Breaking news about a major acquisition attempt in the AI space
A group of investors working with Elon Musk has put forward a massive $97.4 billion offer to acquire the nonprofit organization that oversees OpenAI. This huge bid was reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier today.
This move adds more fuel to the ongoing conflict between OpenAI’s current CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk about where the AI company should go next. The legal representative for Musk, Marc Toberoff, apparently delivered this proposal to OpenAI’s leadership team on Monday.
According to the report, Musk stated through his lawyer that OpenAI needs to go back to being an open-source company that puts safety first and works for the greater good. He promised to make this transformation happen if the deal goes through.
None of the companies involved have given any official responses yet when asked for comments. This includes OpenAI itself, Musk’s team, and Microsoft which has been supporting OpenAI.
The financing for this takeover bid is coming from xAI, which is Musk’s own artificial intelligence company. If everything works out, the two AI companies might combine into one organization.
It’s worth noting that Musk was actually one of the people who started OpenAI back in 2015 alongside Sam Altman. However, he stepped away from the company before it became really successful. Later on, he decided to create his own competing AI business called xAI in 2023.
Right now, OpenAI is working on changing from a nonprofit to a regular for-profit company. They say this change is necessary because they need to raise much more money to build the most advanced AI systems possible.
Musk has been in a legal battle with OpenAI and Altman since last year. His lawsuit claims that when OpenAI was first created, the founders told him it would be a nonprofit focused on helping humanity through AI development. But now he argues that the company has shifted its focus to making profits instead.
this whole thing screams publicity stunt to me tbh. like why announce it publicly through wsj instead of just making the offer privately? feels like musk wants the headlines more than the actual company. plus 97bil seems kinda low for openai considering their growth trajectory
honestly this feels like musk just trying to get back control of something he walked away from. like dude you left openai when it was struggling and now that its huge you want it back? the whole “open source for humanity” thing sounds nice but xai isnt exactly giving away free models either lol
The timing of this offer is pretty suspicious considering OpenAI just announced their transition to for-profit status. $97.4 billion is a massive valuation but it might actually be strategic positioning rather than a serious acquisition attempt. Musk’s legal battles with OpenAI have been going on for months and this could be another pressure tactic to force them into negotiations or slow down their restructuring process. The real question is whether the nonprofit board would even have the authority to accept such an offer given the complex governance structure they’ve built with Microsoft’s involvement. Also worth considering that combining xAI and OpenAI would create a dominant player in the AI space which could face serious regulatory scrutiny from antitrust authorities.
What strikes me about this whole situation is how it exposes the fundamental tension between AI development models. Having worked in tech acquisitions before, I can tell you that $97.4B offers don’t just appear overnight without serious due diligence and financing lined up. The fact that xAI is backing this suggests Musk has been planning this move for quite some time, probably since OpenAI started gaining serious market traction. The irony here is thick though - Musk criticizing OpenAI for abandoning its nonprofit mission while simultaneously trying to absorb it into his own for-profit venture. If this goes through, we’re essentially looking at consolidation in an industry that desperately needs competition and diverse approaches to AI safety. The Microsoft partnership complicates things significantly too, since they’ve invested billions and won’t just walk away quietly.