OpenAI Rejects Elon Musk’s $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of the Company
Bret Taylor, the chairman of OpenAI’s board, said the artificial intelligence company was “not for sale.” Mr. Musk is separately raising money for his A.I. start-up, xAI.
Bret Taylor, the chairman of OpenAI’s board, said the artificial intelligence company was “not for sale.” Mr. Musk is separately raising money for his A.I. start-up, xAI.
OpenAI’s board of directors on Friday rejected a $97.4 billion bid by Elon Musk and a consortium of investors to gain control of the artificial intelligence company, deepening a feud between Mr. Musk and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman.
In a statement, Bret Taylor, the chairman of the OpenAI board, said, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.” Mr. Taylor was referring to Mr. Musk’s own A.I. company, xAI.
OpenAI sent a letter on Friday to Marc Toberoff, the lawyer representing Mr. Musk and the investors making the bid, saying the offer was “not in the best interests of OAI’s mission,” which is to build artificial intelligence that benefits “all of humanity.”
Mr. Musk and other investors made their offer on Monday for the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. With the bid, Mr. Musk was meddling in a plan that Mr. Altman has made to change OpenAI’s corporate structure. Mr. Altman hopes to shift control of the company to OpenAI’s investors, including Microsoft.
Mr. Toberoff said in a statement to The New York Times: “This comes as no surprise, given that Altman and board chair Taylor already rejected Musk’s $97 billion bid while stating they had not yet received it. But we are surprised to see the board, which has strict fiduciary duties to carefully consider the bid in good faith on behalf of the charity, use the same kind of deflective double-talk Altman used in testifying to the Senate.”
Mr. Toberoff insisted that OpenAI was indeed putting the nonprofit’s assets up for sale. “They’re just selling it to themselves at a fraction of what Musk has offered, enriching board members,” he said, “rather than the charity in a classic self-dealing transaction.” He added, “Will someone please explain how that benefits ‘all of humanity’?”
