Tech Desk 
Feb 16, 2025
Almost a week following its acquisition bid was put forth by a group of investors led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, OpenAI has rejected the $97.4 billion offer.
Besides discarding Musk's considerable offer for its takeover, the artificial intelligence (AI) startup also emphasised that it's not for sale and future bids will also be neglected.
As reported by The News, the offer was another attempt from Musk to prevent OpenAI, a startup he cofounded with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, from transitioning to a for-profit firm from a non-profit one.
It was also learned that Musk and Altman together paved the foundations of OpenAI in 2015 alongside a team of nine others, but the former retreated shortly ahead of the startup’s rise to popularity.
“OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition. Any potential reorganisation of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity,” said the OpenAI board on X (formerly Twitter).
Marc Toberoff, the lawyer representing Musk, said in a statement that the AI pioneer was listing its control for sale, a move he claimed would “enrich its certain board members rather than the charity.”
The board’s rejection follows long after Altman casually downplayed Musk’s offer in a reply post on X. “No thank you,” he posted on the social media platform owned by Musk.
