Elon Musk tries to buy OpenAI, but Sam Altman replies 'no thank you', tries to buy X for $9.74B

SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI boss Elon Musk has offered to buy ChatGPT maker OpenAI for $97.4 billion, to which CEO Sam Altman declined by saying "no thank you" while offering a $9.74 billion offer for X (which he trolls, and calls Twitter).

OpenAI is currently converting into a for-profit structure, away from its non-profit structure now, raising $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation, simultaneously launching a $500 billion AI infrastructure project. Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman back in 2015 before leaving in 2019, and now the Tesla and DOGE boss is offering less than one-third of what OpenAI's latest valuation was to acquire the company.

Musk said in a statement provided by his lawyer Mark Toberoff to The Wall Street Journal: "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens". Better yet, Musk's team has promised to match or exceed any higher offers for OpenAI that it receives, and with the likes of Microsoft and other AI giants swirling around, things are going to get real interesting for OpenAI, real soon.

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round in October 2024, but with further funding rounds since then, the ChatGPT maker has seen its value hitting over $300 billion.

Musk's attorney added on his behalf and other investors: "As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology".

• Read more: President Trump announces Stargate: $500B investment into AI for the USA
• Read more: Elon Musk: OpenAI 'don't actually have the money' for Stargate

Sam Altman was recently at the White House when President Trump announced the creation of a new major American company -- Stargate -- which will have $500 billion of investment to lead the world in AI. Stargate is a huge collaboration between the Trump administration, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, to build and operate this new AI computing system. This new AI system will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefits for the entire world.

President Trump's right-hand man when it comes to AI, space, self-driving cars, and rooting out inefficiencies in the US government through DOGE -- Elon Musk -- said within hours of Stargate's announcement that OpenAI "don't actually have the money".