Musk offers $97.4B to buy OpenAI

Elon Musk-led investor group, which also includes Vy Capital and Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel, has made an unsolicited offer to buy the nonprofit controlling ChatGPT makers OpenAI for $97.4 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The nonprofit controlling OpenAI has only two employees and $22 million in assets.

Musk’s lawyer submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board, complicating CEO Sam Altman’s plan to turn OpenAI into a for-profit company.

Altman is also raising money for the company at a $300 billion valuation.

He dismissed the bid and tweeted that he would buy the X social media platform (owned by Musk) for $9.74 billion, moving the decimal point of the bid offer.

The corporate tiff between Musk and Altman started around 2019. The two co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, but Musk left the company in 2019.

Musk has also sued OpenAI, challenging its nonprofit vision.