OpenAI has formally rejected a €89.8 billion takeover bid from a consortium led by billionaire Elon Musk, reaffirming its commitment to remaining a nonprofit organisation.
The AI company, known for developing ChatGPT, stated that any reorganisation would serve to strengthen its mission rather than facilitate a sale.
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI who later distanced himself from the venture, had sought to acquire the firm through a consortium that included his AI startup xAI, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, and Hollywood talent agent Ari Emanuel. The consortium, however, conditioned its offer on OpenAI abandoning its transition into a for-profit entity.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition. Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity.”
—Bret Taylor, Chair, on behalf of…
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) February 14, 2025
Musk’s legal team dismissed the board’s decision, claiming that OpenAI’s restructuring plans were designed to benefit select board members rather than the company’s broader charitable goals. His lawyer, Marc Toberoff, argued that OpenAI was effectively putting control of its for-profit division up for sale, contradicting its stated objectives.
The dispute follows OpenAI’s December 2024 announcement of plans to restructure by creating a public benefit corporation. This change, the company argued, would enable it to raise capital more effectively while preserving its commitment to ethical AI development.
Altman’s swift response to Musk’s bid came earlier in the week when he dismissed the offer with a brief “no thank you” post on X. Musk later responded with a single-word retort: “swindler.” This exchange demonstrated the long-standing tensions between the two tech entrepreneurs, who have clashed repeatedly over OpenAI’s direction since Musk’s departure from the organisation in 2019.
Musk has been a vocal critic of OpenAI’s commercialisation, accusing it of deviating from its founding principles. After leaving the company, he launched xAI as a direct competitor, positioning it as a counterweight to OpenAI’s increasingly close partnership with Microsoft. In August 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against Altman, OpenAI, and Microsoft, alleging a breach of contract in the firm’s transition towards a for-profit model.
This week, OpenAI’s board pointed to recent court filings as evidence that Musk’s bid was not genuine. In a letter sent to Musk’s legal team on Friday, OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt stated, “Two days ago, you filed a pleading in court adding new material conditions to the proposal. As a result of that filing, it is now apparent that your clients’ much-publicised ‘bid’ is in fact not a bid at all.”
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