Investors Make Unsolicited $97.4 Billion Offer for OpenAI Parent Company

Elon Musk and a consortium of investors have offered $97.4 billion to buy the non-profit parent company of OpenAI. The offer was immediately–and somewhat humorously–shot down by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is trying to dramatically expand OpenAI’s money-making ventures while fending off Musk’s escalating legal threats.

“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement. “We will make sure that happens.”

“No thank you,” Mr. Altman replied on Musk’s X/Twitter platform, “but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

OpenAI will soon be valued at $250 billion to $300 billion, based on recent reports, and the company will spend up to $500 billion on the so-called Stargate AI infrastructure project. But Elon Musk, an OpenAI co-founder who left the firm in 2018 after an unsuccessful coup, has launched a series of legal challenges to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, claiming that they were prioritizing profits over the public good. OpenAI has described Musk’s complaints as “incoherent.” Musk has described Altman as a “swindler.”

The new acquisition offer looks like another attempt by Musk to slow down OpenAI, a company he now competes with via his xAI startup. The bid is backed by several investors and would see OpenAI merge with xAI.

That feels … unlikely. In the meantime, OpenAI is moving ahead with its plans to transition to a for-profit company. It’s also reportedly looking to build its own AI datacenter chips to lessen its reliance on Nvidia.