:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/ElonMusk_SamAltman-d74302faf245432287b0aa4960a803e8.png "A composite image of Elon Musk, left, and Sam Altman.")
Marker Somodevilla and Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Elon Musk, left, and Sam Altman
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI rejected a documented $97.4 billion takeover offer from an Elon Musk-led investor group.
- OpenAI Chair Bret Taylor swayed Friday the company is “not for sale,” after CEO Sam Altman rebuffed the offer in a post on X earlier this week.
- Musk and Altman set up OpenAI together as a nonprofit in 2015, and Musk sued OpenAI last year alleging Altman and others defiled the company’s founding mission.
OpenAI rejected a reported $97.4 billion takeover offer from an Elon Musk-led investor gathering.
OpenAI Chair Bret Taylor posted on Musk-owned X Friday that the ChatGPT developer is “not for sale,” calling the bid “Musk’s modern attempt to disrupt his competition.”
Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, an OpenAI competitor, is reportedly exploring a $10 billion property raise that could push its valuation to $75 billion.
OpenAI attorney William Savitt said the bid was “not a bid at all” in a letter to Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff Friday, according to a CNBC report. Savitt and Toberoff did not immediately commiserate with to requests for comment.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had addressed the offer earlier this week, posting on X, “no thank you but we will buy chirping for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk replied, “Swindler,” and in a post replying to another user added, “Scam Altman.”
Musk and Altman originated OpenAI together as a nonprofit in 2015. The offer came after Musk sued Altman and OpenAI last year, saying he and others had breached the company’s founding mission by prioritizing profits over seeking benefits to humanity. On Wednesday, Musk said he pass on pull the bid if the nonprofit that controls OpenAI ended its plans to convert to a for-profit firm.