Elon Musk’s $97.4 Billion bid to acquire OpenAI gets outright rejected by Sam Altman

Elon Musk’s attempt to take control of OpenAI has been met with outright rejection, escalating his ongoing feud with the company’s CEO, Sam Altman.

Musk and a group of investors recently put forward a staggering $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI’s non-profit arm, aiming to reshape its future. However, Altman swiftly dismissed the offer, publicly responding with a counterproposal that seemed more like a jab than a serious business move.

Altman took to X, the social media platform owned by Musk, to decline the proposal in the most direct way possible.

The rejection marks another chapter in the long and turbulent history between the two tech moguls. Once co-founders of OpenAI, Musk and Altman have since become bitter rivals, clashing over the direction of artificial intelligence development. Musk was an early supporter of OpenAI, both financially and as a board member, but he stepped away in 2018 after failing to gain control of the company. Since then, he has been vocal in his criticism, arguing that OpenAI has abandoned its original mission as a non-profit research lab in favor of commercial ambitions.

Musk’s legal battles against OpenAI have further fueled tensions. He has repeatedly accused the company of betraying its commitment to developing AI for the public good, filing lawsuits in an effort to prevent it from shifting toward a more profit-driven structure. His latest bid to regain influence over OpenAI was positioned as an effort to restore its original purpose, but Altman’s public dismissal makes it clear that the company has no intention of entertaining his offer.

OpenAI’s rapid rise in the AI industry has put it at the center of major debates about the future of artificial intelligence, attracting both admiration and scrutiny. Its breakout success with ChatGPT led to skyrocketing valuations and increased corporate interest, leading to its complex transformation from a non-profit into a business backed by major investors. That shift has been a major point of contention for Musk, whose own AI startup, xAI, was launched in 2023 to rival OpenAI’s dominance.

While Musk’s bid was a bold attempt to reclaim influence, it appears to have backfired. Instead of negotiating, Altman’s public rejection turned the tables, turning what could have been a high-stakes business maneuver into a spectacle of online banter. The battle over OpenAI’s future is far from over, but for now, Musk’s latest move has ended in an emphatic and very public rejection.