Battle for OpenAI: Takeover bid from Musk & Co. allegedly not yet received
Together with others, Elon Musk allegedly wants to gain control of the AI company OpenAI. However, the 100 billion offer raises more and more questions.
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The board of OpenAI has not yet received the 100 billion US dollar takeover bid from a group of investors led by Elon Musk. This was reported by Reuters, citing an anonymous person familiar with the matter. This adds to the confusion surrounding the unsolicited offer, the news agency adds. This is contradicted by the statement from Musk's lawyer, who claims to have sent the offer by email to OpenAI's law firm. In it, the intention to take over the non-profit organization that controls the influential AI company was explained on four pages. Musk's lawyer also suggested to Reuters that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had withheld the offer from the board of directors.
Is Musk just trying to put obstacles in OpenAI's way?
The fact that Elon Musk, together with others, wants to buy the non-profit organization that controls OpenAI became public earlier this week. Altman has now assured Reuters that the organization is not for sale at all: "I have nothing to say about it. I mean, that's ridiculous," the news agency quotes him as saying. He sees this as just another attempt to "mess with us". Musk, who founded OpenAI together with Altman, left the company years ago and has been trying for months to have its transformation into a for-profit company prohibited by the courts. However, it recently became clear that this would take too long for him.
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Even if the board of directors has the right to reject the offer, it is likely to make the transformation of OpenAI into a normal company more difficult, explains Bloomberg, citing legal experts. OpenAI is currently planning to grant the non-profit organization a 25 percent stake in OpenAI and pay it out in return. Given the current total value of the AI company of 157 billion US dollars, that would be around 40 billion. The large difference to the offer from Musk & Co. could therefore raise questions as to whether the non-profit organization is being fobbed off with too little money as part of this transformation. However, the Board of Directors could cast doubt on whether the offer is meant seriously at all.
(mho)
