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In an unexpected move, Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI. Musk’s bid was backed by multiple investors, including Baron Capital Group Inc., Valor Management LLC, Atreides Management, LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emmanuel Capital Management LLC, and Eight Partners VC LLC.
However, the offer was quickly shot down by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who jokingly counter-offered to buy X (formerly Twitter) for $9.74 billion, which seemingly enraged Musk, prompting the billionaire to call the AI executive a “swindler.”
While details regarding the potential acquisition remain slim, Altman recently revealed to Bloomberg TV during an interview at the Paris AI Action Summit that Musk’s constant antics aimed are OpenAI are designed to slow the AI firm down as xAI plays catchup.
Sam Altman Secures His Throne After Elon’s OpenAI Bid from r/artificial
According to Altman:
“Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the latest — you know, this week’s episode.”
As you may know, Elon Musk helped co-found OpenAI but later left the company, brewing a long-standing rivalry between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the billionaire. Musk has filed two lawsuits against the ChatGPT maker and Altman, citing a stark betrayal of its founding mission and alleged involvement in racketeering activities.
While delving deeper into Musk’s offer, Altman indicated:
“I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics. Many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this. And we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working.”
When asked whether he felt the endless jabs at OpenAI and its structures depict insecurity on Musk’s part, Altman seemingly agreed. “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy,” the OpenAI CEO indicated. “I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person. I do feel for him.”
$97.4 billion for OpenAI? But the AI firm could hit $340 billion in market valuation soon
In a separate interview with Sky News, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that “the company is not for sale, neither is the mission.”
According to Altman:
“The board will decide what to do there… the mission is really important and we’re totally focused on making sure we preserve that.”
This comes after OpenAI is under immense pressure from investors to evolve into a for-profit entity. The ChatGPT maker was on the verge of bankruptcy with projections of making a $5 billion loss within one year. However, key investors, including Microsoft, NVIDIA, SoftBank, and Thrive Capital rallied up, raising $6.6 billion, saving the firm from bankruptcy and pushing its market valuation over $157 billion.
In comparison, Musk’s $97.4 billion offer is a nail in the haystack and well below OpenAI’s market value. As it happens, OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $40 billion through another round of funding, pushing its market capitalization to approximately $340 billion. This would dethrone Microsoft as OpenAI’s largest backer, as SoftBank will reportedly raise $25 billion in the anticipated funding round.
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