OpenAI’s board has unanimously rejected an acquisition bid led by Elon Musk, valuing the artificial intelligence company at $97.4 billion, according to a statement by board chairman Bret Taylor on Friday.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” Taylor stated in a post on Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter. He added that any potential restructuring of OpenAI would reinforce its nonprofit mission to ensure artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and initially invested $45 million, left the company in 2018 due to a potential conflict of interest with Tesla’s AI development. Since then, he has frequently criticized OpenAI’s transition from a purely nonprofit model to a hybrid structure, which includes a for-profit subsidiary.
In response to the board’s rejection, Musk filed court documents on Wednesday stating that he would withdraw his buyout offer if OpenAI reverted to its original nonprofit structure. The shift to a for-profit model—championed by CEO Sam Altman—has been a point of contention, particularly as OpenAI seeks investment to cover the massive costs of AI development.
Musk’s offer valued OpenAI at approximately $30 billion more than its current negotiations. His bid is seen as an effort to disrupt OpenAI’s fundraising efforts, which require regulatory approval in California and Delaware.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Chris Lehane, dismissed Musk’s proposal as a move by a competitor who is “struggling to keep up with the technology and compete in the marketplace.” Musk launched his own AI company, xAI, in 2023 after OpenAI’s advancements fueled global interest in artificial intelligence.
