Sam Altman rejects Elon Musk’s bid to buy Openai in a letter to staff
Sam Altman leaves no doubt about his views on the Elon Musk-led bid. Openai. In a letter to Openai staff on Monday, the CEO quoted the words “bid” and “trade” in horror, saying the startup’s board of directors is not interested in the offer.
“Our structure exists to ensure that individuals have control over Openai,” Altman writes, according to two sources. “Although Elon runs a competitive AI company, his actions are not about Openai’s mission or values.”
Altman told the employees that Openai boardhe is sitting, but has yet to receive official offers from masks and other investors. If this occurs, the board will refuse to bid, according to these same sources. Internally, Openai employees responded to the news, a mixture of fear and anger.
A group of investors led by Musk surprised the tech industry on Monday announcement An unsolicited offer to purchase all Openai assets up to $97.4 billion. Musk’s competitor AI company Xai supports the bid, as well as Valor Equity Partners, a private equity company run by one of Musk’s closest advisors, Antonio Gracias. Gracias helps advise Musk in a contract to acquire Twitter in 2022 and is involved in the efforts in Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Now is the time for Openai to return to its once-safety-focused open source, safety-focused power,” Musk said in a statement sent wired through lawyer Marc Toberoff. “We’ll make sure it happens.”
I have musk Sued Openai In particular, it is said that by moving to become a for-profit business, it violated its original commitment as a nonprofit. In addition to the courtroom fight, Openai is A series of emails Musk claimed that Openai knew that it needed to become a for-profit organization to pursue artificial general information, and in fact tried to merge the company with Tesla.
The battle between Musk and Altman shines a spotlight on Openai Board Chairman Bret Taylor, who runs the Twitter board when Elon Musk acquired the company. That bid was easier in theory. Because Twitter was a public company, the board had a clear fiduciary duty to maximize returns. Musk I tried to back out Of the acquisition, however, his advisor was convinced that he would ultimately not be possible for him, and he closed on his original terms. Taylor did not respond to a request for comment from Wired.
Openai’s structure is more complicated. Today, the company is a non-profit organization with a for-profit subsidiary, but is in the process of making for-profit arms for-profit purposes. Public Benefits CorporationTo list the price of that asset, you need Openai. Openai is currently being rated $157 billion Based on the latest funding round. The company is in discussions with SoftBank to lead its $40 billion investment, which will bring the company’s valuation up to $300 billion.