A consortium of investors led by Elon Musk offered $97 billion to take over OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, but the offer was rebuffed but CEO Sam Altman.
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirm he had submitted a bid to its board for “all assets” of the tech company on Monday.
In response, Altman posted on X, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Musk responded to the post by calling Altman a “swindler.”
Altman confirmed in an email that OpenAI’s board has no interest in Musk’s “supposed bid”. It is reported that the company’s 10-person board is backing Altman.
Musk and Altman have a long history of animosity and this is just the latest round in their beef. The two co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit company, but the Tesla and X boss left in 2018 before the company’s jump in popularity.
The Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO has harshened his rhetoric against OpenAI and Altman in recent weeks, criticizing the company for allegedly losing its vision of the public good. In November, he had asked a judge to block OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company.