A consortium of investors spearheaded by Elon Musk has proposed a $97.4 billion offer to acquire the non-profit entity that oversees OpenAI, intensifying a strategic battle with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman regarding the future of the AI powerhouse behind ChatGPT.
Marc Toberoff, Musk’s legal representative, dispatched the unsolicited offer to the board of directors at OpenAI, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. This move threatens to disrupt Altman’s strategic ambitions to convert OpenAI into a for-profit organization and launch the Stargate joint venture, which promises a staggering $500 billion in data center investments over the next four years, receiving endorsement from Donald Trump at the White House.
Altman promptly dismissed the offer, sarcastically responding on Musk’s own social media platform, X, “No, thanks, but if you want we’ll buy Twitter (now X, ed.) for 9.75 billion.”
The acquisition plan outlines a merger between OpenAI and Musk’s xAI, which is currently collaborating with Trump’s administration from the helm of the Department for Government Efficiency tasked with overhauling public administration. Musk’s involvement has stirred significant controversy due to potential conflicts of interest, given his businesses’ substantial federal contracts and regulatory obligations.
The consortium backing the advanced offer for OpenAI, alongside Musk’s xAI, includes Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, and 8VC—co-founded by Joe Lonsdale of Palantir—and Ari Emanuel, CEO of Hollywood’s Endeavor.
Elon Musk, a long-standing rival of Sam Altman, co-founded OpenAI with him in 2015 before their relationship fractured following Musk’s initial unsuccessful takeover attempt.
“It’s time for OpenAI to revert to its original mission of being open-source and security-focused,” Musk stated through his lawyer Toberoff.
Recently, Musk has targeted OpenAI and Altman with a series of legal maneuvers, which have been both withdrawn and refiled, accusing the company of deviating from its non-profit origins to form a for-profit entity in alliance with Microsoft, its primary investor, to monopolize the AI industry.