Elon Musk Leads Bid to Buy Assets of OpenAI for $97.4 Billion

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion bid to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, according to two people familiar with the bid, escalating a yearslong tussle for control of the company between Mr. Musk and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman.

The consortium includes Vy Capital and Xai, Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence company, as well as the Hollywood power-broker Ari Emanuel and other investors, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported news of the offer.

OpenAI declined to comment on the bid. The company has not yet seen the bid, according to a person familiar with OpenAI’s potential response, but Mr. Altman posted a response.

“No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Mr. Altman said on X.

Mr. Musk replied to the post: “Swindler,” he said.

Marc Toberoff, a Los Angeles lawyer who filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of Mr. Musk last year, did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Musk was one of OpenAI’s co-founders and one of its initial investors but left after a power struggle. Mr. Musk also created his own A.I. company to compete head on with Mr. Altman’s company.

The unsolicited offer landed as OpenAI was set to complete a $40 billion fund-raising deal that would nearly double the high-profile company’s valuation from just four months ago.

The new fund-raising round, led by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, values OpenAI at $300 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The deal would make OpenAI one of the most valuable private companies in the world, along with the rocket company SpaceX and ByteDance, the maker of TikTok.

SoftBank would invest up to $40 billion in OpenAI, with other investors providing about a quarter of the total funds, the people said. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.)

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.