Battle for OpenAI: Elon Musk & Co. offer 100 billion US dollars for takeover

A group of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk wants to take control of the AI company for almost 100 billion US dollars. OpenAI and has made an official offer in return. The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI boss Sam Altman has confirmed this in principle on the short message service X. There he stated succinctly: “No, thanks, but we will buy Twitter for 9.74 billion US dollars if you want.” The person addressed responded with,”Swindler”. The unsolicited takeover bid to the board of directors is about the non-profit organization that controls the company behind ChatGPT and whose direction has been the subject of a dispute between Altman and Musk for months.

Musk vs. OpenAI

Altman has been working for months to change the corporate structure of OpenAI from the current non-profit model to that of a for-profit company. This should enable investors, who have already poured tens of billions into the AI company, to get money out of it in the long term. This is only possible to a limited extent with the non-profit model. Musk, who now owns xAI, a competitor of OpenAI, wants to prevent this and is trying to force OpenAI to remain a non-profit organization in court. He has recently given the impression that legal action is not going fast enough for him, which may be why he has changed tactics.

“It's time for OpenAI to become that force again that focuses on open source and focuses on security,” the Wall Street Journal quotes from a statement by Musk: “We're going to make sure that happens.” Altman, meanwhile, had given internal assurances that OpenAI's structure would prevent any individual from gaining control of the AI company. These tactics, he said, were only meant to “weaken us because we've had such great success.” He and Musk founded the company together, but Elon Musk left OpenAI in 2019. According to OpenAI, Musk originally supported the plans for profit orientation and only turned away when it became clear that he would not be able to gain control.

Billion-dollar battle for control

According to the US newspaper, Musk's AI company xAI, which could be merged with OpenAI if successful, also participated in the takeover bid. With the offer of 97.4 billion US dollars, the investor group is also answering one of the controversial questions surrounding OpenAI's attempt to become a normal, profit-oriented company. The question is how the company should be valued. The sum is therefore at the upper end of what has been discussed and, if successful, could mean that Musk & Co. end up controlling the destiny of the AI company.

Musk's group has also assured the US newspaper that it is prepared to outbid any competing bid for OpenAI itself. OpenAI has recently been looking for new investors; the AI company reportedly needs a total of 40 billion US dollars. Should it receive this, the company's value would rise to 300 billion US dollars, according to reports. OpenAI is also part of a 500 billion US dollar initiative called Stargate, which aims to build AI data centers in the USA. Musk has claimed that the money is not available at all.

(mho)