By Josephine Amuzu
OpenAI’s board has officially declined a $97.4 billion takeover bid from Elon Musk and a group of investors.
Board Chair Bret Taylor stated, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.”
This decision adds another chapter to the ongoing dispute between OpenAI and Musk regarding the company’s restructuring. OpenAI, originally co-founded by Musk and CEO Sam Altman as a non-profit research organization, is now restructuring to facilitate fundraising and provide greater returns to investors and employees.
Musk has criticized the move, claiming it compromises OpenAI’s original mission. On Monday, his investor group proposed acquiring the company to transform it into an “open-source, safety-focused force.” If successful, the acquisition could have significantly reshaped the AI landscape while boosting Musk’s influence, particularly as the owner of OpenAI competitor xAI.
However, OpenAI quickly rejected the bid. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Altman sarcastically responded, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Taylor, who previously chaired Twitter’s board during Musk’s takeover, reaffirmed OpenAI’s mission, stating, “Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure (Artificial General Intelligence) benefits all of humanity.”
A lawyer representing Musk’s investment group did not immediately comment on the matter.
A History of Legal Battles
This is not Musk’s first effort to challenge OpenAI’s restructuring.
In June 2024, he sued OpenAI but later dropped the lawsuit after the company published emails from its early days, allegedly showing Musk acknowledged the necessity of generating significant revenue to support AI development. These emails contradicted his legal claims that OpenAI was wrongfully pursuing profit.
Undeterred, Musk filed another lawsuit in August 2024, accusing OpenAI of prioritizing profits and engaging in racketeering.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has suggested that Musk is simply bitter about no longer being involved. The Tesla CEO departed OpenAI in 2018 after failing to convince its co-founders to let Tesla acquire the company.
During a Bloomberg TV interview at the AI Summit in Paris, Altman summed up his thoughts on Musk: “I wish he would just compete by building a better product.”
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