Elon Musk and a group of investors have submitted a $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed that the offer, seeking to purchase all of OpenAI’s assets, was presented to the board on Monday. This move intensifies the ongoing rivalry between Musk, a close advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. In response, Altman dismissed the bid with a post on X, joking about buying Twitter instead.
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit, but their relationship deteriorated after Musk’s departure in 2018. Altman has since restructured OpenAI into a for-profit entity, a shift Musk argues contradicts the company’s founding mission. OpenAI, however, maintains that this transition is necessary to secure funding for AI development.
Musk’s takeover bid is supported by his AI firm xAI and private equity firms Baron Capital Group and Valor Management. He insists that OpenAI must return to its original focus on open-source AI and safety. Despite OpenAI’s latest valuation reaching $157 billion in October and rumored negotiations pushing it to $300 billion, Musk’s bid remains considerably lower, though his legal team has stated they are willing to match or exceed competing offers.
OpenAI is also collaborating with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund on The Stargate Project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative announced at the White House by President Trump. While Trump has called it the largest AI project in history, Musk has cast doubt on its financial backing, though he has provided no evidence to support his claim.
