published several of Musk's emails from the early days of the firm that appeared to show him conceding that it needed to make money. Related: OpenAI CEO: Costs to run each level of AI falls 10x every year Musk's reported bid for OpenAI is backed by his AI company xAI, along with a host of venture and investment firms, including Baron Capital, Vy Capital and 8VC. Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, told the Journal that the group is prepared to match or beat any higher bids. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," Toberoff said.

Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI

A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the ChatGPT maker at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models. Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a U.S. district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure. Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement on Monday. "We will make sure that happens." Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "Musk's bid puts another wrinkle into OpenAI's quest to remove the nonprofit's control over its for-profit entity," said Rose Chan Loui, executive director of the UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits. "This bid sets a marker for the valuation of the nonprofit's economic interests," she said. "If OpenAI values the nonprofit's interests at less than what Musk is offering, then they would have to show why." The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Emanuel Capital and others. XAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal which first reported Musk's offer earlier on Monday. XAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have said. "This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things," said Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance. "The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it's a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit." OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, according to a January report. Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. Musk's stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165 billion, according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44 billion buyout of what was then called Twitter in 2022. To finance such a bid, Musk could sell part of his stake in Tesla or take a loan against his stake, or use his stake in rocket company SpaceX that is worth tens of billions of dollars as collateral, according to an uninvolved investment banker, who requested anonymity. "Musk's offer to buy OpenAI's nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI's current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors. ... OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI's board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank."

Elon Musk Makes Huge Bid to Seize Control of OpenAI

Billionaire and White House advisor Elon Musk is leading a gigantic $97.4 billion bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reports. Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, delivered the unsolicited offer to the ChatGPT maker's board of directors today, signaling a dramatic escalation in his years-long beef with the company he co-founded alongside CEO Sam Altman in 2015. Musk rage quit the AI company after growing frustrated with its direction in 2019. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by Toberoff, as quoted by the WSJ. "We will make sure that happens." The timing of the bid is especially interesting, as Altman revealed that he regrets leading OpenAI's transition ditch its open source roots in a Reddit AMA late last month. "I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy," he wrote. Musk has repeatedly lashed out at Altman, going as far as to sue OpenAI last year for having been "transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft," citing the latter's major investment in the AI company. There's a bit of a double standard there, it's worth pointing out; Musk has raised billions of dollars for his own AI company, xAI, which is for-profit. Meanwhile, OpenAI has defended itself against Musk's lawsuit, even demonstrating that Musk had once supported turning OpenAI into a for-profit himself, but later ditched the firm since he couldn't assume full control. Musk ended up dropping the lawsuit three months later. In short, the latest bid to take back control of OpenAI could easily be seen as the richest man in the world's dissatisfaction with not being in charge of one of the key players in the ongoing AI race. The bid may have also been inspired by plain jealousy. Altman signed onto president Donald Trump's $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure deal, which had Musk -- who has grown extremely close to Trump -- seething with rage last month as he was left out. According to the WSJ, xAI is backing Musk's bid. The Grok AI creator would presumably merge with the ChatGPT maker if the bid were to be accepted. Musk has also secured several other investors, including a number of VC funds and founders. Independent of Musk's latest bid, OpenAI is reportedly trying to raise another $40 billion which would value it at a gargantuan $340 billion. "Swindler," Musk replied.

Sam Altman shuts down Elon Musk's $97B bid: OpenAI "is not for sale"

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has rejected Elon Musk's $97.4 billion takeover bid for OpenAI, complicating Altman's efforts to transition the organization into a for-profit entity. "We are not for sale," Altman stated during an AI summit in Paris on Tuesday. Musk's bid, announced Monday, represents the latest chapter in an ongoing conflict between him and Altman, dating back to their founding of OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit. Altman emphasized OpenAI's mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. He reiterated this stance during a dialogue with France's AI minister, expressing that the organization has a unique mission to pursue. The negotiations also reflect the shifting structure of OpenAI, which is moving from its nonprofit beginnings towards a for-profit model that serves shareholders. Bret Taylor, the chair of OpenAI's nonprofit board, confirmed on Tuesday that Musk's bid is "largely a distraction" from their mission and affirmed that "OpenAI is not for sale." Elon Musk launches legal war against OpenAI The board must evaluate Musk's offer while adhering to their fiduciary duty to further OpenAI's mission. As Taylor noted, the board's responsibility is to assess whether decisions advance the goal of ensuring AGI ultimately benefits humanity. This assessment will include considering not only the financial aspects of the offer but also the implications of relinquishing control over AI development. Legal experts point out that Musk's offer could set a minimum valuation for OpenAI's assets if it decides to change its nonprofit status. Rose Chan Loui, executive director for the Lowell Milken Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofits at UCLA Law, stated that the board should closely examine the credibility of Musk's offer and assess whether he and his associates would finance it in cash. Historically, Musk's business dealings include a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which began under complex circumstances, suggesting the intricacies involved in his current bid may also bear challenges due to OpenAI's nonprofit mission. Jill Horwitz, a professor at UCLA School of Law, cited the legally binding nature of OpenAI's commitment to operate as a nonprofit, emphasizing that any shift from this model must adhere to its original purpose, which was publicly promised when it was established. Musk has previously taken legal action against OpenAI, alleging it has deviated from its founding mission as a nonprofit research organization. His legal team claims he invested approximately $45 million from its inception until 2018, and there is ongoing litigation concerning Musk's requests to block OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure. A federal judge recently suggested that Musk has presented plausible arguments warranting further review but noted it may be challenging to claim irreparable harm without intervention against OpenAI's planned transition. During the AI summit, Altman responded to Musk's concerns about funding for President Trump's Stargate joint venture, which aims to invest in computing infrastructure, by asserting, "I'm not the one who tweeted funding secured. I just actually try to show up and build," referencing Musk's controversial past statement regarding Tesla's financing. In addition to Musk's involvement, other backers of the takeover bid include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, and Vy Fund, as well as firms linked to Musk associates Ari Emanuel and Jon Lonsdale. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, indicated that if OpenAI's board is serious about transitioning into a full for-profit corporation, fair compensation for the control of transformative technology must be considered. Altman dismissed suggestions that Musk's motives may reflect insecurity about competitive positioning, suggesting Musk is attempting to slow OpenAI's progress as a rival entity. Altman remarked, "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy."

After Elon Musk Bid, Sam Altman Says OpenAI Is 'Not for Sale'

Sam Altman is pushing back on an unsolicited bid made by Elon Musk and a group of investors to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. The $97.4 billion bid, made by Musk's AI company, xAI, and backed by several investment firms, deepens the ongoing battle between Musk and Altman over OpenAI, which they co-founded in 2015. The bid, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, comes as Altman plans to transition OpenAI into a for-profit company. OpenAI also recently announced the Stargate Project, a joint venture that plans to invest up to $500 billion in new AI infrastructure for OpenAI over the next four years. Altman and Musk are already facing off in court, with Musk alleging that Altman strayed from the nonprofit's mission to create AI to benefit humanity, and OpenAI countering at one point that Musk himself had wanted to turn OpenAI into a for-profit entity. OpenAI has said that a for-profit arm is needed to support the humanity-benefiting mission. Both Musk and Altman are set to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday to discuss safety guardrails for AI. Read more: OpenAI Operator Will Do Your Clicking and Typing for You "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement, according to the Journal. "We will make sure that happens." In a tweeted response to the bid, Altman referenced Musk's social media company, X -- formerly Twitter -- and said, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," shifting the decimal point in Musk's bid to the left. Altman also told OpenAI employees that Musk's bid was a move "to try and weaken us because we are making great progress," the Journal reported. OpenAI started as a nonprofit, but after Musk departed years later and Altman became CEO, the company began raising money from investors, including Microsoft, as part of a for-profit subsidiary. Now that Altman is working to convert the for-profit subsidiary into a traditional company in a bid to make it more profitable, questions remain about how the nonprofit division will be valued and what that means for consumers. "We can already see what a shift to for-profit looks like for OpenAI," Paul Schell, industry analyst at market research firm ABI Research, told CNET. "They are one of the most commercially mature AI firms currently operating in the market, regardless of their true intentions behind their frontier model development. In other words, if today's operation is 'philanthropic' or in the pursuit of something other than profit, then a transition to for-profit would not look much different." Read more: OpenAI: Everything You Need to Know About the Company But how this would directly affect consumers remains unknown; it could shake out in user costs, but "future pricing is extremely hard to predict," Schell said. "If an innovation on either the hardware or software side drastically decreases costs and the innovating firm can capitalize on this for market share, others will be forced to follow," Schell said. "Equally, if models become transformative and more deeply integrated into people's workflows and lives, we might be willing to pay more for access." As for Musk, Schell said it's unclear what he's trying to accomplish with the bid for OpenAI. "Even if he had the funds -- OpenAI is aiming for a much higher valuation -- the board would not agree to such a move because there is a deep rift between Altman and Musk," Schell said. In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, Altman said he believes Musk's bid is part of a greater effort "to slow us down." Musk's xAI is a direct competitor to OpenAI, and Musk has devoted a great deal of time and energy to developing a product to compete against OpenAI's ChatGPT service. "OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is, you know, this week's episode," Altman said in the interview. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product," he added. "But I think there's a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits and all sorts of crazy things, and now this. We'll just try to put our head down and keep working."

ET Explainer: Elon Musk-led group offers $97.4 billion to buy Open AI

Elon Musk, along with a coalition of investment firms, is committed to taking control of OpenAI and reinstating its non-profit status, according to Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to Musk's social media platform, X, rejecting the proposed acquisition, and jokingly said, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."An Elon Musk-led consortium is offering approximately $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI, escalating an ongoing legal conflict with the artificial intelligence company Musk once helped establish. This move is part of Musk's effort to regain control over the ChatGPT creator and steer it back to its original mission as a non-profit research lab that is focused on benefiting the public. According to his attorney Marc Toberoff, Musk and a coalition of investment firms are determined to take over OpenAI and restore its non-profit status. In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took to Musk's social media platform, X, rejecting the proposed acquisition, and jokingly said, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk responded, calling Altman him a "swindler". In a separate post, Musk addressed his arch rival as "Scam Altman." According to a report by The Information, Altman also informed his staff that the company's board of directors intends to make it clear that it has no interest in Elon Musk's "alleged bid." "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." We will make sure that happens," Musk said in a statement on Monday, as reported by Reuters. The legal battle reached a new stage last week when Musk and OpenAI's legal teams squared off in a California federal court. The judge was asked to consider Musk's request for a court order blocking OpenAI from transitioning into a for-profit company. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim that he would suffer irreparable harm if the transition proceeded without court intervention. However, the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft, a significant part of the company's business strategy. Despite Musk's efforts to halt the shift to a for-profit model, Judge Gonzalez Rogers indicated that the case would continue toward trial, potentially as early as next year, allowing a jury to determine the outcome. Musk's legal action against OpenAI began last year when he first filed a lawsuit in California state court and moved the case to federal court. Musk alleges that OpenAI has strayed from its founding principles as a non-profit research lab aimed at serving the public good. In December, Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta also joined the suit. According to Musk's attorney, the billionaire had invested approximately $45 million into the company from its inception in 2015 until his departure from the board in 2018. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 to develop artificial intelligence technology in a way that "benefited humanity". However, Musk left the organisation before it gained significant momentum, and tensions between the two have escalated since he resigned from the board in 2018. Over the years, the two have been at odds over the startup's direction, with Musk disagreeing with the company's shift toward a for-profit model. In 2023, Musk took another step in the AI sector by launching his competing startup, xAI. This move further fuelled the rivalry between Musk and OpenAI, as both companies vie for dominance in the rapidly evolving landscape.

Elon Musk Leads Bid To Control OpenAI For $97.4 Billion, Altman Says 'No Thank You'

Elon Musk and a group of investors offered more than $97 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls the artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, on Monday. The bid, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, escalates a long-standing feud between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The pair co-founded the company as a nonprofit in 2015, but Musk left several years later and has been engaged in a legal tussle over its control for several years. Altman replied to the unsolicited offer on X, Musk's social media site formally called Twitter, with a short rejection: "No thank you." "But we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman added. Musk issued a terse retort of his own, calling Altman a "swindler." The Tesla billionaire bought X in 2022 for $44 billion. He now has his own AI company called xAI. OpenAI is working to turn itself into a for-profit company and is on track to become one of the most valuable companies on earth. But Musk's offer could complicate those plans and add fire to his lawsuits claiming OpenAI's restructuring plans go against its initial founding mission. OpenAI's structure is unique in that the nonprofit entity, run by a board of directors, controls its business and for-profit activities. The restructuring would spin off the nonprofit with some sort of compensation deal that could then be used to advance charitable AI causes. But it would no longer have control over OpenAI's business, allowing the new for-profit entity to bring in hordes of cash. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. board of directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," Marc Toberoff, an attorney representing Musk, told The New York Times. OpenAI was recently valued at $157 billion. The company is also set to complete a new fundraising round that includes a $40 billion investment from SoftBank. Once finalized, that would see the company's value somewhere around the $300 billion mark.

Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI

A consortium led by Elon Musk said Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models. Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a U.S. district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure. Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement Monday. "We will make sure that happens." Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "Musk's bid puts another wrinkle into OpenAI's quest to remove the nonprofit's control over its for-profit entity," said Rose Chan Loui, executive director of the UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits. "This bid sets a marker for the valuation of the nonprofit's economic interests," she said. "If OpenAI values the nonprofit's interests at less than what Musk is offering, then they would have to show why." The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund III, Emanuel Capital Management, and Eight Partners. XAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to The Wall Street Journal which first reported Musk's offer earlier Monday. XAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have told Reuters. Throwing a wrench "This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things," said Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance. "The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it's a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit. If this was a public company, plaintiffs' lawyers would justifiably be lining up down the block to sue that transaction." OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January. Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. "Musk's offer to buy OpenAI's nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI's current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors ... OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI's board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank." Musk's stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165 billion, according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44 billion buyout of the social media platform that was called Twitter in 2022.

AI feud: How Musk and Altman's partnership turned toxic

The feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has become one of the bitterest rivalries in business history, with the Tesla tycoon bidding to buy Altman's OpenAI in an apparent attempt to derail the ChatGPT maker's ascent to becoming one of the world's most important companies. Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015. Created as a counterweight to Google's dominance in artificial intelligence, the project got its initial funding from Musk, who invested $45 million to get it started. Three years later, Musk departed OpenAI. The company initially cited "a potential future conflict for Elon ... as Tesla continues to become more focused on AI," noting the electric vehicle company's ambitions in autonomous driving.

Elon Musk Enlists Ari Emanuel Among Investors In Bid to Take Over OpenAI and Court Hollywood

The Sam Altman-led AI company already shot down the initial $97 billion-plus offer. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot down Elon Musk's reported offer to buy the company behind ChatGPT, escalating a battle with the X owner over the AI firm's for-profit pivot that could shape Hollywood's adoption of the technology. "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote in a post on X Monday afternoon. Musk was part of a group of investors who made a $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit company that controls OpenAI, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Other investors in the consortium include Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel through his investment firm, Emanuel Capital Management, Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund III and Eight Partners VC. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI, Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," said Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors, in a statement. Musk is the "person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology," Toberoff stressed, as cofounder of the company and the "most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history." In the entertainment industry, utilization of AI tools in the production pipeline is positioned to be the next battleground between creators and studios. With the introduction of Sora, capable of creating hyperrealist videos with a prompt of just a couple sentences, OpenAI is courting the industry amid the rise of the technology. Emanuel's inclusion in the consortium of investors may signal Musk's interest in wooing Hollywood if he were to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. AI tools could have major applications in postproduction, namely visual effects, though adoption is currently constrained by legal uncertainty around copyright issues. Musk's ties to OpenAI can be traced back to 2015, when he cofounded the company with Altman alongside a group of other prominent Silicon Valley investors. The X owner left the board in 2018 due to a potential conflict of interest with Tesla, which he owns and was ramping up its focus on AI. Last year, Musk reignited a legal battle against OpenAI over its for-profit pivot. He alleged fraud and breach of contract in a lawsuit saying he was swindled when he invested roughly $45 million into the AI venture, which he said betrayed its original mission to safely develop the technology "for the benefit of humanity." In Musk's telling, Altman illegally partnered with Microsoft to establish a web of illicit affiliates and plunder its nonprofit arm of assets and staff in violation of their deal. In January, Toberoff sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware urging them to allow an "open, competitive bidding" process in the sale of the nonprofit that oversees OpenAI. It concerns revolve around the possibility of the company undervaluing the nonprofit when it's spun out. "As we understand the OpenAI, Inc. Board's present intentions, they will give up majority ownership and control over OpenAI's entire for-profit business in exchange for some minority share of a new, consolidated for-profit entity. Who on Earth would make that trade?" Toberoff said. "If the Board is determined to relinquish OpenAI, Inc.'s assets, it is in the public's interest to ensure that OpenAI, Inc. is compensated at fair market value. That value cannot be determined by insiders negotiating on both sides of the same table. After all, the public is OpenAI, Inc.'s beneficiary, and a sweetheart deal between insiders does not serve the public interest." Toberoff added that Musk will consider matching or exceeding higher bids than the $97.4 billion the consortium of investors proposed. As of October, when OpenAI completed its latest funding round, the company was valued at $157 billion. However, The New York Times reported that OpenAI was about to complete a new funding round of $40 billion, which would value the company at $300 billion. The company has also received investment from and partnered with Microsoft on developing artificial intelligence technology, which includes the popular chatbot ChatGPT. The company has made a number of deals with publisher including Time, Condé Nast, and News Corp., but is also facing lawsuits from The New York Times and other authors, who argue that the data used to train its models was illicitly or inappropriately obtained, On President Donald Trump's first full day in office in January, he made a deal with Altman as well as Oracle founder Larry Ellison and SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son to invest $500 billion in an artificial intelligence project called Stargate, with a plan to build campuses that can provide energy for more powerful artificial intelligence tools.

OpenAI chief: Musk purchase offer an effort to 'slow us down'

OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman brushed aside Elon Musk's bid to take control of the ChatGPT maker, calling it an effort to "slow us down." "OpenAI is not for sale," Altman told Bloomberg's "The Pulse" on Tuesday. "Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the late...this week's episode." When asked if he takes Musk's bid seriously, Altman said, "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor." It comes less than a day after a Musk-led consortium of investors offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. The offer, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was sent to OpenAI's board of directors on Monday, according to Musk's attorney, Mark Toberoff. The offer is significantly lower than OpenAI's last valuation of $157 billion, which is expected to increase as SoftBank comes close to finalizing a deal to invest $40 billion into the AI firm. Shortly after the Journal report, Altman wrote on X, "[N]o thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk responded to Altman shortly later, writing "swindler" on X. In another reply, Musk wrote "Scam Altman." The unsolicited offer marks the latest incident in a years-long feud between Altman and Musk, who helped found OpenAI with Altman in 2015. Musk, who left the company in 2018, has an ongoing suit against the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, another OpenAI co-founder alleging the ChatGPT leaders strayed from the company's roots to pursue profits over benefitting the public good. The Tesla CEO has taken great issue with Altman and OpenAI's plans turn it into a for-profit company and said Monday that "it's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." Altman on Tuesday said OpenAI is "not moving to a for-profit model" and said "we're not sure we're gonna do it at all." "No matter what, the nonprofit will continue to be extremely important, it will drive the mission. It will continue to exist. The board is looking at lots of options about how to best structure for this next phase, but the nonprofit is not changing in anything or going anywhere." Musk now owns his own AI firm, xAI. "I wish he would compete with us by building a better product but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff," Altman said. "Now this and we'll just try to put our head down and keep working."

Altman Says OpenAI Is 'Not for Sale' After Musk's Offer

(Bloomberg) -- OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said the company is "not for sale" and Elon Musk is probably trying to delay its progress with an unsolicited bid for the artificial intelligence pioneer. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Tuesday on the sidelines of the AI summit in Paris. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this." There's been long-held animosity between Musk and Altman, centered around Musk's concern that OpenAI is moving away from its not-for-profit founding principles. Musk competes with OpenAI through xAI, his own artificial intelligence startup, and has sued the company alleging they violated their founding mission by prioritizing profit over humanity. OpenAI has disputed that characterization. Altman also chided Musk in the interview, saying his "whole life is probably from a position of insecurity." While Altman is publicly resistant to Musk's foray, OpenAI's board will have a say in how seriously they take the bid. The organization's board oversees its nonprofit arm, which in turn controls the for-profit business. Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce Inc., took over as chairman after an eruption in 2023 when the previous directors briefly fired Altman from his post. Taylor has a fraught history with Musk: He was chairman of Twitter when Musk made an unsolicited bid to buy the business and then tried to back out -- before a court forced him to proceed. Altman previously rejected the surprise $97.4 billion offer from a Musk-led group with a joke: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk's offer was backed by xAI and had support from a range of investors including Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, Joe Lonsdale's 8VC and media executive Ari Emanuel, through his investment fund. Altman added that the OpenAI board is looking at a range of options for the business in the future. But selling the AI operations is not on the table. "OpenAI is not for sale. The OpenAI mission is not for sale," he said. OpenAI's board got an overhaul after the Altman ouster, with business heavyweights replacing the academics and researchers who had been wedded to its non-profit mission. Among the directors now are former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and investment banker Adebayo Ogunlesi. Summers is also a paid contributor to Bloomberg TV. (Updates with additional details starting in third paragraph.)

Elon Musk wants to buy OpenAI for $97.4 bn, Sam Altman says 'No'

Altman's statement not only rejected the bid but also mocked Musk by referencing X's old name. Elon Musk has made a bold move to take control of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. A group of investors led by Musk has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. This bid escalates his ongoing rivalry with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of artificial intelligence. Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, said that the offer was submitted to OpenAI's board on Monday, reports The Wall Street Journal. If accepted, the deal could significantly impact OpenAI's future, especially since Altman is already working on a major transition -- turning OpenAI into a fully for-profit company and raising up to $500 billion for AI infrastructure through a joint venture called Stargate. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, has repeatedly criticised its shift from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk was quoted as saying. "We will make sure that happens." Also read: Elon Musk wants court to stop OpenAI's for-profit transition, here's why Altman dismissed Musk's offer with a sarcastic response on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." His comment not only rejected the bid but also mocked Musk by referencing X's old name 'Twitter.' The rivalry between Musk and Altman has been growing for years. Since Musk left OpenAI, he has accused the company of abandoning its original nonprofit mission. He even filed lawsuits, claiming that OpenAI is working too closely with Microsoft, which has invested billions into the company. OpenAI, however, argues that Musk once supported turning it into a for-profit venture but walked away when he couldn't control it. Also read: Stargate to OpenAI: Why Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still fighting Musk's offer is backed by his AI company, xAI, and several big investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC. Ari Emanuel, CEO of Hollywood company Endeavor, is also supporting the bid through his investment fund. If Musk succeeds, OpenAI could merge with xAI. Meanwhile, OpenAI is already facing challenges in its transformation. The company plans to complete the nonprofit-to-for-profit shift by 2026. Musk's lawyer stated that their investor group is ready to increase their offer if someone bids higher.

Elon Musk's $97.4 Billion ChatGPT Bid : Will He Take Over OpenAI?

Elon Musk has once again drawn global attention with a bold $97.4 billion offer to acquire OpenAI, the artificial intelligence organization he co-founded in 2015. This unsolicited bid comes at a time of growing tensions between Musk and OpenAI's leadership, particularly its CEO, Sam Altman. The announcement has sparked renewed debates about OpenAI's mission, its controversial shift from nonprofit to for-profit, and the broader implications for the future of artificial intelligence. Musk's move has raised questions about the balance between innovation, ethics, and profit in the rapidly evolving AI industry. In a world where AI is shaping everything from how we work to how we communicate, the stakes couldn't be higher. Musk's bold move to reclaim OpenAI isn't just about business; it's about redefining what AI should stand for. Whether you're cheering him on or raising an eyebrow, his bid has sparked questions that go beyond corporate rivalries. Can a company stay true to its mission while chasing billion-dollar valuations? And what happens when the people steering the ship disagree on where it's headed? The AIGRID team looks deeper into what the bid means for AI and the future. OpenAI was founded with a mission to advance artificial intelligence in ways that benefit humanity, focusing on transparency and open source principles. Initially established as a nonprofit, the organization aimed to ensure that AI technologies would be developed responsibly and shared openly. However, in 2019, OpenAI transitioned to a "capped-profit" model, allowing investors to earn returns while claiming to maintain ethical AI development. This shift marked a significant departure from its original ideals and has been a source of ongoing criticism. Today, OpenAI's valuation has soared to an estimated $260 billion, reflecting its success in developing innovative AI technologies like GPT-4. However, this financial growth has also intensified scrutiny. Critics, including Musk, argue that the organization has prioritized profit over its founding principles. The transition to a for-profit model has raised concerns about whether OpenAI can balance its financial ambitions with its stated commitment to ethical AI development. Elon Musk has been one of OpenAI's most vocal critics, particularly since its shift to a for-profit structure. He has accused the organization of abandoning its nonprofit roots and prioritizing financial gain over transparency and accountability. Musk has also filed lawsuits alleging breaches of agreements and has publicly questioned the governance of OpenAI. These disputes highlight broader concerns about the accountability of AI organizations, especially those wielding significant influence over fantastic technologies. Musk's criticisms extend beyond OpenAI's structure to its leadership. He has expressed concerns about the organization's decision-making processes and its ability to uphold ethical standards. These issues are not unique to OpenAI but reflect broader challenges in the AI industry, where rapid innovation often outpaces the development of regulatory frameworks and ethical guidelines. Find more information on Elon Musk by browsing our extensive range of articles, guides and tutorials. At the center of the controversy is the strained relationship between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO. Musk has openly criticized Altman, accusing him of steering OpenAI away from its original mission and toward a profit-driven agenda. Altman, in turn, has defended OpenAI's evolution, arguing that the capped-profit model enables the organization to attract the funding needed to compete in the highly competitive AI sector. The rivalry between Musk and Altman has played out publicly, with social media serving as a platform for their disagreements. Musk's critiques have resonated with some observers who share his concerns about transparency and accountability. Others, however, view his actions as an attempt to regain control of a company he helped establish. These leadership tensions underscore the challenges of navigating competing priorities in the AI industry, where ethical considerations often clash with financial and competitive pressures. Elon Musk's $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI raises critical questions about the future of artificial intelligence. If successful, the acquisition could signal a return to OpenAI's original mission of open source AI development. Musk has long advocated for transparency and ethical responsibility in AI, and his involvement could potentially realign OpenAI with these values. However, skeptics point to Musk's competing AI ventures, such as xAI, and his history of high-profile disputes as potential obstacles to achieving this vision. The possibility of OpenAI going public adds another layer of complexity. A public offering could shift the organization's priorities further toward shareholder interests, potentially undermining its commitment to ethical AI development. Musk's bid highlights the broader tension between innovation and regulation in the AI industry, as well as the need for clear legal frameworks to govern the development and deployment of advanced AI technologies. The outcome of Elon Musk's bid to acquire OpenAI could have far-reaching consequences for the AI industry. OpenAI's evolution -- from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity valued at billions -- reflects broader challenges in the field, including balancing innovation with ethical responsibility, transparency with profitability, and collaboration with competition. These tensions are not unique to OpenAI but are emblematic of the broader struggles facing the AI sector as it grapples with rapid technological advancements and growing societal impact. Regardless of whether Musk's offer succeeds, the debates surrounding OpenAI underscore the urgent need for robust ethical guidelines and regulatory oversight in AI development. As AI technologies become increasingly integrated into everyday life, the stakes for making sure their responsible use have never been higher. The decisions made by organizations like OpenAI will shape not only the future of AI but also its role in society, influencing everything from economic growth to individual privacy and security.

Sam Altman Rejects $97 Billion OpenAI Bid and Blasts Musk's 'Insecurity' | PYMNTS.com

OpenAI's CEO has once again refused Elon Musk's offer to take over his company. Speaking to Bloomberg News Tuesday (Feb. 11), Sam Altman said Musk only made that $97.4 billion bid to garner a competitive edge. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," said Altman, interviewed on the sidelines of the Paris AI summit. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this." Altman and Musk were among OpenAI's co-founders, with Musk eventually leaving due to disagreements over the company's direction. He is now suing OpenAI for moving away from its nonprofit mission, while also running his own artificial intelligence (AI) firm, xAI. Then on Monday (Feb. 10), Musk and a group of investors submitted a bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided to the Wall Street Journal by Marc Toberoff, his attorney. "We will make sure that happens." Altman responded in a post on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," a reference to the Musk-owned social platform, now called X. The OpenAI boss took another swipe at Musk in his interview with Bloomberg: "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity -- I feel for the guy." He added that he doesn't think Musk is "a happy person." The Bloomberg report notes that while Altman is publicly rejecting Musk's bid, the OpenAI board will have some weight in how seriously to take the offer. The news comes one week after a judge ruled that Musk's suit against OpenAI would proceed to trial, with the possibility of the mega-billionaire taking the stand. "Something is going to trial in this case," said U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, adding that Musk would "sit on the stand, present it to a jury, and a jury will decide who is right." OpenAI has argued the switch was necessary to help it attract the types of investments it needs to develop the best AI models. The company has also said it would work to dismiss Musk's claims and that Musk "should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom."

Sam Altman Says 'No Thank You' to Elon Musk Attempt to Buy OpenAI

A group of investors led by Elon Musk is offering about $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker and revert it to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it, have been in a long-running feud over the startup's direction since Musk resigned from its board in 2018. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, Toberoff has said. Musk and OpenAI lawyers faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-profit company. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in the courtroom said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned for-profit transition. But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can decide. "It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is true. We'll find out. He'll sit on the stand," she said. Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund, Emanuel Capital Management and Eight Partners VC. Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAI's current board "are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." Musk's attorney also shared a letter he sent in early January to the attorneys general of California and Delaware. "As both your offices must ensure any such transactional process relating to OpenAI's charitable assets provides at least fair market value to protect the public's beneficial interest, we assume you will provide a process for competitive bidding to actually determine that fair market value," Toberoff wrote, asking for more information on the terms and timing of that bidding process.

Musk-led group makes $97.4 bil. bid for control of OpenAI

OpenAI logo is seen in this photo, Feb. 8. Reuters-Yonhap A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the ChatGPT maker at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models. Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a U.S. district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure. Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement on Monday. "We will make sure that happens." Altman told staff in a message that the company's board of directors intends to make clear it has no interest in Musk's "supposed bid," according to a report by The Information on Monday. Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Emanuel Capital and others. xAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported Musk's offer earlier on Monday. xAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have told Reuters. This composite photo shows Sam Altman, left, CEO of OpenAI, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. AFP-Yonhap 'Throwing a wrench' "This (bid) is definitely throwing a wrench in things," said Jonathan Macey, a Yale Law School professor specializing in corporate governance. "The nonprofit is supposed to take money to do whatever good deeds, and if OpenAI prefers to sell it to somebody else for less money, it's a concern for protecting the interests of the beneficiaries of the not-for-profit." OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January. Aside from any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. Musk's stock in Tesla is valued at roughly $165 billion, according to LSEG data, but his leverage with banks is likely to be thin after his $44 billion buyout of X, which was then called Twitter, in 2022. To finance such a bid, Musk could sell part of his stake in Tesla or take a loan against his stake, or use his stake in rocket company SpaceX that is worth tens of billions of dollars as collateral, according to an uninvolved investment banker, who requested anonymity. "Musk's offer to buy OpenAI's nonprofit should significantly complicate OpenAI's current fundraising and the process of converting into a for-profit corporation," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "The offer seems to be backed by more credible investors ... OpenAI may not be able to ignore it. It will be the fiduciary responsibility of OpenAI's board to decide whether this is a better offer, which could call into question the offer from SoftBank." (Reuters)

Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff that board hasn't 'seen anything official from Elon'

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at Station F, is seen through glass, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, France, Feb. 11, 2025. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees in a memo on Tuesday that the company hasn't received "anything official" from Elon Musk regarding a potential purchase of the artificial intelligence startup. "Our structure exists to ensure that no individual can take control of OpenAI," Altman wrote, in the memo that was obtained by CNBC. "Elon runs a competitive AI company, and his actions are not about OpenAI's mission or values. They are tactics aimed at weakening us because we're making great progress." The note comes a day after news surfaced that Musk is leading a group of investors in trying to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion. The offer is for the nonprofit that oversees the AI startup behind ChatGPT, and Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said he submitted it on Monday. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Toberoff told CNBC in a statement. Altman and Musk are in the midst of a heated legal and public relations battle over the future of OpenAI. They were two of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, establishing the entity as a nonprofit focused on AI research. Musk is suing OpenAI, accusing it of antitrust violations and to try and keep it from converting into a for-profit corporation. OpenAI has emerged as a giant in generative AI, launching ChatGPT in 2022 and setting off a wave of investment in new tools and infrastructure for next-generation AI products and services. SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion valuation, sources told CNBC's David Faber last week. Microsoft has been the biggest backer to date. The consortium of investors supposedly joining Musk includes his startup xAI, and long-time investors in his other businesses including, Baron Capital Group, Valor, Atreides, Vy Capital, Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, and an investment vehicle led by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. A source close to Musk who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly on the matter noted that everyone in the group is a Musk loyalist, and the consortium doesn't include any of the traditional Silicon Valley investors that have backed prior Musk ventures. Altman reminded employees on Tuesday that "Elon has a history of making claims that don't hold up," highlighting his "exaggerated" donations to OpenAI and shifting narratives about whether he supported OpenAI becoming a for-profit entity. "The best thing we can do is more forward with dedication and resilience," Altman wrote. If and when the OpenAI board does receive a formal bid, it has a legal obligation to review it, according to Ellen Aprill, senior scholar in residence at the University of California, Los Angeles. "The board would need to consider a bid even if they didn't invite it," Aprill told CNBC. "A non-profit can sell its assets, but needs to make sure it's getting fair value." As a nonprofit, the board doesn't serve shareholders and therefore doesn't have a traditional fiduciary duty. Rather, its duty is for the public benefit, which is determined by attorneys general of the states where it operates. Musk didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment.

Elon Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI, CEO refuses and offers to "buy Twitter for $9.74 billion"

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What just happened? Elon Musk has led a team of investors in making an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI. The move is the latest escalation of Musk's war with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company is fighting a legal battle against the world's richest man over its transition from non-profit status. Altman responded to the bid on X by declining and jokingly offering to "buy twitter for $9.74 billion." Musk responded with "Swindler." Musk and the consortium made the $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, writes the Wall Street Journal. The group wants all of OpenAI's assets, which would include ChatGPT, and is "prepared to consider matching or exceeding higher bids," it said. The group claims a takeover will put OpenAI's focus back on open-source AI designed to help the world, which was the company's original goal. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk told The Journal via his lawyer, Marc Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." Musk said that X's Grok AI model was an example of what OpenAI should be doing. "At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow," the billionaire claimed. "We've made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators." The consortium that made the bid includes Baron Capital Group Inc., Valor Management LLC, Atreides Management, LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emmanuel Capital Management LLC, and Eight Partners VC LLC. Musk's own x.AI artificial intelligence company also backed the bid and could end up merging with OpenAI if an offer is accepted. It's noted that Musk's efforts to purchase OpenAI could cause problems for Altman's efforts to take the company private. The for-profit branch of the firm must purchase the assets of its controlling nonprofit at a fair price. The bid raises the value of those assets, meaning the for-profit business would have to spend more. Toberoff sent a letter to California's attorneys general last month asking that they open up bidding for OpenAI to determine the value of its charitable assets. Musk and others believe OpenAI could undervalue the nonprofit once it is spun out. Musk was quick to criticize Donald Trump's Stargate project last month. The initiative will see several tech giants, including OpenAI, Oracle, MGX, and SoftBank, invest about $500 billion in building data centers in the US over four years. When OpenAI announced an initial investment of $100 billion, he said "They don't have the money." Musk was one of OpenAI's original co-founders alongside Altman back in 2015. He departed the company three years later over what he said was a conflict of interest with Tesla. Musk sued OpenAI and Altman in 2024 over claims that the pair breached their original contractual agreements by putting profit ahead of developing AI that benefits humanity. He ended the legal challenge a few months later without saying why. Musk launched another legal battle against OpenAI in November when he filed an injunction against the firm, several of its co-founders, and main investor Microsoft to prevent its transition to a for-profit entity.

Musk's $97B Bid to Buy Altman's OpenAI Shakes AI World

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outright rejected the proposal. He responded on Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) with a sarcastic counteroffer, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for US$9.74 billion if you want." To this, Elon Musk sarcastically replied: Musk has been at odds with OpenAI for years. He co-founded the company as a nonprofit in 2015 but left it in 2018. He has since claimed that OpenAI is more concerned with making profits than with safety. In 2024, , alleging it had abandoned its original mission. In August, he sought a court order to block OpenAI's transition to a for-profit entity. His criticism intensified when OpenAI joined a US$500 billion AI initiative backed by SoftBank and Oracle under former President Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal says if the offer is accepted, xAI may be open to merging with the company. OpenAI had last funded itself at US$157 billion and was reported to have SoftBank lead a new investment of US$40 billion funding with a valuation of US$300 billion.

"Swindler" - Musk leads blockbuster bid to buy OpenAI for $97.4bn, but Sam Altman hits back with own bid for X

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI's nonprofit arm - but OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to hit back with a sarcastic bid offer to buy X. Musk's lawyer, Mac Toberoff, confirmed he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board yesterday (via Wall Street Journal), further complicating the relationship between Musk and Altman. The pressure adds to the already ongoing battle between the two, with Musk accusing OpenAI of betraying its nonprofit mission and partnering up with Microsoft. Altman has set out plans to convert the business into a for-profit operation while splitting a $500 billion investment with the likes of Oracle and Softbank to improve AI infrastructure - something that Musk says neither OpenAI or Project Stargate's backers can afford to do. Meta has also complained, in the form of a letter to California's attorney general, about the for-profit business plans. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by Toberoff. Altman hastened to share with colleagues on an internal Slack channel: "Our structure ensures that no individual can take control of OpenAI...These are tactics to try and weaken us because we are making great progress." The OpenAI CEO also took to X, the Musk-owned social media platform, to post: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Must replied with "Swindler," and called his rival "Scam Altman" in another post. It's yet to be observed how the negotiations play out, but a possible OpenAI-xAI merger could be on the cards if the bid succeeds - an event that Altman deems highly unlikely.

Elon Musk Offered to Buy OpenAI For an Absurd Amount of Money

After buying Twitter and taking a chief role in the Trump administration, the world's richest man now has his sights set on a new target: tech industry darling OpenAI. In a move first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk apparently delivered a $97.4 billion bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI to the company's board on Monday morning. In addition to Musk, the offer has backing from venture capitalists, including Hollywood media mogul Ari Emanuel and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, so he isn't going it alone. Still, it would be a major move for Musk, who has publicly beefed with OpenAI and worked to develop his own alternative in X's Grok. The offer also follows OpenAI's announcement, alongside President Trump, of Project Stargate, a plan to invest $500 billion in building out the U.S.'s domestic AI infrastructure. Again, OpenAI is not alone in this initiative, having garnered financial support from SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX, as well as technology support from Nvidia, Arm, and Microsoft. In other words, if the purchase were to go through, OpenAI's partners would now suddenly have some quite unexpected new faces to contend with. The offer comes amidst OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's attempt to restructure the nonprofit into a for-profit company as well as an effort to raise $40 billion in funding, which would place the value of the startup at over $340 billion. Altman has already posted a curt message on X declining Musk's offer, and joking back that OpenAI would be willing to buy the former Twitter for $9.74 billion. While, OK, brutal, Altman's response might not be the end of the offer, as the CEO still has to contend with fellow board members: OpenAI's structure means no board members hold direct equity in the company, which makes voting on such decisions a team effort. Additionally, Microsoft already owns a minority economic interest in the company, and it's possible the company would no longer wish to pursue this relationship under new leadership. For what it's worth, this isn't Musk's first time wrangling with OpenAI. The billionaire actually co-founded the nonprofit arm of OpenAI alongside Altman in 2015 before departing in 2019. OpenAI later wrote that Musk said the group's "probability of success was 0." Now, it appears his attitude has changed. In a statement his lawyer provided to The Wall Street Journal, Musk said "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was."

Sam Altman says 'no thank you' to Musk-led group's bid for control of OpenAI

OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman appeared to shut down a reported offer from an investor group led by Elon Musk to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, marking the latest back-and-forth between the two tech leaders. "[N]o thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X less than an hour after The Wall Street Journal first reported the Musk-led consortium of investors offered $97.4 billion for control of OpenAI. Musk responded to Altman shortly later, writing "swindler" on X. The $97.4 billion bid was submitted to OpenAI's board of directors on Monday, the Journal reported, citing Musk's attorney Mark Toberoff. The unsolicited offer comes as Altman and OpenAI push forward with plans to turn it into a for-profit company, which Musk has taken great issue with. Musk, an original OpenAI co-founder with Altman, has an ongoing lawsuit against the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, another OpenAI co-founder. He alleges the ChatGPT leaders strayed from the company's roots to pursue profits over benefiting the public good. Musk, in a statement provided by Toberoff to the Journal, wrote, "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." "We will make sure that happens," he reportedly added. Toberoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bid is backed by Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI, the Journal reported, along with investors including Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, Baron Capital and 8VC, the Journal reported. Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Hollywood company Endeavor, backed the bid through his investment fund, the paper reported. It comes just weeks after Altman and Musk got into a public back-and-forth online after the Tesla CEO poured cold water over President Trump's Stargate venture, which involves OpenAI and Altman. Altman joined Trump the previous day for the announcement of Stargate, which pledges to invest up to $500 billion in building the infrastructure of AI development and maintenance over the next four years. Musk claimed the initial investors -- OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle -- do not have the money to come up with the project, sparking an online debate over the promises lauded by Trump.

Elon Musk Offers to Buy OpenAI for $97.4 Billion in Unsolicited Bid: Report

The billionaire oligarch says he wants OpenAI to become a "safety-focused force for good." Elon Musk and a consortium of investors have made an unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion for a controlling interest in the non-profit that operates OpenAI, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. Musk and his attorney did not immediately respond to questions from Gizmodo on Monday but told the Wall Street Journal that, “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.†The move may throw a wrench in plans by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to formally make OpenAI a for-profit entity. To say that Musk and Altman are enemies feels like a bit of an understatement at this point. The two men founded OpenAI together back in 2015 but Musk was pushed out in 2019 after he reportedly tried to take control of the AI company. And the two men have been in litigation ever since their feud spilled out in public over recent years. OpenAI was founded as a non-profit but created a for-profit entity in 2019 under Altman to raise money with companies like Microsoft. And Musk claims trying to make OpenAI completely for-profit is a violation of its original mission. OpenAI has countered in court by showing off emails that indicated Musk was more than happy to abandon the AI company's non-profit status before he left. OpenAI has previously said it would like to complete the transition into a for-profit entity by late 2026, but it's not clear how Musk's bid might gum up the works. The bid for OpenAI is being backed by Musk's AI company, Nevada-based xAI. If Musk's bid is successful the two companies could be merged, the Journal reports. Musk's statement on making OpenAI "return" to being open source and safety-focused notably doesn't include a word about remaining a nonprofit. Other investment partners, according to the Journal, include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, and Vy Capital. 8VC, a venture firm controlled by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, is also involved. Ari Emanuel, the brother of Democratic political power player Rahm Emanuel, is also involved, according to the Journal. While Musk has arguably become the most powerful person in the country, having helped secure Donald Trump the White House in the November election, Altman has been doing his own deals to make sure he's not cut out of the oligarchy shell game. The OpenAI CEO appeared at the White House on January 21, the day after Trump's inauguration, to help announce the creation of Project Stargate, a much-hyped AI infrastructure project that will fund data centers and other necessary tech to make artificial intelligence tools work properly. OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. But we're sure they're not too happy about Musk's bid. The question now is whether the OpenAI board can turn it down. The Journal notes that Musk's attorney says they're prepared to meet or exceed any other offers for OpenAI that may come forward. And while it's not clear who else may bid for the company, you can bet other folks would certainly be interested in one of the hottest companies of recent years. For what it's worth, minutes after the WSJ's report was published, Sam Altman tweeted: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."

Elon Musk-led group proposes buying OpenAI for $97.4 billion. OpenAI CEO says 'no thank you'

A group of investors led by Elon Musk is offering about $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker and revert it to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it, have been in a long-running feud over the startup's direction since Musk resigned from its board in 2018. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, Toberoff has said. Musk and OpenAI lawyers faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-profit company. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in the courtroom said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned for-profit transition. But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can decide. "It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is true. We'll find out. He'll sit on the stand," she said. Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund, Emanuel Capital Management and Eight Partners VC. Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAI's current board "are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." Musk's attorney also shared a letter he sent in early January to the attorneys general of California and Delaware. "As both your offices must ensure any such transactional process relating to OpenAI's charitable assets provides at least fair market value to protect the public's beneficial interest, we assume you will provide a process for competitive bidding to actually determine that fair market value," Toberoff wrote, asking for more information on the terms and timing of that bidding process.

Elon Musk-led group proposes buying OpenAI for $97.4 billion. OpenAI CEO says 'no thank you'

A group of investors led by Elon Musk says it is offering about $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker and revert it back to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it, have been in a long-running feud over the startup's direction since Musk resigned from its board in 2018. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, Toberoff said in court last week. Musk and OpenAI lawyers faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-profit company. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in court said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned transition toward becoming a for-profit corporation. But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can decide. "It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is true. We'll find out. He'll sit on the stand," she said.

Elon Musk-led group makes $97bn bid for OpenAI

Sam Altman has already publicly said 'no, thank you' to the offer but it could still cause a headache for the OpenAI founder. A consortium of investors led by Elon Musk has offered to buy the non-profit that controls OpenAI for almost $100bn. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the unsolicited bid is backed by Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital and 8VC. In a statement through the group's lawyer Marc Toberoff, Musk said: "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." In response to the offer, OpenAI founder Sam Altman said, "no thank you," in a post on X, while offering to "buy Twitter for $9.74bn" instead. However, OpenAI's board will have a fiduciary responsibility to consider the offer, especially if it is seen as a better offer in terms of protecting the beneficiaries of the non-profit. Musk v Altman Musk has been feuding with Altman for several years. Having co-founded the company in 2015, the Tesla CEO has said Sam Altman is not sticking to the original objective of developing AI for the benefit of humanity. Last year, Musk filed a lawsuit against Altman for this, stating that OpenAI had "been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft". Following this, OpenAI responded with claims that Musk supported a for-profit model in 2017 and suggested attaching the business to Tesla "as its cash cow". Musk's lawsuit was dropped a few months later. However, at the end of last year, Musk requested a court order to block the ChatGPT maker from becoming a for-profit company. Last week, US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said the X owner's claim that the move would cause irreparable harm is a "stretch" but agreed to allow the trial to move forward citing concerns about OpenAI's relationship with Microsoft. Another successful bid? While Altman has made his feelings on the $97bn offer clear, it will likely cause a headache for him as he tries to take OpenAI private. The non-profit must consider the offer and has a responsibility to sell its assets at a fair market value and with backing by reputable investors alongside Musk, the company's board will have to weigh up what is best for its beneficiaries. We don't need to think back too far to remember a previous unsolicited offer Musk made that ended up being successful. In 2022, the Tesla CEO made a $43bn offer to buy the social media site formerly known as Twitter. This deal was later completed and sparked a wave of controversy, including the renaming of the site to X, mass layoffs and several changes to the platform itself. However, the drama from that deal has continued in the years since, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission filing a lawsuit against Musk last month (14 January) over allegations that he failed to disclose his purchase of Twitter shares in a timely manner. Even if Musk's $97bn bid is not accepted by the OpenAI board, it may force the company to rethink how it's going about the conversion to a for-profit company. Elon Musk. Image: © Steve Jurvetson/Flickr (CC by 2.0) Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Elon Musk wants to buy OpenAI

Elon Musk recently made a bold proposal: to buy OpenAI for the colossal sum of $97.4 billion. This offer, reported by the Wall Street Journal, immediately sent shockwaves through the tech world. OpenAI, known for its development of ChatGPT, is currently a non-profit organization, but its CEO, Sam Altman, plans to turn it into a commercial enterprise. Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, left the company in 2018 after disagreements over its direction. He has since launched his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, and has often criticized OpenAI for straying from its original mission of developing AI for the good of humanity. Musk accuses Altman of wanting to turn OpenAI into a profit machine, betraying its original objectives. Musk's proposal did not go down well with Sam Altman, who responded sarcastically by proposing to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion, a dig at the company's loss of value since Musk's acquisition. This response underlines the tension between the two men, who have often clashed publicly. Musk's offer is backed by a consortium of investors, including xAI, and could result in a merger between xAI and OpenAI. However, this unsolicited offer puts OpenAI in an awkward position. The organization must now decide whether to accept Musk's offer or continue on its current path of transformation into a commercial enterprise. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Microsoft, which holds a significant stake in OpenAI, could play a key role in the final decision. Although Microsoft does not have a seat on the OpenAI board, its influence is undeniable. Elon Musk has stated that he wants to return OpenAI to its open-source, security-focused roots. However, his intentions are being questioned, with some fearing that he is merely seeking to increase his own power in the AI field. This takeover offer comes at a crucial time for OpenAI, which is seeking to raise funds to finance its expansion. Musk's proposal could complicate this fund-raising by sowing doubt among potential investors. Ultimately, OpenAI's future remains uncertain.

Elon Musk Tries To Buy OpenAI, Reportedly Offers $97.4 Billion Via A Consortium Of Investors

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy. Elon Musk has just fired a fresh volley against one of the biggest names in the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, OpenAI. In doing so, Musk risks further riling up Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, exacerbating the prevailing animus between the two. To wit, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Elon Musk has submitted an unsolicited buyout offer to OpenAI via a consortium of investors. Specifically, Elon Musk is offering $97.4 billion to buy the non-profit that controls OpenAI. Bear in mind that the AI-focused enterprise is now changing its corporate structure to a public benefit corporation (PBC). Essentially, the company's core AI-related functions are now controlled by its for-profit arm, with the non-profit arm continuing to retain an ownership interest in the for-profit entity. Of course, this development is merely the latest in a long litany of one-upmanship between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. In late 2024, the CEO of Tesla and xAI filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for its planned transition to a PBC, going so far as to plead for a preliminary injunction in December 2024, arguing that the planned change was against OpenAI's ethos: to work for the betterment of the entire human race. In response, Sam Altman termed Elon Musk a "bully" who "likes to get into fights." According to an open letter that the company published on the 13th of December, 2024, Elon Musk had himself proposed a for-profit structure for OpenAI back in 2017 in his capacity as the co-founder of the non-profit. The letter went on to note: "When he didn't get majority equity and full control, he walked away [in 2018] and told us we would fail." Coming back, it remains to be seen how OpenAI would respond to Elon Musk's latest buyout offer. In view of the prevailing animosity between Musk and Altman, we would not hold our breath on expectations of a positive reception to this offer.

Musk bids $97.4B to buy OpenAI, gets counteroffer to sell X for $9.74B

This latest move in the tech sector adds another chapter to the growing tensions between Musk, the world's wealthiest individual, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Musk and Altman were once allies, co-founding OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. However, their relationship has been strained since Musk left the organization in 2018. In response to the acquisition proposal, Altman took to X, Musk's social media platform, to remark, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." OpenAI has become a key player in popularizing AI technology, attracting significant investment, according to BBC. Following Musk's departure, Altman has overseen a transition to a for-profit model, a shift Musk contends diverges from the startup's foundational mission. OpenAI maintains, however, that this change is necessary to secure the financial resources needed to develop advanced AI models. Backed by Musk's AI venture, xAI, the bid includes support from private equity firms such as Baron Capital Group and Valor Management.

Elon Musk Just Hurled a $97.4 Billion Curveball at ChatGPT Creator OpenAI

When two billionaires with unlimited resources battle over world-changing technology, sudden escalations shouldn't be surprising. A group of investors led by Elon Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid for the non-profit that controls OpenAI, The Wall Street Journal reported, complicating Sam Altman's efforts to turn the ChatGPT-creator into a for-profit company. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement through his lawyer. The Tesla chief argues that Altman will not only shortchange the non-profit parent, but consolidate unchecked AI dominance.

Elon Musk-led group of investors makes nearly $100 billion bid for OpenAI

Elon Musk and a group of investors have offered $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI's nonprofit arm that controls the company, reports the Wall Street Journal. Sam Altman, chief executive and a co-founder of Open AI, and the board of directors, have rejected the bid, stating the company's governance prevents outside control. Musk argues the nonprofit should remain committed to open-source safety-focused AI, while OpenAI is moving toward a for-profit model. "It is time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," a statement by Elon Musk published by his lawyer Marc Toberoff reads. "We will make sure that happens." The acquisition proposal is supported by Musk's AI company, xAI, and multiple investment companies, including Atreides Management, Baron Capital, 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, and 8VC. In addition, the proposal is backed by Hollywood executive Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, and Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, submitted the offer to OpenAI's board, aiming to buy all nonprofit assets. This proposal challenges Sam Altman's plans to transition OpenAI into a traditional for-profit company while ensuring the nonprofit retains equity. OpenAI is raising billions to fund its AI infrastructure and a for-profit entity could raise more money and therefore speed up the progress of AI development in general and artificial general intelligence (AGI) in particular. OpenAI is currently seeking to secure up to $40 billion in new funding in an investment round led by SoftBank, which is negotiating to contribute between $15 billion and $25 billion. If the company succeeds, this could increase OpenAI's valuation to $300 billion. The funding round follows a $6.6 billion funding round in October that valued OpenAI at $157 billion. That said, OpenAI has confirmed it has no intention of accepting Musk's bid. In a message to employees, Altman emphasized that OpenAI's structure prevents any single person from taking control. He called Musk's offer a way to destabilize the rapidly developing company. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, left the company in 2019. Since then, OpenAI has raised substantial funding from Microsoft and other investors. Musk has taken legal action against OpenAI, claiming it abandoned its original mission by working closely with Microsoft. He has also questioned how OpenAI values its nonprofit entity as it transitions to for-profit status. In January, his lawyer contacted attorneys general in California and Delaware, urging them to oversee the valuation process to ensure fairness. OpenAI insists Musk's legal claims are unfounded and that the nonprofit will be fairly compensated in the restructuring. The company also released documents showing Musk had previously supported a for-profit transition but withdrew when he could not gain control. A part of OpenAI's vision is Stargate, an initiative to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years. Musk has publicly criticized Stargate, arguing that its supporters lack the necessary funding: shortly after the announcement, he called Altman a 'swindler' and claimed the project was overpromising. Altman denied Musk's allegations, but the dispute has added to the uncertainty surrounding OpenAI's transition.

Sam Altman doesn't think Elon Musk is 'a happy person'

Following Monday's news that an Elon Musk and xAI-backed group offered OpenAI's board $97.4 billion for control over the company, CEO Sam Altman has declared OpenAI "not for sale." While the board will have to review the offer, it is unclear if they will seriously consider an off that effectively amounts to a hostile takeover of the company. "Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the latest -- you know, this week's episode," Altman said during a Bloomberg TV interview at the Paris AI Action Summit Tuesday. "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down." Recommended Videos Previously, Musk cosigned an open letter demanding that the AI industry as a whole enact a six-month hiatus in developing models more complex than GPT-4 before launching his xAI company almost exactly six months later. More recently, Musk disparaged OpenAI's $500 billion Stargate Project, claiming that the consortium backing the plan did not have the funds to do so. When asked about those comments in the interview, Altman said "I'm not the one who tweeted funding secured. I just actually try to show up and build," referencing Musk's infamous Tesla tweet. OpenAI currently operates as a nonprofit organization that controls the subsidiary OpenAI LP for-profit company. The for-profit LP company is what helped OpenAI develop from a bare-bones research startup to an industry leader valued at around $100 billion. The company now intends to flip that hierarchy on its head with the for-profit entity controlling the non-profit arm as a subsidiary, a matter over which Elon Musk is currently suing. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, told CNBC. As part of the offer, Musk's own generative AI company, xAI, would merge with OpenAI (with, presumably, Musk at the helm instead of Altman). "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics," Altman said in the Bloomberg interview. "Many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this. And we'll try to just put our head down and keep working." When asked whether Musk's strategy against OpenAI comes from "a position of insecurity," Altman took a moment to savage his business rival. "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy," he said. "I don't think he's, like, a happy person. I do feel for him."

Elon Musk tries to buy OpenAI, but Sam Altman replies 'no thank you', tries to buy X for $9.74B

TL;DR: Elon Musk offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, which CEO Sam Altman declined. OpenAI is transitioning to a for-profit model, valued at over $300 billion, and launching a $500 billion AI project. Musk aims to return OpenAI to its open-source roots and promises to match higher offers. Meanwhile, President Trump announced a $500 billion AI initiative, Stargate, involving OpenAI and other tech giants. SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI boss Elon Musk has offered to buy ChatGPT maker OpenAI for $97.4 billion, to which CEO Sam Altman declined by saying "no thank you" while offering a $9.74 billion offer for X (which he trolls, and calls Twitter). OpenAI is currently converting into a for-profit structure, away from its non-profit structure now, raising $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation, simultaneously launching a $500 billion AI infrastructure project. Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman back in 2015 before leaving in 2019, and now the Tesla and DOGE boss is offering less than one-third of what OpenAI's latest valuation was to acquire the company. Musk said in a statement provided by his lawyer Mark Toberoff to The Wall Street Journal: "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens". Better yet, Musk's team has promised to match or exceed any higher offers for OpenAI that it receives, and with the likes of Microsoft and other AI giants swirling around, things are going to get real interesting for OpenAI, real soon. OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round in October 2024, but with further funding rounds since then, the ChatGPT maker has seen its value hitting over $300 billion. Musk's attorney added on his behalf and other investors: "As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology". Sam Altman was recently at the White House when President Trump announced the creation of a new major American company -- Stargate -- which will have $500 billion of investment to lead the world in AI. Stargate is a huge collaboration between the Trump administration, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, to build and operate this new AI computing system. This new AI system will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefits for the entire world. President Trump's right-hand man when it comes to AI, space, self-driving cars, and rooting out inefficiencies in the US government through DOGE -- Elon Musk -- said within hours of Stargate's announcement that OpenAI "don't actually have the money".

Elon Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI

"No, thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," OpenAI owner Sam Altman responded. A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, months after the billionaire sued the artificial intelligence startup to block it from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid could ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman promptly posted on X/Twitter: "No, thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The two are already embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. Musk criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project called Stargate, which was announced with great fanfare at the White House just after President Donald Trump returned to office, suggesting the investors involved lacked the funding for the project. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in the press release. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI, Musk, Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff, and OpenAI backer Microsoft MSFT.O did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported Musk's offer earlier on Monday. Even without any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. Elon Musk and Sam Altman founded OpenAI together OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its latest funding round in October, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group 9984.T is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January. Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models. Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity but that it was now focused on making money.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says 'no thank you' to Elon Musk-led group's $97.4B bid for control

OpenAI introduced a new WhatsApp feature, 1-800-CHATGPT, that allows users to talk to and text ChatGPT. A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, months after the billionaire sued the artificial intelligence startup to block it from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid could ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman promptly posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The two are already embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. Musk criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project called Stargate announced with great fanfare at the White House just after President Donald Trump returned to office, suggesting the investors involved lacked the funding for the project. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in the press release. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI, Musk, Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal which first reported Musk's offer earlier on Monday. Even without any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its latest funding round in October, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models. Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.

Elon Musk and investors offering $97.4 billion for control of OpenAI, WSJ reports

Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The bid is for the nonprofit that oversees the artificial intelligence startup, the Journal reported, adding that Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the offer on Monday. The WSJ cited a statement from Musk provided by Toberoff, saying "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." In a post on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk then replied to the OpenAI chief on X calling him a "swindler," and in a reply to a different user, called him "Scam Altman." Musk, who is a top adviser to President Donald Trump, is in the midst of a heated legal and public relations battle with Altman. They were two of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, establishing the entity as a nonprofit focused on AI research. OpenAI has since emerged as a giant in generative AI, launching ChatGPT in 2022 and setting off a wave of investment in new tools and infrastructure for next-generation AI products and services. SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion valuation, sources told CNBC's David Faber last week. Musk now has a competitor in the AI market, a startup called xAI, and is suing OpenAI, accusing it of antitrust violations and to try and keep it from converting into a for-profit corporation. Meanwhile, OpenAI partnered with SoftBank and Oracle in a project announced by Trump right after his inauguration called Stargate, which calls on the companies to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S. Musk's offer is backed by xAI, which the Journal reports could merge with OpenAI if a deal were to occur. Other investors in the bid include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, 8VC and Ari Emanuel's investment fund, the paper reported. Toberoff sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware on Jan. 7, asking that bidding be opened up for OpenAI.

Sam Altman Says 'No Thank You' to Musk-Led Group's $97.4 Billion OpenAI Bid

Microsoft has a $13 billion investment in OpenAI Musk's bid is being backed by his own AI startup xAI OpenAI started as a nonprofit A group of investors led by Elon Musk has offered to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion (roughly Rs. 8,46,576 crore), escalating a clash between the Tesla chief executive and the artificial intelligence company he co-founded. With the unsolicited bid, Musk said he hopes to return OpenAI to being "the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," according to a statement. In response, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman posted on Musk's X social-media platform: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion (roughly Rs. 8,46,576 crore) if you want." (Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,82,437 crore), but its value later diminished, according to outside estimates.) The Wall Street Journal was first to report the offer. OpenAI declined to comment. The bid is being backed by Musk's own AI startup xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, the Journal said. According to a statement from Marc Toberoff, a lawyer representing the investors, other backers of proposal include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, Joe Lonsdale's 8VC and Ari Emanuel, through his investment fund. Lonsdale declined to comment. The rest of the named investors didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. It's difficult to determine how serious Musk's bid is and what his motivation was for making it, said Rob Rosenberg, founder of Telluride Legal Strategies. Even if it's not successful, Musk's move could potentially complicate OpenAI's effort to transition from being a non-profit entity into a multibillion-dollar for-profit AI giant -- a transformation Musk has opposed. "I think he's trying to make a statement and bring more attention to the fact that OpenAI is still on this course to switch from being a non-profit to a for-profit company," Rosenberg said. In the statement, Toberoff indicated one motivation for the bid: to place outside pressure on OpenAI while it determines a value for parts of its business while transitioning to a for-profit entity. "That value cannot be determined by insiders negotiating on both sides of the same table," he wrote. "After all, the public is OpenAI Inc.'s beneficiary, and a sweetheart deal between insiders does not serve the public interest." Musk and Altman have been locked in a long-standing feud over the direction that OpenAI has taken since its founding. Musk has alleged that the startup has abandoned all pretense of proceeding as a charity to benefit humanity with a focus on openness and safety. OpenAI has rejected that characterization, and last year said that Musk was lashing out after an earlier failed attempt to make the company part of his carmaker Tesla. In the decade since OpenAI started as a nonprofit -- when Musk and Altman worked together as founders -- OpenAI has taken billions of dollars in outside investment from Microsoft and others. In a revised version of a lawsuit that he originally filed in August, Musk called OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft a "monopoly" that is "actively trying to eliminate competitors, such as xAI, by extracting promises from investors not to fund them." The revised suit lists 26 legal claims and runs 107 pages, compared with 15 claims in the 83-page original complaint. Microsoft's $13 billion (roughly Rs. 1,13,005 crore) investment in OpenAI has raised concerns from the US Federal Trade Commission that the tech giant could extend its dominance in cloud computing into the booming AI market. The Japanese investment firm SoftBank Group Corp., however, is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion (roughly Rs. 2,17,317 crore) in OpenAI, a move that would potentially eclipse all other stakes and make it the startup's biggest backer. OpenAI is currently in talks with investors to garner a valuation of $300 billion (roughly Rs. 26,05,460 crore), Bloomberg has reported. Last month, Microsoft altered its multiyear deal with OpenAI, allowing the startup to use cloud-computing services from rival providers, so long as the software giant doesn't want the business itself. The restructured deal coincided with an announcement by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle Corp. of a new $500 billion (roughly Rs. 43,42,565 crore) joint venture to build cloud computing data centers in the US, dubbed Stargate.

Elon Musk just offered to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion

Kylie Robison is a senior AI reporter working with The Verge's policy and tech teams. She previously worked at Fortune Magazine and Business Insider. In a dramatic escalation of Silicon Valley's most heated AI rivalry, Elon Musk just announced that he's leading a $97.4 billion bid to buy OpenAI's nonprofit arm, according to The Wall Street Journal. The bid was reportedly delivered to the board Monday morning. The offer brings together a powerful coalition of backers, including Musk's own AI company xAI and venture heavyweights like Valor Equity Partners, Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale's venture firm 8VC. This bid comes at a pivotal moment for OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman is already juggling multiple massive deals: converting the company to a for-profit structure, raising $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation, and launching a $500 billion AI infrastructure project. For Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 before departing in 2019, this bid represents his boldest move yet to challenge what he sees as the company's betrayal of its original mission to develop AI safely and openly (an allegation he's presently suing OpenAI for). "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by his lawyer Marc Toberoff to The Wall Street Journal. "We will make sure that happens." The bid also adds a significant layer of complexity to OpenAI's planned for-profit conversion, as Musk's team has promised to match or exceed any higher offers. This creates a thorny situation for Altman, who's already navigating negotiations with Microsoft and other stakeholders over equity in the planned for-profit structure. Shortly after the news was announced, Altman posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." OpenAI pointed to Altman's post when asked for comment. Toberoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sam Altman Says Elon Musk's $97B Bid For OpenAI Is A Move To 'Slow Down A Competitor' Sam Altman Alleges Elon Musk's $97.4B Bid Is a Move To 'Slow Down a Competitor'. Says Musk Has No Genuine Interest - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

An investor group led by Elon Musk has proposed a $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, a move that OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, thinks may be an attempt to "slow down a competitor." What Happened: Altman cast doubt on Musk's true intentions behind the bid. He dismissed the notion that Musk was genuinely interested in acquiring OpenAI, stating, "Not particularly", in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday Altman believes that Musk's bid could be a strategic maneuver to hinder a competitor and gain an advantage with his own AI company, xAI. The $97.4 billion offer, confirmed by CNBC on Monday, is for the nonprofit that supervises the artificial intelligence startup responsible for ChatGPT. Musk's legal representative, Marc Toberoff, confirmed that the offer was submitted on Monday, adding, "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." SEE ALSO: Tesla Supplier CATL Eyes $5 Billion Hong Kong Listing Amid US Sanctions, Market Revival: Report Why It Matters: Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, had previously departed from the company in 2018 over disagreements about its direction. His current bid comes as OpenAI transitions to a for-profit structure, a move Musk has legally challenged. Founder of Telluride Legal Strategies, Rob Rosenberg indicated that Musk's actions might create challenges for OpenAI as it seeks to shift away from its non-profit status, as per Bloomberg. Musk and Altman have been engaged in a prolonged dispute. In August, Musk also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI calling its partnership with Microsoft Corporation MSFT a 'monopoly' aiming to eliminate competitors. OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, has recently surpassed Musk's X in web traffic, ranking as the sixth most-visited website globally in January 2025. This could potentially be a factor in Musk's bid for control of the company. READ MORE: Sam Altman's OpenAI Set To Finalize In-House AI Chip, Reducing Dependence On Nvidia: Report Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. MSFTMicrosoft Corp$410.99-0.30%Overview Rating:Speculative50%Technicals Analysis660100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk and investors offering $97.4 billion for control of OpenAI, WSJ reports

Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The bid is for the nonprofit that oversees the artificial intelligence startup, the Journal reported, adding that Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the offer on Monday. The WSJ cited a statement from Musk provided by Toberoff, saying "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was." In a post on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk, who is a top adviser to President Donald Trump, is in the midst of a heated legal and public relations battle with Altman. They were two of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, establishing the entity as a nonprofit focused on AI research. OpenAI has since emerged as a giant in generative AI, launching ChatGPT in 2022 and setting off a wave of investment in new tools and infrastructure for next-generation AI products and services. SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion valuation, sources told CNBC's David Faber last week. Musk now has a competitor in the AI market, a startup called xAI, and is suing OpenAI, accusing it of antitrust violations and to try and keep it from converting into a for-profit corporation. Meanwhile, OpenAI partnered with SoftBank and Oracle in a project announced by Trump right after his inauguration called Stargate, which calls on the companies to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S. Musk's offer is backed by xAI, which the Journal reports could merge with OpenAI if a deal were to occur. Other investors in the bid include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, 8VC and Ari Emanuel's investment fund, the paper reported. Toberoff sent a letter to the attorneys general in California and Delaware on Jan. 7, asking that bidding be opened up for OpenAI.

Sam Altman reiterates OpenAI 'not for sale' after Elon Musk-led bid | BreakingNews.ie

OpenAI boss Sam Altman has reiterated the AI giant is "not for sale" after an Elon Musk-led group of investors offered more than $97 billion (€94.4 billion) for the firm. After news of the $97.4 billion offer for OpenAI broke on Monday night, Mr Altman said on X: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Speaking to Sky News at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Mr Altman repeated that dig at long-standing rival Mr Musk by adding that OpenAI was "happy to buy Twitter though". The two men helped found OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it, and have been in a long-running feud over the start-up's direction since Mr Musk resigned from its board in 2018. Mr Musk sued the artificial intelligence company last year, first in a California state court and later in US federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a non-profit research lab benefiting the public good. The Tesla and SpaceX boss has his own AI start-up, xAI. Today, OpenAI consists of a non-profit entity and a for-profit subsidiary, which is overseen by the non-profit board. Mr Musk's lawyer said when submitting his bid that the Tesla boss wanted to restore the ChatGPT maker to its original form as a non-profit research lab. Mr Altman is said to be restructuring the company and will ultimately make it an entirely for-profit entity, something the firm has argued is needed to secure the funds to develop the best AI models. Asked if Mr Musk's intervention could make it harder for the for-profit arm of OpenAI to take over, Mr Altman said: "The board will decide what to do there. "The non-profit will continue as a very, very strong thing. The mission is really important and we're just really focused on making sure that we consider that." OpenAI is seen as the key factor in the current AI boom, having brought the technology underpinning it, generative AI, to the mainstream when it launched its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022.

Elon Musk's $97 billion OpenAI bid would give the DOGE chief even more power in the AI race

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has given OpenAI an unsolicited offer of $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit part of OpenAI. An attorney for the group submitted the bid to OpenAI Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports. Per the Journal, the other investors in the group include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC, a venture firm led by Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale. Ari Emanuel, CEO of sports and entertainment company Endeavor, is also backing the offer through his investment fund. OpenAI uses a hybrid business structure that consists of a nonprofit parent entity (OpenAI, Inc.) and a for-profit subsidiary (OpenAI LP, referred to as a "capped-profit" company). In part because of the extraordinary high costs of inventing and training AI models, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 that has let it raise billions from Microsoft and others. Altman is now in the process of turning the subsidiary into a traditional company and spinning out the nonprofit. The nonprofit would, however, own equity in the new for-profit. (Neither OpenAI nor Musk immediately responded to Fast Company's requests for comment.) The situation may seem familiar to OpenAI board member Bret Taylor, who was chairman of Twitter's board of directors when Musk bid for, then bought, the company in October 2022. Taylor left Twitter soon after, along with most of the board.

Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman slams Elon Musk

Open AI CEO Sam Altman slammed Elon Musk on Tuesday, accusing him of acting from a "position of insecurity" after his offer to buy the artificial intelligence startup. "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity," Altman said during an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the Paris AI Summit. "I feel for the guy. I don't think he's a happy person," he added as cited cited by multiple US publications, including the New York Post and the Hill. Altman further reiterated that OpenAi is not for sale after Musk and a group of investors made an unsolicited offer. "The company is not for sale. It's another one of his tactics to try to mess with us," he said. When asked what Musk wants of the deal in the interveiw, Altman said, "He's probably just trying to slow us down." The comments come a day after a group of investors led by Musk made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire the nonprofit entity that controls OpenAI. This escalated a long-running power struggle between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of artificial intelligence. The offer, however, was turned down by Altman and said, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." In response, Musk replied with a single word: "Swindler." as per a New York Post report, Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said that the Tesla CEO had secured backing from several prominent investors, including venture firms such as Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, and Vy Capital, as well as Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. The bid could complicate OpenAI's efforts to secure a $40 billion funding round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which values the company at $300 billion -- making it one of the world's most valuable private firms alongside SpaceX and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

Elon Musk-led group launches $97 billion bid for ChatGPT-maker OpenAI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot down the offer in a post on X. Musk has been fighting the company in court to try to stop its transition into a for-profit entity. SAN FRANCISCO -- Elon Musk and a group of investors offered to buy ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for $97.4 billion on Monday, a sum far below the artificial intelligence company's most recent valuation of $157 billion. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman immediately shot down the offer in a post on X. "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," he wrote, referring to the former name of Musk's social media company that he bought for $44 billion in 2022. The offer, which Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff said in an email was sent to OpenAI's board on Monday, is a major escalation of Musk's battle with the AI company that he helped to found and fund in 2015. Musk parted ways with the project in 2018 after other leaders of OpenAI rejected his suggestion that he take over the company. Musk has been suing OpenAI for the past year, alleging that recent moves by the company that was originally founded as a nonprofit to restructure as a for-profit entity breach its original mission of benefiting humanity with AI technology. The consortium of investors joining Musk in making the offer includes his own AI company, xAI, as well as asset manager Baron Capital Group and venture capital firm Eight Partners. A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment. OpenAI was valued at $157 billion by its venture capital investors when they closed a $6.6 billion round of new investment in October. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the offer to acquire the company. This is a developing story and will be updated.

Elon Musk-Led Investor Group Submits Bid to Buy OpenAI Nonprofit | PYMNTS.com

"It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided to WSJ by Toberoff, per the report. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a Monday post on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," referring to the Musk-owned X by its former name and offering one-tenth the price the group offered for the OpenAI nonprofit. Musk and Altman are already engaged in a court battle over the future of OpenAI, which they co-founded as a charity in 2015, according to the WSJ report. After Musk left the company and Altman became CEO, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary that has enabled it to raise money from Microsoft and other investors, the report said. Now, Altman is turning the subsidiary into a traditional company and spinning out the nonprofit, which would own a stake in the for-profit firm, per the report. Musk's bid sets a high valuation on the nonprofit and could mean that the operator of the nonprofit would have a large and possibly controlling stake in the for-profit firm, the report said. Toberoff told WSJ that the investor group will match or exceed any higher bids offered for the nonprofit, per the report. It was reported Feb. 4 that Musk's suit against OpenAI might proceed to trial, as a judge said parts of the case can move forward. "Something is going to trial in this case," U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said. "[Elon Musk will] sit on the stand, present it to a jury, and a jury will decide who is right." Musk has argued that OpenAI's switch to a for-profit company goes against its original mission, while OpenAI has countered that the switch is necessary to help it land the type of investments it needs to develop the best AI models.

Elon Musk-led group makes $US97.4B bid for control of OpenAI, WSJ reports

A consortium of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk is offering US$97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The offer intensifies a longstanding battle between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board on Monday, according to the report. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," the WSJ cited Musk as saying in a statement provided by Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI, Musk, Toberoff and OpenAI-backer Microsoft MSFT.Odid not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, the WSJ reported. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off. He later founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models. Last year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, saying that OpenAI's founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.

OpenAI Swiftly Rebuffs Musk's Surprise $97.4 Billion Buyout Attempt

Elon Musk on Monday led a consortium of investors in making a $97.4 billion unsolicited offer to acquire ChatGPT maker OpenAI's nonprofit arm - only to face immediate rejection from CEO Sam Altman. The Wall Street Journal reports that the bid included backing from Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI and prominent investors like Valor Equity Partners and Baron Capital. Musk co-founded OpenAI as a charity with Altman in 2015. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement through his lawyer Marc Toberoff. The consortium pledged to match or exceed any competing offers. Altman quickly dismissed the proposal on X (formerly Twitter) with a pointed response: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want" - an apparent jab at Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022. Musk responded to the post with a one-word reply: "Swindler." The attempted takeover comes amid OpenAI's ongoing transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure, with the company recently valued at $157 billion. The transformation has been contentious between Musk and his former colleagues. There have been multiple lawsuits where Musk has accused OpenAI of betraying its founding principles. In a message to employees reported by WSJ, Altman reassured staff that OpenAI's structure prevents any individual from taking control of the company, describing Musk's offer as "tactics to try and weaken us because we are making great progress." The bid's investor group included other backers such as Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC, a venture firm led by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, along with Hollywood executive Ari Emanuel's investment fund.

Elon Musk launches $97bn bid to buy ChatGPT-maker OpenAI

A group led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4bn (£78.7bn) bid to buy OpenAI just months after the X owner sued the artificial intelligence start-up. Mr Musk co-founded OpenAI with its current chief executive Sam Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off after it released ChatGPT in late 2022. Initially launched as a non-profit, OpenAI is currently transitioning to a for-profit model - which it says it needs to do so it can afford to develop the best AI models. Mr Musk disagrees with the move and said in a press release about the bid: "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. "We will make sure that happens." The offer is being backed by Mr Musk's rival artificial intelligence company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the bid. OpenAI was valued at $157bn (£127bn) in its latest funding round in October last year. A deal of this size would require the investing group to raise enormous funds. Mr Musk's offer appears to have escalated longstanding tensions with his former colleague Mr Altman, who posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Read more from Sky News: Fears over Gaza truce as Hamas delays next hostage release US president to impose steel tariffs Mr Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44bn (£38bn) in 2022. The pair publicly fell out when Mr Musk resigned from the OpenAI board in 2018. They are already embroiled in a lawsuit as Mr Musk sued both OpenAI and Mr Altman last year, accusing them of breaching a contract by pivoting towards profit, arguing OpenAI was going back on its pledge to develop AI carefully and make it freely available. Mr Musk and OpenAI lawyers faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed up whether to back the X owner's request for a court order that would block the company from becoming a for-profit entity. US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has not yet ruled on the request but said she would not stop the case from moving to a jury trial.

9to5Neural: Elon Musk tries to buy OpenAI, Sam Altman declines but says they'll take Twitter - 9to5Mac

Welcome to 9to5Neural. AI moves fast. We help you keep up. Last week everyone drank a big glass of DeepSeek with a side of R1. Refreshing as that was, the world of AI has started to calm -- WAIT, WHAT?! Elon Musk is trying to buy OpenAI? Here we go again... Jessica Toonkel and Berber Jin exclusively report for The Wall Street Journal that "a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk is offering $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI," the company behind ChatGPT. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board of directors Monday. The unsolicited offer adds a major complication to Altman's carefully laid plans for OpenAI's future, including converting it to a for-profit company and spending up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure through a joint venture called Stargate. He and Musk are already fighting in court over the direction of OpenAI. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." The unsolicited bid comes as OpenAI shifts from a nonprofit to a for-profit firm led by Sam Altman. Musk originally helped fund OpenAI but left after being denied control of the company. Then OpenAI took the world by storm when it made the ChatGPT-3 chatbot public, introducing the world to large language models and a new era of generative AI. More recently, Musk has sued OpenAI and called the company ClosedAI. He also started xAI, a competing artificial intelligence firm, which integrates with and learns from X (formerly Twitter). Speaking of X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI's Altman responded to the news with a post (formerly tweet) that says no thanks, but OpenAI is (surely jokingly) willing to buy Twitter for 10% of Elon's takeover bid of OpenAI. Twitter, of course, is the original name for Musk's X platform. Otherwise, nothing major happened except OpenAI unveiling and releasing deep research for ChatGPT Pro users after the operator agent feature seemed to fall flat. While operator tries to do things for you in its own little OpenAI web browser, deep research automates extensive online searches and writes a report based on a given prompt.

Musk's $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI aims to 'slow down a competitor,' Sam Altman says

PARIS -- Elon Musk aims to "slow down a competitor" when the investor group he led put forward a $97.4 billion proposal for control of OpenAI, the company's CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Tuesday. Asked how seriously he is taking Musk's bid, which Altman previously declined in a X social media post, the OpenAI chief said: "Not particularly." "I think it's to slow down a competitor and catch up with his thing, but I don't really know ... to the degree anybody does," Altman added, in response to another reporter's questions on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris. CNBC has reached out to Toberoff, Tesla and X for comment. Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, CNBC confirmed on Monday. The offer is for the nonprofit that oversees the artificial intelligence startup behind ChatGPT. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said, adding that he submitted an offer on Monday. Musk has his own AI company called xAI which is behind the chatbot Grok. - CNBC's Ari Levy and Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

OpenAI Is Not for Sale, says Sam Altman

Altman believes Musk is trying to slow OpenAI down because he is a competitor. OpenAI chief Sam Altman has once again reiterated that the company is not for sale, dismissing recent speculation about a potential bid from X chief Elon Musk. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Altman said, "The OpenAI mission is not for sale." This comes amid reports that Musk, who is working on his own AI venture, xAI, has been trying to acquire OpenAI. Altman believes Musk's actions are aimed at slowing down OpenAI's progress. "I think he's probably just trying to slow us down," Altman said. "He obviously is a competitor." Altman further expressed a preference for competition through innovation rather than tactics like lawsuits. "I wish he would just compete by building better products," he said. Regarding OpenAI's structure, Altman clarified that the company is not moving to a for-profit model. In December last year, the company published a blog in which it said that OpenAI's Board of Directors is reviewing its corporate structure to ensure it aligns with the mission of benefiting all of humanity through artificial general intelligence (AGI). The company said the goal is to choose the best non-profit/for-profit structure for long-term success, ensure the sustainability of the non-profit, and equip both arms to support the mission. "We're not moving to a for-profit model where we're not sure we're going to do it all," he said. The nonprofit aspect of OpenAI will continue to be important, with the board exploring options for its future structure. Altman is attending the Paris Action Summit, which is focused on using AI technology wisely. He spoke about the importance of infrastructure and economic growth and mentioned OpenAI's latest product "Deep Research" as an example of innovation. Musk and a group of investors made a bid on Monday to buy OpenAI for around $97.4 billion. The bid is aimed at acquiring the nonprofit organisation that controls OpenAI. The group includes Musk's AI company, xAI, investment firms like Vy Capital, and notable investors such as Ari Emanuel. However, Altman took to X to reject the offer and suggested that OpenAI would rather buy Twitter for $9.74 billion.

Sam Altman Says OpenAI is Taking Musk's $97.4B Offer 'Not Particularly' Seriously

Musk is reportedly leading a group of investors offering $97.4 billion for control over the nonprofit that has legal authority over OpenAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has responded to the reported $97.4 billion offer from Elon Musk and other investors to take over the nonprofit that has legal control over OpenAI, the Microsoft (MSFT)-backed developer of ChatGPT, saying he is taking the offer "not particularly" seriously. Video of Altman taking questions from several reporters in Paris on Tuesday was captured by CNBC. Asked what he thought the Tesla (TSLA) CEO's endgame was, Altman said "I don't know, I'm curious. I think it's to slow down a competitor and try to catch up with his thing, but I don't really know." Musk and a group of investors have reportedly made a $97.4 billion offer to acquire control of OpenAI, the Tesla CEO's lawyer Marc Toberoff told The Wall Street Journal on Monday. The Journal reported that OpenAI could merge with Musk's own artificial intelligence effort, xAI, if the offer were to move forward. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Altman told Bloomberg in a separate interview Tuesday. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this." Shortly after the offer was reported, Altman responded by rejecting it on social media, and jokingly offering to buy Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, for $9.74 billion, 10% of the reported offer for OpenAI. Altman and a number of other executives from around the AI industry are in France for a summit on AI development. The Journal and The New York Times each reported that the offer could complicate OpenAI's ongoing funding rounds and its future plans to separate from its nonprofit backing. Toberoff's law firm and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Tuesday morning.

OpenAI's board has not received Elon Musk's takeover bid: Source

A day after Elon Musk announced his $97.4 billion bid to purchase the non-profit that oversees OpenAI, the two parties were still in disagreement about the details of the formal offer. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, stated that he had sent the offer via email to OpenAI's outside counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.OpenAI's board has not yet received a formal bid from an Elon Musk-led consortium, although a lawyer for the billionaire said the offer had been sent to OpenAI's outside counsel. A day after Musk publicised a bid to offer $97.4 billion to buy the non-profit that controls ChatGPT maker OpenAI, the two sides were still at odds over what exactly happened to the formal bid. OpenAI's board of directors has not yet received a formal bid from Musk's group, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to the confusion over the unsolicited attempt to take control of the world's most prominent AI company. Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, told Reuters that he sent the offer by email on Monday to OpenAI's outside counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bid - attached to an email - was in the form of a "detailed four-page Letter of Intent" to purchase OpenAI's assets, signed by Musk and other investors and addressed to the board, Toberoff said. "Whether Sam Altman chose to provide or withhold this from OpenAI's other Board members is outside of our control," he said, referring to OpenAI's CEO. The non-profit that controls OpenAI is not for sale, Altman told Reuters on Tuesday when asked about Musk's offer to buy it. The offer by the Musk-led consortium came amid the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. "I have nothing to say. I mean, it's ridiculous," Altman said on the sidelines of an AI summit in Paris when asked about the offer. "The company is not for sale. It's another one of his tactics to try to mess with us," Altman said, referring to Musk. In an internal message to OpenAI employees on Monday, Altman said the board, though it had not officially reviewed the offer, planned to reject it based on the interest of OpenAI's mission. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a non-profit, but left before the company took off due to a disagreement over the company's direction and funding sources with Altman and other co-founders. In 2023, he launched the competing AI startup, xAI. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of technology company X, is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. He leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. OpenAI, in the process of raising $40 billion, is also seeking to transition into a for-profit from a non-profit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models. The complicated transition involves putting a price tag on OpenAI's non-profit control of the for-profit arm. Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings has said she is reviewing OpenAI's proposed changes to ensure the company is "adhering to its specific charitable purposes for the benefit of the public beneficiaries, as opposed to the commercial or private interests of OpenAI's directors or partners." Legal experts said Musk's bid complicates the fair value held by OpenAI, particularly regarding charitable assets in its complicated corporate conversion, meaning the price it needs to pay in exchange for the non-profit to give up control. "It does help set a price point for the thinking about the valuation of the non-profit assets," Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, the consumer rights watchdog, told Reuters. "If it were to occur as proposed, the regulators have a duty to ensure that if there's a selloff of assets to a for-profit entity, that fair market value is obtained."

Elon Musk makes $97 billion bid for OpenAI, gets rejected

According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Musk and his investor group submitted an unsolicited offer of $97.4 billion to acquire the nonprofit group that controls OpenAI. Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both originally co-founded OpenAI. However, Musk later cut ties with the organization. Since then, the two have butted heads over the direction OpenAI has gone in. At its founding, OpenAI was initially meant to operate as a not-for-profit group with an open-source ethos. However, since ChatGPT exploded on the tech scene, Altman has sought to turn OpenAI into a for-profit company. Musk, who has since started his own AI company, xAI, has often publicly criticized OpenAI and Altman for its direction. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk's lawyer said to WSJ in a statement. "We will make sure that happens." In a contextless post on Musk's X, Altman seems to have rejected Musk's bid. OpenAI has already raised billions of dollars from companies like Microsoft and was last valued at $157 billion. On X, Altman posted, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Altman's quip about buying Twitter was a not-so-subtle jab at Musk. Musk acquired X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022. Musk's purchase price for the company was well beyond what the social media platform was worth. Since Musk's takeover, X has only dropped further in value.

Elon Musk-led investor group offers $97.4 billion for control of OpenAI

Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in a $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company that operates ChatGPT. In a post on social media, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded, "[N]o thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," referring to the social media app Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022. Musk's offer to buy ChatGPT was reported first by the Wall Street Journal. The offer comes amid years of conflict between Musk and Altman over the direction of OpenAI, which Musk helped to found in 2015. Musk, the world's richest person with a net worth of more than $400 billion, sued Altman and OpenAI last year, alleged that the AI company had veered away form its mission to benefit the public, among other claims. The offer comes as OpenAI is seeking to transform into a for-profit business, a decision that it said would help the AI company pursue its mission of ensuring the technology "benefits all of humanity," according to its website. OpenAI has also formed a partnership with Microsoft, which has invested billions in the AI company and integrated OpenAI's GPT-4 tech into its software programs. "At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow. We've made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators," Musk said in the statement, referring to the AI app developed by x.AI. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens." The group of investors includes Musk's x.AI Corp.; Baron Capital Group; Valor Management; Altreides Management; Vy Fund III; Emanuel Capital Management; and Eight Partners VC, according to a statement from Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors. The funds from the $97.4 billion offer would be "used exclusively to further OpenAI, Inc.'s original charitable mission," the investor group said in a statement.

Musk-led group makes $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI | BreakingNews.ie

A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion (€94.4 billion) to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, months after the billionaire sued the artificial intelligence startup to block it from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Mr Musk's bid could ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman promptly posted on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The two are already embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. Mr Musk criticised a $500 billion (€485 billion) OpenAI-led project called Stargate announced with great fanfare at the White House just after president Donald Trump returned to office, suggesting the investors involved lacked the funding for the project. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Mr Musk said in the press release. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI, Mr Musk, Mr Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal which first reported Mr Musk's offer earlier on Monday. Even without any antitrust implications, a deal this size would need Mr Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds. OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its latest funding round in October, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world. SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds, Reuters reported in January. Mr Musk cofounded OpenAI with Mr Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023. OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models. Mr Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Mr Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.

Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI, WSJ Reports

A consortium led by Elon Musk offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, months after the billionaire sued the artificial intelligence startup to block it from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk's bid could ratchet up longstanding tensions between himself and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. The two are already embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. Musk criticized a massive, $500 billion OpenAI-led project called Stargate announced with great fanfare at the White House just after President Donald Trump returned to office, suggesting the investors involved lacked the funding for the project. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board on Monday, according to the report.

These are the investors funding Musk's $97 billion OpenAI take over attempt | TechCrunch

As if Elon Musk doesn't have enough going on, a consortium of investors led by him announced plans Monday for what appears to be a hostile takeover of OpenAI. The investor group offered nearly $97.4 billion to buy all of OpenAI's assets and is "prepared to consider matching or exceeding higher bids," it said in a press release sent to TechCrunch. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman isn't having it. He immediately replied on X, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The consortium includes Baron Capital Group Inc., Valor Management LLC, Atreides Management LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emanuel Capital Management LLC, and Eight Partners VC LLC. While Emanuel Capital Management has a slimmer public profile, the others are firmly in Musk's orbit. Baron Capital Group, which manages multiple mutual funds, was founded by Ron Baron. The firm's Baron Partners Fund, which he manages with his son Michael Baron, has large stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Atreides Management is associated with Boston-based hedge fund Atreides. As we previously reported, founder Gavin Baker spent 18 years at Fidelity where he made his first investment in SpaceX. Atreides has also invested in Tesla and Baker was a public supporter of Musk's enormous Tesla pay package. Valor Management was founded by Antonio Gracias, an early SpaceX investor and former Tesla board member. He was also an investor in Musk's Solar City before Tesla acquired it. Vy Capital, founded by Alexander Tamas, also has a SpaceX stake and has invested in a number of other Musk companies like The Boring Company and Neuralink. Eight Partners VC is better known as Joe Lonsdale's firm 8VC, according to public filings. Lonsdale is a vocal fan of Musk and runs in similar circles. He recently appeared on CNBC calling himself "a huge fan" of Musk's DOGE, an interview that Musk reposted on X. It's not yet clear how serious this group is. One plausible analysis floating around the internet is that this is as much trolling as offer. Some say this is Musk's attempt to drive up the price that Altman's team would have to pay to buy OpenAI's underlying assets in order to restructure it from its original non-profit status. Musk was part of the founding of OpenAI as a non-profit AI research organization and Musk has been attempting to halt Altman's restructuring plans.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls Musk's bid an attempt to 'slow us down' | TechCrunch

In an interview at the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dismissed Elon Musk's unsolicited $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI's nonprofit as "an attempt to slow [OpenAI] down." "[Musk] obviously is a competitor," Altman said. "He's raised a lot of money for [his AI company] xAI, and they're trying to compete with us from a technological perspective." Altman went on to quip, "I think [Musk's] whole life is from a position of insecurity [...] I don't think he's a happy person." Altman almost immediately shot down Musk's offer for OpenAI's nonprofit in a public post on Monday, and it seems increasingly likely that OpenAI's board of directors will formally reject the bid. But it may not happen right away. In an interview on Tuesday, Larry Summers, an OpenAI board member, said he hadn't received "any formal communication [about the bid] of any kind outside of media reports."

Elon Musk Makes $97.4 Billion Bid to Buy OpenAI

Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, in a move that could shake up the AI industry. A consortium of investors, led by Elon Musk, has made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to OpenAI's board of directors for "all assets" of the start-up behind ChatGPT and DALL-E. Marc Toberoff, Musk's attorney, confirms that the proposal was formally submitted to OpenAI's board on Monday. He also states that Musk's group of investors is prepared to match or go higher than any competing offers that may emerge. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, Musk's move complicates OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's ongoing efforts to restructure the start-up away from its original non-profit status and convert it to a for-profit company. Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman and other researchers and entrepreneurs in 2015 with the mission of freely sharing AI technologies with the world. When Musk left OpenAI three years later after a battle for control, Altman attached OpenAI to a for-profit company to raise money, and he is currently in the process of breaking that off into its own company. According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk's offer could disrupt Altman's plans for OpenAI, since the nonprofit arm will still own a stake in the for-profit company, and Musk's high valuation set with the offer could mean the nonprofit entity maintains significant control of the new company. Musk and Altman are already fighting in court over the direction of OpenAI -- with the X owner claiming that the company has strayed from the original mission he supported. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk says in a statement provided by Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." Less than an hour after The Wall Street Journal's report that Musk had submitted an offer to Open AI, Altman took to X saying: "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk then responded to Altman's tweet, calling him a "swindler."

Elon Musk-led group makes $97.4bn bid for ChatGPT maker OpenAI

In response to the bid, Altman posted on Musk's social media platform X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." OpenAI is widely credited with helping bring artificial intelligence tools into the mainstream and sparking huge investment in the sector. Musk and Altman co-founded the start-up in 2015 as a non-profit company, but the relationship has soured since the Tesla and X boss departed the firm in 2018. Altman is said to be restructuring the company to become a for-profit entity, stripping it of its non-profit board - a move Musk argues means the company has abandoned its founding mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity. But OpenAI argues its transition into a for-profit firm is required to secure the money needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens," Musk said in a statement. "As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology," Musk's attorney added on his behalf and other investors. The bid to take over Open AI bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, as well as several private equity firms, including Baron Capital Group and Valor Management.

These are the investors funding Musk's $97 billion OpenAI takeover attempt | TechCrunch

As if Elon Musk doesn't have enough going on, a consortium of investors led by him announced plans Monday for what appears to be a hostile takeover of OpenAI. The investor group offered nearly $97.4 billion to buy all of OpenAI's assets and is "prepared to consider matching or exceeding higher bids," it said in a press release sent to TechCrunch. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman isn't having it. He immediately replied on X, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The consortium includes Baron Capital Group Inc., Valor Management LLC, Atreides Management LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emanuel Capital Management LLC, and Eight Partners VC LLC. While Emanuel Capital Management has a slimmer public profile, the others are firmly in Musk's orbit. Baron Capital Group, which manages multiple mutual funds, was founded by Ron Baron. The firm's Baron Partners Fund, which he manages with his son Michael Baron, has large stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Atreides Management is associated with Boston-based hedge fund Atreides. As we previously reported, founder Gavin Baker spent 18 years at Fidelity where he made his first investment in SpaceX. Atreides has also invested in Tesla and Baker was a public supporter of Musk's enormous Tesla pay package. Valor Management was founded by Antonio Gracias, an early SpaceX investor and former Tesla board member. He was also an investor in Musk's Solar City before Tesla acquired it. Vy Capital, founded by Alexander Tamas, also has a SpaceX stake and has invested in a number of other Musk companies like The Boring Company and Neuralink. Eight Partners VC is better known as Joe Lonsdale's firm 8VC, according to public filings. Lonsdale is a vocal fan of Musk and runs in similar circles. He recently appeared on CNBC calling himself "a huge fan" of Musk's DOGE, an interview that Musk reposted on X. It's not yet clear how serious this group is. One plausible analysis floating around the internet is that this is as much trolling as offer. Some say this is Musk's attempt to drive up the price that Altman's team would have to pay to buy OpenAI's underlying assets in order to restructure it from its original non-profit status. Musk was part of the founding of OpenAI as a non-profit AI research organization and Musk has been attempting to halt Altman's restructuring plans.

Consortium led by Elon Musk makes $97.4B offer for OpenAI - SiliconANGLE

An investor consortium backed by Elon Musk today made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI. The offer is for the ChatGPT developer's nonprofit parent organization, the Wall Street Journal reported. The consortium includes Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, 8VC and a fund affiliated with Ari Emanuel, the Chief Executive Officer of talent agency Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. Musk-backed OpenAI competitor xAI Corp. is reportedly participating as well. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement to the Journal. "We will make sure that happens." In a post on X, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman wrote "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." OpenAI launched in 2015 as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research lab. Four years later, it formed a for-profit arm that now leads its product development efforts. Musk, who provided some of the nonprofit's initial funding in 2015, sued OpenAI last August over the creation of the for-profit arm. Four months after the lawsuit, Musk raised $6 billion for xAI, which competes with OpenAI in the large language model market. It offers an LLM family called Grok that is available through a chatbot and an application programming interface. The newest model in the series, Grok 3, is expected to debut later this month. The Journal reported today that OpenAI could merge with xAI if the Musk-led consortium's acquisition offer is accepted. Such a transaction may be complicated to carry out in practice given that xAI is a for-profit company while OpenAI is a nonprofit. In November, Musk asked a judge to block OpenAI's bid to become a for-profit company. Last month, Musk asked the attorneys general of California and Delaware to auction off a stake in OpenAI. If such an auction takes place, it could create competition for the Musk-led consortium that hopes to buy the AI provider. An auction could draw rival bids that may require the investor group to raise its offer. The new funding round that OpenAI is working to raise may also complicate the takeover bid. Last month, the Journal reported that the ChatGPT developer is seeking a $40 billion investment at a valuation of $340 billion. That's more than three times what the Musk-led consortium is offering.

Elon Musk Co-Founded OpenAI, Now He's Bidding $97.4B To Take Back The Company - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Musk previously co-founded OpenAI and invested in the company before leaving. A group of investors led by the world's richest person Elon Musk has made a $97.4-billion offer to acquire control of OpenAI, the nonprofit AI giant Musk once co-founded. What Happened: Musk, who has sued OpenAI as the company attempts to transition to a for-profit structure, previously founded the company with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and several other individuals. Musk put in capital to the company before leaving in 2018 over a disagreement regarding its direction. The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that Musk is leading a group bidding $97.4-billion to take control of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by his attorney Marc Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal the bid for the nonprofit that controls OpenAI was submitted to OpenAI's board of directors Monday. After Musk left, the company created a for-profit subsidiary that helped the company raise money from other investors including Microsoft Corporation MSFT. Altman is pushing to make OpenAI a for-profit company, which could give him an opportunity for an equity stake in the company and increase his wealth. Among the investors in the bid for OpenAI control include Musk's AI company xAI, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, 8VC, Baron Capital and Atreides Management. Altman appeared to dismiss the buyout offer in a tweet Monday. "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman tweeted. Read Also: OpenAI Co-Founders, Now Rivals Sam Altman And Elon Musk Clash Over ChatGPT And xAI's Grok Chatbots Again Why It's Important: News of the bid has raised questions to what this could mean for Altman's push for a for-profit company and whether xAI and OpenAI could be combined if the bid goes through. Toberoff said Musk and the investor group are prepared to match higher bids in the process to value the nonprofit company. "If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time," Toberoff said. Musk and Altman have battled publicly in recent months. Musk recently said Altman and other investors in Project Stargate didn't have the funds for their announced venture. OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in a funding round in October 2024. A recent report said OpenAI was also considering a funding round that could value the company at $300 billion. Musk's xAI was valued at $50 billion in November 2024. Musk is the world's richest person, with wealth of $402 billion, according to Bloomberg. It is unknown how much of his personal fortune Musk put into the bid and what the source of his funds were. Musk previously sold a portion of his Tesla shares to help fund his $44-billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022. Read Next: Elon Musk Accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Of Lying Over $10B Equity: 'What A Liar' Elon Musk and Sam Altman photos via Shutterstock. MSFTMicrosoft Corp$412.160.59%Overview Rating:Speculative50%Technicals Analysis660100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Elon Musk-led-team submits $97.4B bid for OpenAI | TechCrunch

A team of investors led by Elon Musk submitted a $97.6 billion bid to purchase OpenAI on Monday. The news comes by way of Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, who confirmed the news with The Wall Street Journal. The unsolicited bid is the latest escalation by Musk in his war with co-founder Sam Altman, as Altman looks to take the ChatGPT-maker private. Musk is already embroiled in a legal dispute with OpenAI, filing a 2024 injunction against its bid to transition away from nonprofit status. The Musk-led team is positioning the move as a bid to retain the organization's initial open source focus. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk told The Journal, by way of Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." Musk's own AI firm, xAI, is involved with the bid, leading to speculation that a successful acquisition could find the two companies merging. Altman has -- fittingly -- responded to the offer via a cheeky X post, writing, "[N]o thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk famously purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.

OpenAI shouldn't accept Elon Musk's $97 billion bid to buy it

Let's say you own one of the most valuable homes in a lush, gated community that has been earmarked as a future point of growth for decades to come. One day, a letter appears in your mailbox, offering to buy your property for between a third and two-thirds of its value on the open market. On the face of it, you should turn it down. But the person offering to buy it owns every house in the estate, and runs the HOA. They're also friends with the police chief and the fire department. So you have to think carefully. That's the situation Sam Altman finds himself in today as an Elon Musk-led group launches an audacious bid to buy the non-profit arm of OpenAI, the hottest ticket in tech, for $97.4 billion. The bid, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is undoubtedly a cheeky one. OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion late last year when it last went into the market to seek investment. And just this week SoftBank, the Japanese investment company, valued it at $260 billion. That makes Musk's bid to take over the company a cut-price one, worth significantly less than the going market rate. The idea that OpenAI, which has spent the last year or more in an on-again, off-again court case against Musk over an argument dating back a decade to the latter's involvement in setting up the AI company as a non-profit, would accept the offer for the non-profit arm seems preposterous.

Altman Blasts Musk's Purchase Offer as Attempt to Slow OpenAI

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said the company is "not for sale" and Elon Musk is probably trying to delay its progress with an unsolicited bid for the artificial intelligence pioneer. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Tuesday on the sidelines of an AI summit in Paris. "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there's been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this."

Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid to Take Over OpenAI: WSJ

A group led by Tesla co-Founder and CEO Elon Musk has reportedly made a bid for Artificial Intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI. As reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the group is offering $97.4 billion for complete control of the ChatGPT maker. According to the Wall Street Journal report, Marc Toberoff, the lawyer representing Elon Musk has submitted the bid to the OpenAI board. The goal of the $97.4 billion offer is to return the non-profit controlling OpenAI to its roots. This include its reset to operate as an "open-source, safety-focused force for good." While not unexpected, this offer is a strategic shift from the legal feud between Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO and Elon Musk. Recall that the Tesla CEO has always criticized Sam Altman for pushing the AI firm to become a for-profit entity. Notably, the $97.4 billion bid is a smaller amount compared to a projected valuation of $340 billion for OpenAI. While it remains uncertain how the board will react to the bid, if approved, it will mark the major acquisition led by Elon Musk since the $44 billion acquisition of X, formerly Twitter Inc. This is a developing story, please check back for updates!!

Insecure Musk is not a happy person, says rival tech tycoon

Elon Musk is "insecure" and "not a happy person", rival billionaire Sam Altman has said, after the Tesla chief executive launched a $100bn (£80bn) bid to take over OpenAI. Mr Altman, whose company is behind the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, said Mr Musk's buyout offer was merely "tactics" and that he was "trying to slow us down". Mr Musk has launched a series of lawsuits against Mr Altman and OpenAI as part of a decade-long feud over the future of AI technology. On Monday night, Mr Musk, who has his own AI business xAI, announced a $97.4bn offer for OpenAI with a consortium of investors. Mr Altman immediately rejected the approach. Speaking to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris, the OpenAI chief executive said: "I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there has been a lot of tactics." He added Mr Musk had launched "crazy lawsuits", saying: "Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity, I feel for the guy. I don't think he's like a happy person. I do feel for him."

Sam Altman calls Musk 'insecure' as AI race gets personal

Paris | OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman rebuffed Elon Musk's $US97.4 billion ($155 billion) offer to take control of the artificial-intelligence startup for the second time in less than a day, accusing the world's richest man of making the bid just to gain a competitive advantage. "I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He obviously is a competitor," Mr Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) on the sidelines of the Paris AI summit.

Altman Says 'No Thank You' to Musk-Led Group's OpenAI Bid

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has offered to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion, escalating a clash between the Tesla chief executive and the artificial intelligence company he co-founded. With the unsolicited bid, Musk said he hopes to return OpenAI to being "the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," according to a statement. In response, Altman posted on Musk's X social-media platform: "No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." (Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, but its value later diminished, according to outside estimates.) The Wall Street Journal was first to report the offer. OpenAI formally declined to comment. Toberoff didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. (Source: Bloomberg)

Elon Musk Leads Bid to Buy OpenAI for $97.4 Billion

Sign up for the On Tech newsletter. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. A group of investors led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, according to two people familiar with the bid, escalating a yearslong tussle between Mr. Musk and OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman. The consortium includes Vy Capital and Xai, Mr. Musk's A.I. company, and other investors, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported news of the letter. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Altman Says OpenAI Is 'Not for Sale' After Musk's Offer

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman rebuffed Elon Musk's $97.4 billion offer to take control of the AI startup for the second time in less than a day, accusing the world's richest man of making the bid just to gain a competitive advantage. Bloomberg Technology host Caroline Hyde joins Bloomberg's Vonnie Quinn to discuss. (Source: Bloomberg)

OpenAI's Altman says Musk offer is 'ridiculous'

JOURNALIST: "Can you react to Elon Musk's offer (to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI)? ALTMAN: "I have nothing to say. I mean, it's ridiculous." JOURNALIST: "How so?" ALTMAN: "The company is not for sale. The company is not for sale. It's another one of his tactics to try to mess with us but no big deal." A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm. Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.

Sam Altman to Elon Musk: 'OpenAI is not for sale'

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has responded to Elon Musk's offer to buy the artificial intelligence startup's assets by saying it's not for sale. "OpenAI is not for sale," Altman told Axios during the AI Action Summit in Paris. "OpenAI's mission is not for sale -- to say nothing of the fact that, like, a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, 'I'm gonna buy this" with total disregard for the mission is a likely path there." Altman told Axios that other "versions of Elon" have tried to take control of the AI startup "for a long time." On Monday, Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff submitted a bid to OpenAI's board of directors for all of its assets, the Wall Street Journal (NWS+0.28%) reported. A group of investor led by Musk have offered to buy the nonprofit controlling the AI startup for $97.4 billion.

Elon Musk wants to buy OpenAI for almost $100 billion

The ChatGPT creator's CEO commented on the acquisition bid by saying "no thank you". While X/Twitter does currently offer its own kind of artificial intelligence with the Grok system, clearly Elon Musk wants to do more with the technology, as The Wall Street Journal now reports that the Tesla and SpaceX owner has put in a bid to acquire ChatGPT maker OpenAI for a whopping $97.4 billion. In the WSJ article, Musk shared a statement about what he hopes to achieve with this bid, claiming that it is time for the company to "return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," something that he "will make sure that happens." Granted, this is clearly all that this will amount to, as OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has since commented on the bid by Musk with a cheeky response that states: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want". Musk wasn't exactly impressed by this jab by Altman, replying by calling the OpenAI boss "Scam Altman".

Elon Musk-Led Group Proposes Buying OpenAI for $97 Billion. OpenAI CEO Says 'No Thank You'

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A group of investors led by Elon Musk says it is offering more than $97 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms say they want to buy the ChatGPT maker and revert it back to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Elon Musk-led group proposes buying OpenAI for $97 billion. OpenAI CEO says 'no thank you'

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A group of investors led by Elon Musk says it is offering more than $97 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Musk helped found. Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms say they want to buy the ChatGPT maker and revert it back to its original charitable mission as a nonprofit research lab, according to Musk attorney Marc Toberoff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."

Elon Musk-led group proposes buying ChatGPT-maker OpenAI | BreakingNews.ie

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has said it is offering more than 97 billion dollars (£78.3 billion) to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artificial intelligence company that Mr Musk helped found. Mr Musk and his own AI start-up, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms say they want to buy the ChatGPT-maker and revert it back to its original charitable mission as a non-profit research lab, according to Musk lawyer Marc Toberoff. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Mr Musk's social media platform X, saying "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want". Mr Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for 44 billion dollars in 2022.

Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI, WSJ Reports

(Reuters) -A consortium of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk is offering $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI's board on Monday, according to the report. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," the WSJ cited Musk as saying in a statement provided by Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens." OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Anil D'Silva)