In a surprising move, Elon Musk and a group of investors he leads announced their intention on Monday to launch a hostile bid for OpenAI.
The consortium has proposed an offer of approximately $97.4 billion to acquire all assets of OpenAI, stating they are “ready to consider matching or surpassing any higher offers” in a press release distributed to TechCrunch.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, quickly dismissed the offer. He posted a response on X, stating, “No thanks, but we would be interested in buying Twitter for $9.74 billion if you’re keen.”
The investor group comprises Baron Capital Group Inc., Valor Management LLC, Atreides Management LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emmanuel Capital Management LLC, and Eight Partners VC LLC.
While Emmanuel Capital Management remains relatively obscure in public spheres, the other firms closely align with Musk’s ventures.
Baron Capital Group, established by Ron Baron, manages several mutual funds. The Baron Partners Fund, overseen by Ron and his son Michael Baron, holds significant investments in both Tesla and SpaceX.
Atreides Management is linked to a Boston-based hedge fund and its founder, Gavin Baker, previously spent 18 years at Fidelity, where he made his initial investment in SpaceX. Atreides has also backed Tesla, with Baker openly supporting Musk’s substantial compensation package at the company.
Valor Management was initiated by Antonio Gracias, an early investor in SpaceX and a former Tesla board member, who was also an investor in Musk’s SolarCity prior to its acquisition by Tesla.
Vy Capital, established by Alexander Tamas, has stakes in SpaceX and has also invested in various other Musk-led projects, including The Boring Company and Neuralink.
Eight Partners VC is commonly known as Joe Lonsdale’s firm, 8VC, according to public records. Lonsdale, a well-known supporter of Musk, recently appeared on CNBC, referring to himself as “a huge fan” of Musk’s DOGE, a segment that Musk subsequently reshared on X.
It remains uncertain how genuine this group’s intentions are. One theory circulating online suggests that this could be both a prank and an offer. Some speculate that Musk might be trying to escalate the price Altman’s team would need to invest to acquire OpenAI’s assets in order to change its structure back from a nonprofit status.
Musk was involved in the founding of OpenAI as a nonprofit organization dedicated to AI research and has been actively working to thwart Altman’s plans for restructuring.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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