OpenAI’s board of directors has unanimously rejected an unsolicited $97.4 billion takeover bid from Elon Musk and his investors, including xAI. The offer, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was dismissed as an attempt to disrupt competition.
“OpenAI is not for sale,” Chairperson Bret Taylor said, adding that any restructuring would strengthen the nonprofit’s mission. CEO Sam Altman had already publicly declined the bid, responding on X with “no thank you” and jokingly offering to buy X for $9.74 billion instead.
Musk has been in a legal battle with OpenAI over its shift from a nonprofit to a Public Benefit Corporation. After initially suing in March 2023 and later dropping the case, he renewed his legal fight in August, adding Microsoft to the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Musk’s xAI is expanding its AI efforts, seeking more funding and building a supercomputer with one million GPUs. Some investors believe Musk’s offer undervalues OpenAI, as the company is reportedly in talks for a funding round that could value it at $340 billion.
