one year on
Elon Musk-led consortium bids $97.4B for OpenAI nonprofit
The unsolicited offer threatens to derail OpenAI's restructuring into a for-profit company and intensify the legal feud between Musk and CEO Sam Altman.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, submitted an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid Monday to acquire the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. The offer, financed by Musk’s AI company xAI and a consortium including 8VC and Vy Capital, was sent to California and Delaware attorneys general.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman swiftly rejected the bid on X, writing “no thank you, but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want” — a reference to Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the platform. In a Paris interview Tuesday, Altman dismissed the offer as an attempt to slow OpenAI down, adding that Musk’s “whole life is from a position of insecurity.”
Corporate governance experts say the bid forces OpenAI’s board to carefully consider whether it can reject the offer without breaching fiduciary duties, especially as the company pursues a for-profit conversion. The offer may raise the value of nonprofit assets, complicating OpenAI’s restructuring and a planned $260 billion funding round.
The bid escalates the legal war between Musk and Altman, with Musk already seeking an injunction against OpenAI’s for-profit conversion. The board, which largely supports Altman, is expected to formally reject the bid but must navigate the regulatory and legal implications carefully.
The record
rejected the offer in an X post saying 'no thank you, but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want' and later at a summit called the bid an attempt to slow OpenAI down
said he hadn't received any formal communication about the bid outside of media reports
a lawyer who represented Musk's opponents in Tesla governance battles called the bid a spanner in the works that OpenAI has to pay attention to
a corporate governance professor said Altman's dismissive tweet was likely made without legal guidance and not good for regulators to see
One year later — open only if you can handle spoilers
OpenAI's board formally rejected the bid on February 14. The episode ultimately did not block OpenAI's for-profit conversion, but it delayed the process and forced OpenAI to increase the valuation of the nonprofit's stake in the new entity. Musk's legal challenges continued through 2025, though a court largely sided with OpenAI's restructuring plan.