Elon Musk says he will withdraw $97.4 billion offer if OpenAI drops for-profit restructuring
Elon Musk was one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, which was established in 2015 as a non-profit aimed at creating artificial general intelligence to benefit humanity. On February 10 Musk offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who took everyone by surprise with an unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, the non-profit behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, has revealed that he is ready to withdraw the offer. In a court filing, Musk said if OpenAI halts its restructuring from non-profit to for-profit, he will walk back on the takeover bid.
CREDIT: REUTERS
'Take the 'for sale' sign off'
If OpenAI's board "is prepared to preserve the charity's mission and stipulate to take the 'for sale' sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid," Musk's lawyers said in the court filing.
"Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets," they said.
Musk's bid to buy OpenAI
Musk, who was one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, which was established in 2015 as a non-profit aimed at creating artificial general intelligence to benefit humanity, had on February 10 offered $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI.
Musk's bid is backed by his AI venture, xAI, and investors including Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.
CREDIT: REUTERS
The offer was met with a strong rejection by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, who said the ChatGPT-maker is not for sale.
OpenAI's for-profit shift
Though it was founded as a non-profit, recently OpenAI had proposed to restructure itself into a for-profit, where Altman will have equity.
OpenAI said shifting from a non-profit charity to a commercial business is critical to securing the vast amount of funding the ChatGPT maker needs to fulfil its mission of creating artificial general intelligence, or AGI, to benefit humanity.
CREDIT: REUTERS
Musk vs OpenAI
Musk had left OpenAI in 2018 over differences in opinion, including the rejection of his proposal to turn it into a for-profit.
Musk had filed two lawsuits against OpenAI, first in July 2024 and then in August 2024, over its for-profit restructuring plans.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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