Elon Musk, along with a consortium of investors, has made a $97.4 billion offer to acquire OpenAI's controlling non-profit organization. The bid comes amid growing tensions between Musk and OpenAI's current leadership.

The offer was formally submitted to OpenAI's board on Monday through Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, who stated their intention to return OpenAI to its original mission as an "open-source, safety-focused force for good."

OpenAI's origins trace back to December 2015, when it was established as a non-profit research company by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, and Greg Brockman. Musk provided initial funding of $1 billion but departed from the board in 2018, citing potential conflicts with Tesla's AI initiatives.

The timing of Musk's bid appears strategic, coming just after OpenAI's announcement of the Stargate initiative—a $500 billion AI infrastructure project in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank. Sam Altman promptly rejected the offer on X/Twitter, countering with a $9.74 billion offer to purchase Twitter instead.

Key investors backing Musk's bid include:

• xAI (Musk's AI company)
• Valor Equity Partners
• Baron Capital
• Atreides Management
• Vy Capital
• 8VC
• Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel

Recently revealed documents indicate Musk previously supported OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model, but withdrew when he couldn't secure leadership control. Through his lawyer, Musk's group has expressed willingness to match or exceed any competing bids, emphasizing the importance of fair compensation for the organization's controlling technology.

Related Articles

Previous Articles