Elon Musk has shown readiness to drop his $97.4 billion OpenAI acquisition offer provided the company’s board maintains its non-profit status and stops its transition toward becoming a for-profit organization. The court filing submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California shows that Musk expressed his concerns about OpenAI’s organizational changes.
The court documents state that Musk presented a serious offer to guarantee proper compensation for OpenAI’s nonprofit assets in case of asset sales. A Musk-led consortium presented a serious purchase offer to the charity, which would enable the organization to advance its mission through the proceeds from asset sales, according to the legal document. The agreement states that Musk will remove his bid if the OpenAI board decides to halt its transition toward becoming a for-profit model.
Musk launched his initial legal action against both OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman during the previous year by accusing them of fraudulent conduct and anticompetitive business practices. Through his legal action, he seeks to stop OpenAI from becoming a public benefit corporation because this would distance the organization further from its nonprofit foundation.
OpenAI started as a nonprofit organization before transforming into a “capped-profit” structure in 2019, which maintained nonprofit board control over its for-profit operations. The company is currently undergoing another organizational shift to become a fully for-profit enterprise, which Musk strongly opposes.
The OpenAI board, along with its legal team, swiftly denied Musk’s acquisition attempt by stating the nonprofit organization remains unsaleable. OpenAI’s legal team has labeled Musk’s attempt to take over the company as an “improper bid to undermine a competitor.” This dispute continues the ongoing fight between parties regarding OpenAI’s future direction.
