OpenAI board unanimously rejects Musk-led group's $97.4bn offer, says company 'is not for sale'

OpenAI’s board on Friday rejected a whopping $97.4 billion from a consortium led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, eying to buy ChatGPT. The board formally refused to accept the offer and made it clear that the startup is not for sale. The move was seen as Musk’s attempt to block the company from becoming a “for-profit” firm as it looks to secure more capital and stay ahead in the AI race.

Interestingly, the SpaceX CEO co-founded the firm with CEO Sam Altman but later left the company. “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition. Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity,” OpenAI said on X, quoting its chair Bret Taylor, on behalf of its board.

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The remarks from the board came days after Altman told Axios that OpenAI was not for sale. He rebuffed the offer on Monday with a “no thank you” on X, prompting Musk to retort: “Swindler.” While pushing to buy the entity, the consortium led by Musk maintained that it would withdraw its bid for OpenAI’s non-profit arm if it drops plans to become a for-profit entity.

Musk vs Altman

The consortium laid out the aforementioned conditions in a court filing summited by the billionaire’s lawyer, Reuters reported. “Two days ago, you filed a pleading in court adding new material conditions to the proposal. As a result of that filing, it is now apparent that your clients’ much publicized ‘bid’ is in fact not a bid at all,” the OpenAI board said, according to a letter signed by William Savitt, a lawyer representing the company, sent to Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff on Friday.

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It is important to note that the other investors in the consortium include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital and Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel. Altman and Musk have been at loggerheads for years.

After Musk’s exit in 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit arm that has drawn billions of dollars in funding, sparking allegations from Musk that the startup breached its original mission by putting profit ahead of the larger public good.

The billionaire eventually sued Altman, OpenAI and its biggest backer Microsoft in August last year, alleging a breach of contract. In November last year, Musk went on to ask a US district judge for a preliminary injunction to block OpenAI from moving to a for-profit structure.

With inputs from Reuters.