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First, Elon Musk sued OpenAI, the company he helped create but later abandoned. Now, he wants to buy it for $97.4 billion.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the offer with a mocking counter-proposal on social media. “No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. Musk replied to Altman on X, calling him a “swindler.”
The clash began in 2015 when Musk and Altman started OpenAI as a nonprofit research group. Musk left in 2018 after disagreements about the company’s direction. He later created his own artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAI, in 2023.
Now, Musk wants to return. He is offering through a group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners and Baron Capital. They want full access to OpenAI’s books and operations before completing any deal.
But there’s a catch. Musk is already suing OpenAI for abandoning its nonprofit mission. At the same time, he wants to buy it through private investors. OpenAI’s lawyers say this move contradicts his own lawsuit.
“It’s another one of his tactics to try to mess with us,” Altman told reporters in Paris on Tuesday. “OpenAI is not for sale. OpenAI’s mission is not for sale – to say nothing of the fact that, like, a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, ‘I’m gonna buy this” with total disregard for the mission is a likely path there.”
The timing complicates OpenAI’s plans to become a for-profit company. The change requires approval from officials in California and Delaware, who must ensure the public still benefits from OpenAI’s work.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is seeking $40 billion from investors led by SoftBank. This money would help fund Stargate, a $500 billion project to build more computer systems for AI research.
Meta, which owns Facebook, has also been in the fight. In December, the company wrote to California’s attorney general opposing OpenAI’s plans to change from nonprofit to for-profit status.
Musk gave OpenAI until May 10 to respond to his offer. His lawyer, Marc Toberoff, said they would match any higher bids.
“If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI Inc. Board of Directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” Toberoff told The Wall Street Journal.
While OpenAI’s board has yet to formally receive the bid, Altman told employees they plan to reject it. As both sides prepare for a longer fight, this battle goes beyond just one company—it could shape who controls the future of artificial intelligence and how it is used.
