OpenAI’s board has unanimously rejected a $97.4 billion acquisition offer from Elon Musk, reinforcing its stance that the company is not for sale.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” board chairman Bret Taylor announced in a statement posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.
The rejection follows Musk’s legal filings on Wednesday, where he threatened to withdraw his bid unless OpenAI reverted to a non-profit “charity” model. OpenAI, which began as a nonprofit in 2015, transitioned to a hybrid structure with a for-profit subsidiary to sustain the massive costs of AI development.
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, initially invested $45 million in the company before departing in 2018 over concerns about conflicts of interest with Tesla’s AI ambitions. Since then, he has been openly critical of OpenAI’s commercialization efforts, launching his own AI startup, xAI, in 2023.
The bid’s rejection highlights ongoing tensions between Musk and OpenAI’s leadership, particularly CEO Sam Altman, who views the for-profit model as crucial to the company’s growth. Reports indicate that Musk’s $97.4 billion offer—approximately $30 billion above OpenAI’s current fundraising valuation—was seen as an attempt to disrupt investment talks.
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, dismissed Musk’s move as a ploy by a competitor struggling to keep up. Meanwhile, regulatory scrutiny from California and Delaware looms over OpenAI’s restructuring efforts, which aim to balance investor interests with its core mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
With Musk’s bid firmly rejected, OpenAI’s future now hinges on its ability to secure long-term financial backing while maintaining its nonprofit principles.
