ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s board of directors has unanimously rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid by tech titan Elon Musk. The development comes days after OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who co-founded the AI company with Musk, rebuffed the Tesla CEO’s offer and instead offered $9.74 billion to buy his company X.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected (Elon) Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition. Any potential reorganisation of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity,” said a statement from Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI’s board.
The statement by the OpenAI board is the latest twist in the long-running feud between the AI company and Musk, who owns a rival firm, xAI.
At the heart of the matter lies Altman’s attempt to transform OpenAI, which is controlled by a non-profit, into a fully for-profit company. He has said the move will allow it to raise more money to further research into AI.
Musk, however, is against the idea and wants OpenAI to stay to its non-profit roots and focus on its mission to develop AI for the betterment of humanity.
Matters came to a head earlier this week when a Musk-led group of investors offered USD 97 billion to buy OpenAI to return it to an “open-source, safety-focused force”.
Altman was quick to turn down the offer. “No, thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he posted on X, prompting Musk to retort: “swindler”. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.
Later, Musk said he was ready to junk his takeover plan if OpenAI dropped its plan to convert into a for-profit company.
The offer from Musk came after he sued OpenAI twice last year. In July 2024, Musk accused the AI company of moving away from its founding principles. In another lawsuit in August 2024, Musk sought blocking of OpenAI’s for-profit conversion due to breach of contract and antitrust violation charges.