between Sam Altman and Elon Musk persists: OpenAI’s board formally declines the offer, stating it’s not for sale.

Elon Musk’s proposal to acquire OpenAI has been making news over the last several days. Although Sam Altman rejected the proposal at that moment, the OpenAI board has yet to reply until now. Today, the board has turned down Musk’s offer to buy. In a message on X (previously Twitter), the company’s leader, Bret Taylor, remarked, “OpenAI is not on the market.”

On the behalf of the OpenAI Board of Directors, Taylor said, “the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.” He added, “Any potential reorganisation of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity.”

Elon Musk, in partnership with a group of investors, has put forward a formal offer to acquire OpenAI for $97 billion. Musk’s proposal involves taking control of the company and refocusing it on its original nonprofit mission. Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, stressed the importance of ensuring fair compensation for the nonprofit organisation in this potential transition, stating, “If Sam Altman and the current board want OpenAI to become a fully for-profit company, it’s important that the charity is fairly compensated for losing control of such groundbreaking technology.”

At the 2025 Paris AI Summit, Altman addressed the incident with journalists, ridiculing it and affirming that the company was not for sale. He told Reuters, “I have nothing to say. I mean, it’s ridiculous.”

In a casual remark on the sidelines of the AI summit, he added, “The company is not for sale,” further dismissing the offer, stating, “Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is, you know, this week’s episode.” His dismissive tone made it clear that Musk’s bid did not concern him, highlighting that Musk’s efforts to disrupt OpenAI were nothing new.

Altman also expressed frustration with Musk’s tactics, criticising his approach of using lawsuits and disruptive methods instead of focusing on innovation. “I think he is probably just trying to slow us down. He is obviously a competitor. He has raised a lot of money for xAI, and they are trying to compete with us from a technological perspective… I wish he would just compete by building a better product,” Altman said.

He also added, “It’s another one of his tactics to try to mess with us.”