Elon Musk’s $97.4 Billion Bid for OpenAI Rejected by Sam Altman
Elon Musk, alongside a group of high-profile investors, made an unsolicited $97.4 billion offer on Monday to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit arm, only to be swiftly turned down by CEO Sam Altman.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the offer was backed by Musk’s AI company xAI and major investors like Valor Equity Partners and Baron Capital. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit focused on open-source AI, expressed his reasoning through a statement via his lawyer, Marc Toberoff: “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was.” The group of investors also pledged to match or beat any competing offers.
The response from Altman came quickly and directly on X (formerly Twitter), where he addressed the proposal with a sharp comment: “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” This remark was clearly a dig at Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022. Musk fired back with a one-word retort: “Swindler.”
The bid comes at a time when OpenAI is transitioning from a nonprofit into a for-profit model. With the company recently valued at $157 billion, the shift has sparked tensions, particularly between Musk and his former colleagues. Musk has been vocal about what he sees as a betrayal of OpenAI’s original mission, even filing lawsuits to back his claims.
In a message reported by WSJ, Altman sought to reassure OpenAI employees, emphasizing that the company’s structure is designed to prevent control by any single entity. He referred to Musk’s proposal as “tactics to try and weaken us because we are making great progress.”
The investor group supporting Musk’s bid included notable names such as Atreides Management, Vy Capital, 8VC (founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale), and Hollywood executive Ari Emanuel’s investment fund.
For further discussion on the topic, you can visit the Political News forum. While anyone can follow the thread, posting is restricted to forum members with at least 100 posts.
