The CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, has rejected a $97.4 billion (£78.4 billion) acquisition offer from a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk.
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed on Monday that the bid, encompassing “all assets” of the company, was submitted to OpenAI’s board.
This development marks the latest chapter in a longstanding rivalry between Musk, the world’s richest individual and close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Sam Altman, over the future direction of the AI-driven startup.
In response to the bid, Altman posted on Musk’s social media platform X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want”.
Altman’s rejection of the bid does not necessarily signal the end of the proposed takeover.
OpenAI’s board will ultimately decide the company’s future and could support a sale, particularly if the offer is increased.
However, questions remain about Musk’s genuine intentions to acquire the company and whether the bid is simply a tactic in the ongoing legal dispute between the two.
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit organization, but their relationship has deteriorated since Musk left the firm in 2018.
Altman is reportedly restructuring OpenAI into a for-profit entity, eliminating its non-profit board—a move Musk claims deviates from the company’s original mission to advance AI for the benefit of humanity.
OpenAI, on the other hand, contends that the shift to a for-profit model is essential to secure the funding needed to develop cutting-edge AI technologies.
Christie Pitts, a tech investor at Panasonic Well in San Francisco, expressed skepticism about Musk’s motives in an interview with the BBC.
“I think it’s fair to be pretty suspicious of this considering that he has a competitor himself… which is structured as a for-profit company, so I think there’s more than meets the eye here,” she told the BBC.
The offer tabled at $97.4bn is much lower than the $157bn the company was valued at in its latest funding round in October last year. Talks over a further funding round reportedly value it now at $300bn.
In a statement, Mr Toberoff said the consortium would be “prepared to consider matching or exceeding” any potential higher bid.
“As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI’s technology,” Musk’s attorney added on his behalf and other investors.
The creator of ChatGPT is collaborating with Oracle, a major US tech company, alongside a Japanese investment firm and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund, to develop a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States.
The initiative, named The Stargate Project, was unveiled at the White House by President Donald Trump, who described it as “the largest AI infrastructure project in history” and emphasized its role in securing “the future of technology” within the US.
Despite serving as a top advisor to Trump, Elon Musk has cast doubt on the venture’s financial capacity, claiming it lacks the funds it has committed. However, Musk has not provided any evidence or further details to support his assertions.