Sam Altman rejects Elon Musk-led $97.4bn bid to acquire OpenAI

ChatGPT boss Sam Altman has turned down a $97.4 billion bid to take over his company, OpenAI, by a consortium of investors led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Recall that on Monday, Elon Musk said it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, in a move that comes months after he sued the artificial intelligence company.

In a statement, Musk, who founded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018, said, “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force it once was.”

READ ALSO: X deactivates Kanye West’s account for sharing anti-Semitic comments

Marc Toberoff, Musk’s lawyer, also acknowledged that he presented the board with his offer for “all assets” of the tech company—a move that is likely to intensify long-standing tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

However, the $97.4 billion bid, which is meant to block the artificial intelligence company from transforming into a for-profit firm, has been rejected by Altman.

On Musk’s social media site X (formerly Twitter), Altman responded to the bid by writing: “No thank you, but if you want, we can buy Twitter for $9.74 billion.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now