A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, markig a new front in his war with the ChatGPT-maker.
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed that the Tesla and SpaceX chief made the offer for all of OpenAI’s assets. The bid is backed by Musk’s AI firm x.AI alongside private equity firms Baron Capital Group and Valor Management.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who co-founded the company alongside Musk in 2015 as a non-profit, dismissed the bid on his X platform formerly known as Twitter. Responding to the offer, Altman wrote, “no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk replied with a single word, “swindler.”
Musk departed OpenAI in 2018 and later founded x.AI in early 2023 to have a foothold in the technology expected to disrupt how people live and work. He has been vocal in his opposition to OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit model under Altman’s leadership. In 2023, Musk filed two lawsuits against the San Francisco-based company, arguing that it had strayed from its original mission of developing AI for public benefit.
OpenAI Stand
OpenAI ranks among the world’s highest-valued startups but incurs losses due to the high costs of producing its expensive technology. Its last funding round valued the company at $157 billion, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies globally.
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.
