Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI, Report Says

An investment group led by Elon Musk offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.

The unsolicited offer was reportedly submitted to the ChatGPT developer’s board of directors by Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff. According to a statement from Toberoff, the Journal reported, Musk said that “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the Musk-owned social media platform wrote “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” (“Swindler,” Musk replied.) Softbank, meanwhile, was recently said to be preparing a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI that would value it above $200 billion.

Musk and Altman founded OpenAI together as a nonprofit in 2015. The offer comes after Musk sued Altman and OpenAI last year, alleging he and others had breached the company’s founding mission by prioritizing profits over seeking benefits to humanity.

OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft (MSFT), is planning to restructure to become a for-profit organization. Musk left OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018 and launched his own AI company, xAI, in 2023. 

Musk and Altman are also connected through the Trump administration. Musk is leading Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, while Altman’s OpenAI is part of a $500 billion AI infrastructure joint venture announced at the White House last month.

OpenAI itself did not immediately respond to a request for comment; neither did Tesla, the company Musk owns, or Microsoft.