Elon Musk Offers to Buy OpenAI for $97.4 Billion

A group led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion offer to acquire the nonprofit arm of OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT.

Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff said he submitted a bid for all of the nonprofit's assets to OpenAI's board on February 10, a move that was described as "a dramatic escalation in Silicon Valley's most intense AI competition," according to the WSJ.

Musk's offer to OpenAI brings together a powerful coalition of investors, including his xAI company and big names in venture capital like Valor Equity Partners, Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale's 8VC firm.

Elon Musk. Photo: The Verge

Musk's move comes at a pivotal time for OpenAI, with CEO Sam Altman juggling a number of major financial plans, including converting the company to a for-profit, raising $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation, and launching the $500 billion Stargate infrastructure project.

Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman and several others in 2015 before leaving in 2019. The new offer is seen as a bold move by the American billionaire to challenge "OpenAI's betrayal" of its original mission of developing artificial intelligence in a safe, public and non-profit manner.

'It's time for OpenAI to return to open source, with a focus on safety,' Musk said in a statement provided to the WSJ by his lawyer Marc Toberoff. 'We will make sure that happens.'

The nearly $100 billion bid would also put OpenAI's for-profit transition in serious jeopardy, as Musk's team has promised to match or outbid any other offer. It would also complicate the case for Sam Altman, who is negotiating with Microsoft and other interested parties for equity in the planned for-profit structure.

Shortly after the news broke, Altman posted on X: "No thanks, but we'll buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk also responded to Altman's message: "Scammer."

OpenAI provided a link to Altman's X article when asked for a response.

In a message to employees on an internal Slack channel, Altman stated: "Our structure ensures that no single person can control OpenAI. These are tactics intended to try to undermine us as we make great progress."

Marvin Fry

Update 11 February 2025