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- Elon Musk led a consortium of investors bidding to acquire OpenAI for $97.4 billion
- The bid further escalates the feud between Musk and OpenAI CEO, Sam Altam
- Musk’s affluence continues to grow since Trump’s election victory
Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, led a consortium of investors that submitted a bid of $97.4 billion on Monday, February 10, to acquire all the assets of the non-profit that controls OpenAI, the Chat-GPT maker.
Other investors backing the bid include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund, Emanuel Capital Management, and Eight Partners VC.
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board of directors, urging the board to accept fair compensation if it intends to become a fully for-profit corporation.
“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 said.
In response, OpenAI’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sam Altman, posted on X that the bid would not be accepted.
Altman posted, “No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74bn if you want.”
Musk, who bought X, previously Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022, replied to the post by simply writing: “Swindler.”
Escalating feud over OpenAI’s restructuring plans
The bid further escalates Musk’s feud with OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
OpenAI, which operates ChatGPT, was co-founded as a non-profit in 2015 by Altman and Musk.
The company has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status.
In a blog post in December, OpenAI outlined a plan to change to a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation.
“We created a bespoke structure: a for-profit, controlled by the non-profit, with a capped profit share for investors and employees,” it said.
According to the company, the restructuring would require the company to balance the interests of shareholders, stakeholders, and the public while tilting away from a non-profit model.
Musk left OpenAI in 2019 and started his own generative AI company, xAI in 2023. He has been in a legal tussle with Altman over the direction of the company.
In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI over the company’s restructuring plans, a suit he later dropped, and refiled.
He argued that OpenAI betrayed its founding non-profit mission by pushing for a for-profit structure.
Musk’s growing affluence
Musk is a close ally of United States President, Donald Trump, having supported Trump’s campaign with $270 million.
His net worth has been on the rise, especially since the election victory of Trump in November 2024. Tesla’s shares crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time in two years days after Trump won the US election.
The demand for Tesla’s shares was hinged on growing bets of favourable treatment for Musk’s companies in return for his support for Trump during his election campaign.
His net worth climbed to $447 billion in December, increasing by $62.8 billion in 2024 alone.
The increase is fuelled by the success of his numerous ventures, including electric vehicles, space exploration, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and tunnelling technologies.
Elon Musk’s net worth hits $447 billion
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that Elon Musk’s net worth climbed to $447 billion, fuelled by the success of his numerous ventures, including electric vehicles, space exploration, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and tunnelling technologies.
Musk’s wealth increased by $62.8 billion in 2024 alone, according to Bloomberg, largely due to the increasing valuation of SpaceX, his privately held aerospace company.
