According to media reports, the investor coalition includes Vy Capital and xAI – Elon Musk's own AI startup – as well as brokerage expert Ari Emanuel and other names.

The offer to buy OpenAI is the latest and most direct attack on the company Musk co-founded nearly a decade ago.

Still, OpenAI’s board of directors is a close ally of Altman’s. The CEO also flatly rejected the offer.

“No thanks, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” Altman wrote on X.

“Fraud,” Musk responded.

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Elon Musk attends the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on January 20. Photo: NYT

Musk’s surprise offer could complicate OpenAI’s efforts to close a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank, which valued OpenAI at $300 billion, nearly double what it was four months ago.

That would give ChatGPT's developer the chance to become one of the world's most valuable private companies, alongside Musk's SpaceX and TikTok owner ByyteDance.

SoftBank will invest up to $40 billion in OpenAI, according to a source familiar with the matter .

Musk, Altman, and several other entrepreneurs founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in late 2015. They wanted to share their technology with the world for free.

When Musk left three years later after a battle for control, Altman linked OpenAI to a for-profit company that could raise the massive amounts of money needed to develop AI.

The nonprofit board, however, continued to govern OpenAI. In late 2023, the board abruptly fired Altman, saying it no longer believed he would develop AI for the benefit of humanity, one of its founding principles.

However, Altman was only fired for five days and returned.

OpenAI’s CEO then sought to sever the board’s control of the company. He also installed his allies on the board.

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US President Donald Trump supports a $100 billion plan by the OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle alliance to build new data centers. Photo: NYT

OpenAI’s structure is complex, and Musk seems to have figured out a weakness. Although OpenAI employs more than 2,000 people, the nonprofit’s board has just two people and $22 million in cash and other assets.

The reason Musk and his investors paid billions of dollars was to gain legal control over OpenAI.

The nonprofit board’s assets have not been valued, which is why Musk offered the price. This means that if OpenAI’s for-profit division wants to become independent, it will have to offer a higher amount.

Musk, now a close adviser to President Donald Trump, launched his own AI company in 2023 to compete with OpenAI. Still, OpenAI easily outshined Musk in Washington.

The day after Trump took office, he backed a $100 billion plan for new data centers from OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, calling it “the largest AI infrastructure project in history.”

On February 10, when Musk proposed acquiring OpenAI, Altman was attending an AI conference in France attended by top tech and political leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and US Vice President JD Vance.

(According to NYT)