A team of investors led by Elon Musk has made an unsolicited $97.6 billion bid to purchase OpenAI, according to news confirmed by Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, with The Wall Street Journal.
The offer adds a new front to Musk’s long-running clash with OpenAI and Sam Altman. It also brings renewed attention to OpenAI’s roots, its nonprofit status, and the debate over whether the organization should focus more directly on open source AI and safety.
A bid framed around OpenAI’s original mission
The Musk-led team is presenting the offer as an attempt to steer OpenAI back toward what it says was the organization’s initial purpose. Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman and numerous other individuals back in 2015.
Through Toberoff, Musk told The Journal: “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” and added, “We will make sure that happens.”
That framing matters because the bid is not being described only as a financial transaction. It is being positioned as a fight over direction: whether OpenAI should remain on its current path or be redirected toward open sourced AI and the safety-focused identity Musk says it once had.
The offer lands during an existing legal fight
The bid comes while Musk is already in a legal dispute with OpenAI. He filed a 2024 injunction against OpenAI’s effort to transition away from its nonprofit status.
That context makes the offer more than a takeover proposal. It is also the latest escalation in a broader conflict over governance, mission and control. The source article describes the move as part of Musk’s war with co-founder Sam Altman.
The nonprofit question is central to the dispute described in the source. Musk’s side is challenging OpenAI’s effort to move away from that structure, while the new bid presents a competing vision for what OpenAI should become.
xAI’s role raises questions about what could follow
Musk’s AI firm, xAI, is involved with the bid. That detail has led to speculation that, if the acquisition succeeded, OpenAI and xAI could merge.
Musk also referred to X's Grok model in a related statement provided to TechCrunch. He said: “At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow,” followed by, “We’ve made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators,” and then repeated that OpenAI should return to being an “open-source, safety-focused force for good.”
Those comments show how Musk is using xAI and Grok as examples in the argument he is making about OpenAI. The message is that his own AI company follows values he says OpenAI was expected to follow.
The source does not say whether a merger would happen, only that xAI’s involvement has fueled speculation about that possibility. Still, the connection is important because it shows the bid is tied to Musk’s broader AI ambitions, not just his history with OpenAI.
Altman responds with a pointed counteroffer
Sam Altman responded on X earlier Monday with a brief post: “no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
The response referenced Musk and investors purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. In the context of a $97.6 billion offer for OpenAI, Altman’s post turned the proposal back toward Musk’s ownership of Twitter.
TechCrunch said it reached out to OpenAI for further comment. The source article does not include an additional OpenAI statement beyond Altman’s X post.
Why the OpenAI bid matters
The bid matters because it concentrates several major issues in one moment. It involves a large unsolicited offer, a legal dispute, two high-profile OpenAI co-founders, and competing claims about the future of artificial intelligence.
Based on the source, the key points are clear:
- A team of investors led by Elon Musk submitted a $97.6 billion bid to purchase OpenAI.
- Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, confirmed the reporting with The Wall Street Journal.
- Musk is already challenging OpenAI’s effort to transition away from its nonprofit status through a 2024 injunction.
- The bid is being framed as a push to refocus OpenAI on open sourced AI and safety.
- xAI is involved, creating speculation about a possible combination with OpenAI if the bid succeeded.
- Altman rejected the idea publicly with a post about buying Twitter for $9.74 billion.
For OpenAI, the bid puts its structure and mission back in the spotlight. For Musk, it is a direct attempt to reshape an organization he helped start in 2015. For the wider AI industry, it signals that debates over openness, safety and ownership remain closely tied to business strategy.