Elon Musk Co-Founded OpenAI, Now He's Bidding $97.4B To Take Back The Company

A group of investors led by the world's richest person Elon Musk has made a $97.4-billion offer to acquire control of OpenAI, the nonprofit AI giant Musk once co-founded.

What Happened: Musk, who has sued OpenAI as the company attempts to transition to a for-profit structure, previously founded the company with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and several other individuals.

Musk put in capital to the company before leaving in 2018 over a disagreement regarding its direction.

The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that Musk is leading a group bidding $97.4-billion to take control of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI.

"It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by his attorney Marc Toberoff. “We will make sure that happens."

Toberoff told the Wall Street Journal the bid for the nonprofit that controls OpenAI was submitted to OpenAI's board of directors Monday.

After Musk left, the company created a for-profit subsidiary that helped the company raise money from other investors including Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

Altman is pushing to make OpenAI a for-profit company, which could give him an opportunity for an equity stake in the company and increase his wealth.

Among the investors in the bid for OpenAI control include Musk's AI company xAI, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, 8VC, Baron Capital and Atreides Management.

Altman appeared to dismiss the buyout offer in a tweet Monday.

“No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Altman tweeted.

Read Also: OpenAI Co-Founders, Now Rivals Sam Altman And Elon Musk Clash Over ChatGPT And xAI’s Grok Chatbots Again

Why It's Important: News of the bid has raised questions to what this could mean for Altman's push for a for-profit company and whether xAI and OpenAI could be combined if the bid goes through.

Toberoff said Musk and the investor group are prepared to match higher bids in the process to value the nonprofit company.

"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.

Musk and Altman have battled publicly in recent months. Musk recently said Altman and other investors in Project Stargate didn't have the funds for their announced venture.

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in a funding round in October 2024. A recent report said OpenAI was also considering a funding round that could value the company at $300 billion.

Musk's xAI was valued at $50 billion in November 2024.

Musk is the world's richest person, with wealth of $402 billion, according to Bloomberg. It is unknown how much of his personal fortune Musk put into the bid and what the source of his funds were. Musk previously sold a portion of his Tesla shares to help fund his $44-billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022.

Read Next:

• Elon Musk Accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Of Lying Over $10B Equity: ‘What A Liar’

Elon Musk and Sam Altman photos via Shutterstock.