OpenAI Board Unanimously Rejects Elon Musk’s $97.4 Billion Buyout Bid

OpenAI’s board of directors has unanimously rejected a $97.4 billion takeover bid by Elon Musk, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

OpenAI has increasingly sought to capitalize on the commercial success of generative AI. I Photo: Focal Foto Flickr

“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” said a statement Friday from Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI’s board.

In a letter to Musk’s attorney, OpenAI’s legal counsel, William Savitt, stated that the proposal “is not in the best interests of OpenAI’s mission and is rejected.”

Musk, an early OpenAI investor, launched a legal battle against the ChatGPT maker nearly a year ago, suing the company for breach of contract over what he claimed was a betrayal of its founding mission as a nonprofit.

OpenAI has increasingly sought to capitalize on the commercial success of generative AI.

However, its for-profit entity remains a subsidiary of a nonprofit organization that is bound to the original goal—one Musk helped establish—of safely developing artificial intelligence for humanity’s benefit.

While OpenAI has been moving toward converting itself into a fully for-profit company, it would first need to acquire the nonprofit’s assets.

Throwing a wrench into those plans, Musk and his AI startup, xAI, along with a group of investment firms, announced a bid on Monday to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. Musk, in a court filing further detailed his proposal to acquire the nonprofit’s controlling stake.

However, Savitt’s letter on Friday argued that the filing introduced “new material conditions to the proposal,” making it clear that Musk’s bid “is in fact not a bid at all.”

“In any event, even as first presented, the board has unanimously rejected it,” Savitt concluded.