OpenAI board unanimously rejectsElon Musk’s $97.4 billion proposal

 

 

OPENAI says its board of directors has unanimously rejected a $97.4billiontakeoverbidbyElon Musk.“OpenAIisnotforsale,and the board has unanimously rejectedMusk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” said a statement Friday from Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI’s board. OpenAIattorneyWilliamSavitt in a letter to Musk’s attorney Friday said the proposal “is not inthebestinterests ofOAI’s mission and is rejected.” Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the Chat GPT -maker nearly year ago, suing for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit he helped found a decade ago. Then on Monday, while that case was still awaitingakey ruling, Musk and his own AI startup,xAI,and a group of investment firms announced a bid to buy the non profit that controls OpenAI. Muskina court filingWednesday expanded on the proposal to acquire the nonprofit’s controllingstakeinthefor-profitOpenAI subsidiary. Savitt’s letter Friday saidthatfiling added“newmaterialconditionstotheproposal.

 

As a result of that filing, it is now apparentthatyourclients’muchpublicizedbid’ is in factnot a bid at all.” In any event, “even as first presented,” the board has unanimously rejected it, Savitt said. Musk has alleged in the lawsuit that the companies are violating thetermsofhisfoundationalcontributions to the charity. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until2018,hislawyerhassaid.He escalatedthelegaldisputelatelast year, adding new claims and defendants, including OpenAI’s business partner Microsoft, and askingforacourtorderthatwould halt OpenAI’s plans to more fully convert itself into a for-profit business. Musk alsoaddedxAI as a plaintiff, claiming that OpenAI wasalsounfairlystiflingbusiness competition.