News 
February 11, 2025 
4 min. 
In a bold move that could reshape the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, a group led by Elon Musk has reportedly submitted a $97.4 billion bid to take full control of OpenAI. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the offer was made through Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, with the aim of restoring OpenAI to its original mission as an open-source, safety-driven AI research organization.
The bid comes amid ongoing tensions between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the company’s shift from a nonprofit entity to a for-profit AI powerhouse. If successful, this acquisition would mark one of Musk’s biggest corporate takeovers since his $44 billion purchase of X.
Musk’s AI Vision vs. Altman’s Profit-Driven Approach
Elon Musk is known to have not been in support of OpenAI optimally monetizing its resources after co-founding the venture with a few others back in 2015. From his perspective, he believes that the focus in AI development is best placed around safety and transparency as opposed to profit generation. On the other hand, Sam Altman has aggressively led the company toward a profit driven mode of operation, bringing in significant funding from multiple investors, such as Microsoft to further fuel the development in AI.
Things got a little messy last year when Musk decided to go on and sue OpenAI and Microsoft for antitrust reasons claiming that the two companies strayed from their primary goals. Musk’s drastic $97.4 billion bid now seems like another way for him to dictate how OpenAI operates.
He was firstly quick to turn down the bid, saying on X, “No, Jon, but we will buy Twitter for 9.74 billion if you want.” mask came up with Amusingly, this does give the impression that Altman isn’t at all concerned about Musk’s overreaching power grab. But it does raise the question of how he calculated that value for X.
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Will OpenAI Accept Musk’s Offer?
Despite the high price tag, Musk’s bid falls short of OpenAI’s estimated $340 billion valuation. This raises doubts about whether the board will entertain the offer, especially given the company’s growing dominance in the AI space.
Beyond the Musk-Altman feud, the broader AI landscape is rapidly evolving, with emerging competitors like China’s DeepSeek AI making waves. DeepSeek’s January debut disrupted the market, causing AI token crashes and a broader selloff amid claims that its training costs were significantly lower than those of OpenAI’s GPT-4.
With AI rivalry heating up, industry experts suggest that rather than competing, U.S. tech leaders should consider collaborating to counter China’s AI advancements. Whether Musk’s bid succeeds or not, the power struggle between him and Altman underscores a larger battle for AI dominance—one that extends beyond OpenAI and into the global AI race.
