Elon Musk's $97.4B Bid for OpenAI Rejected by Sam Altman

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, has seemingly rejected a $97.4 billion bid from Elon Musk and a group of investors to acquire the nonprofit organization behind ChatGPT. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk's group submitted the bid to OpenAI's board of directors on February 10. Altman responded on Twitter, saying, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk had purchased Twitter, now known as X, for $44 billion in 2022.

Musk appeared to retaliate by sharing a video on Twitter of Altman's 2023 testimony before Congress, where he stated that he owns no equity in OpenAI. Musk captioned the video, "Scam Altman." The tension between Altman and Musk stems from a long-standing disagreement over the direction of OpenAI. Altman wants to shift the company to a for-profit venture, while Musk disagrees with this approach.

In August 2022, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman, alleging that they violated promises to operate as a nonprofit. The lawsuit was later dropped after OpenAI published several of Musk's emails from the early days of the firm, which seemed to show him acknowledging that the company needed to make money.

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 Wall Street Journal that the group is prepared to match or beat any higher bids. Toberoff stated, "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."