Billionaire Elon Musk has announced his offer to acquire OpenAI, the creator of the popular ChatGPT software, for $97.4 billion. This bid was submitted to OpenAI’s board yesterday, February 10th.
Musk stated that the acquisition would be backed by a formidable group of investors, including prominent firms like Valor Equity Partners and 8VC, as well as media mogul Ari Emanuel. He claimed this move would help “put OpenAI back on the right path.”
“OpenAI needs to return to its original mission of open-source development focused on safety for the common good,” said Marc Toberoff, Musk’s legal representative, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Elon Musk’s attempt to buy OpenAI is met with mirth from the company’s CEO (Photo: Getty).
This offer comes at a time when OpenAI is restructuring its operations to seek profitability. The company is currently raising an additional $40 billion in investments to continue its growth.
Notably, OpenAI leads Stargate, a multi-national project collaborating with SoftBank (Japan), and two South Korean tech giants, SK Hynix and Samsung. They have committed to investing $500 billion over four years to develop AI technologies aimed at countering China’s influence in the field of artificial intelligence.
In response to Musk’s bid, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a sarcastic comment on X: “No, thanks. But if you want, we can buy Twitter for $9.74 billion.”
Altman’s remark is seen as a clear rejection of Musk’s offer, suggesting that the price tag of $97.4 billion for OpenAI is too low.
Despite not being publicly traded, OpenAI is currently valued at around $300 billion.
Complex Relationship Between Elon Musk and OpenAI
Elon Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, alongside Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, and others. Initially, OpenAI was established as a non-profit organization dedicated to developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
Musk not only co-founded the organization but also played a crucial role in providing initial funding, contributing over $100 million to get the company off the ground.
The founders’ initial vision was to create an open, transparent AI research organization focused on safety.
The relationship between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has evolved from partners to adversaries despite their shared history in founding OpenAI (Photo: Adweek).
However, in February 2018, Musk left OpenAI due to disagreements over the company’s direction. While Musk wanted to maintain its non-profit and fully open-source nature, OpenAI’s leadership pursued a profit-driven model.
After leaving, the relationship between Musk and OpenAI, particularly with Sam Altman, became strained. Musk publicly criticized OpenAI for deviating from its original mission.
In July 2023, Musk founded his own AI company, xAI, as a direct competitor to OpenAI in the race for AI advancements.
At the beginning of 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching the original agreement to develop AI for public benefit.
Now, Musk’s attempt to buy OpenAI further escalates the already tense relationship between the billionaire and the company he helped found.
