Elon Musk will withdraw from his $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI if the ChatGPT parent company remains non-profit.
According to Reuters, the lawyers of the richest man in the world in the filing submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, said that Musk will withdraw a consortium if OpenAI does not change its non-profit status to a for-profit business.
The court filing read, “If OpenAI, Inc.‘s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid. Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arm's-length buyer will pay for its assets.”
Tesla boss, who owns a competing AI startup, xAI, launched in 2023, has been trying to block OpenAI, the company he co-founded, from becoming a for-profit firm, but the AI company argued that the move was necessary to get more capital and stay competitive in the AI industry.
Furthermore, the OpenAI board of directors, who had received the bid from Musk after 24 hours of snafu, plans to reject the CEO Sam Altman-dubbed “ridiculous” bid as the company is not for sale.
