OpenAI announces that its board of directors has unanimously rejected Elon Musk's acquisition offer

Elon Musk, who had been planning to acquire OpenAI in 2018, announced in February 2025 that he had proposed to acquire the company for $97.4 billion (14.8 trillion yen). OpenAI CEO Sam Altman immediately rejected the acquisition proposal, but on February 15, 2025, OpenAI once again announced that 'the board of directors unanimously rejected Elon Musk's acquisition proposal.'

OpenAI says its board of directors 'unanimously' rejects Elon Musk's bid | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/14/openai-says-its-board-of-directors-unanimously-rejects-musks-bid/

On February 10, 2025, a team of investors led by Musk announced that they had proposed to acquire OpenAI for $97.4 billion. Musk's acquisition proposal is seen as another step in an attempt to prevent OpenAI from transitioning to a commercial company. OpenAI CEO Altman immediately rejected the acquisition proposal and made a provocative post on his X (formerly Twitter) account saying, 'No, thank you. If you're okay with it, I'll buy Twitter for $9.74 billion (about 1.48 trillion yen).'

The details of why Musk is looking to acquire OpenAI are summarized in the following article.

Elon Musk proposes to buy OpenAI for about 15 trillion yen, but CEO Sam Altman immediately rejects it, instead provoking 'I will buy Twitter for 1.5 trillion yen' - GIGAZINE

On February 12, Andy Nussbaum, an attorney representing OpenAI's board of directors, said in a statement that Musk's proposal 'misvalues OpenAI as a non-profit.'

Andy Nussbaum, outside counsel representing OpenAI's board, with a statement on Musk's bid: pic.twitter.com/3Pm5c2ErHg

— rat king 🐀 (@MikeIsaac) February 12, 2025

On February 15, OpenAI's official newsroom account @OpenAINewsroom posted a statement from Board Chair Bret Taylor stating, 'OpenAI is not for sale, and the board unanimously rejected Musk's latest attempt to disrupt a competitor. OpenAI's restructuring will strengthen our nonprofit organization and our mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.'

'OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk's latest attempt to disrupt his competition. Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity.'

—Bret Taylor, Chair, on behalf of…

— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) February 14, 2025

According to a report from The New York Times , OpenAI responded in a letter to Musk's lawyer, Mark Toberoff, saying that 'an acquisition by Musk would not be in the best interest of OpenAI's mission.'