Sam Altman says 'no thank you' to Musk-led group's bid for control of OpenAI

OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman appeared to shut down a reported offer from an investor group led by Elon Musk to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, marking the latest back-and-forth between the two tech leaders.

"[N]o thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X less than an hour after The Wall Street Journal first reported the Musk-led consortium of investors offered $97.4 billion for control of OpenAI.

Musk responded to Altman shortly later, writing "swindler" on X.

The $97.4 billion bid was submitted to OpenAI's board of directors on Monday, the Journal reported, citing Musk's attorney Mark Toberoff.

In another reply, Musk wrote "Scam Altman."

The offer is far below OpenAI's last valuation of $157 billion. Multiple media outlets reported last week SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion investment in OpenAI that would put the ChatGPT maker at a $260 billion valuation.

The unsolicited offer comes as Altman and OpenAI push forward with plans to turn it into a for-profit company, which Musk has taken great issue with.

Musk, an original OpenAI co-founder with Altman, has an ongoing lawsuit against the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, another OpenAI co-founder.

He alleges the ChatGPT leaders strayed from the company's roots to pursue profits over benefiting the public good.

Musk, in a statement provided by Toberoff to the Journal, wrote, “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was."

"We will make sure that happens," he reportedly added.

Toberoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bid is backed by Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI, the Journal reported, along with investors including Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, Baron Capital and 8VC, the Journal reported. Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Hollywood company Endeavor, backed the bid through his investment fund, the paper reported.

It comes just weeks after Altman and Musk got into a public back-and-forth online after the Tesla CEO poured cold water over President Trump's Stargate venture, which involves OpenAI and Altman.

Altman joined Trump the previous day for the announcement of Stargate, which pledges to invest up to $500 billion in building the infrastructure of AI development and maintenance over the next four years.

Musk claimed the initial investors — OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle — do not have the money to come up with the project, sparking an online debate over the promises lauded by Trump.

Updated at 5:57 pm EST.

Topics

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