Sam Altman is fending his company against the richest man on earth, after Elon Musk made a stunning offer to acquire OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse behind ChatGPT.

The bid has reignited tensions between Musk and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, in what has become one of the most high-profile rivalries in Silicon Valley.

Musk’s attempts to re-enter OpenAI with a $97 billion bid

OpenAI, one of the most closely watched AI companies, operates under a unique hybrid structure that includes both nonprofit and for-profit entities.

While Musk was one of OpenAI’s original backers in 2015, he left the company three years later. But now, Musk is trying to return back to OpenAI by offering a whopping $97 billion in cash to purchase over OpenAI's profit subsidiary.

When OpenAI was originally founded in 2015, the company was created to be a non profit organisation, which was designed to focus on the ethical development of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

But later in 2019, the company added a "for-profit" subsidiary, which partnered with major companies such as Microsoft and SoftBank to channel in additional financial resources for the company to achieve its mission. And subsidiary is what Elon Musk is trying to acquire.

Unsurprisingly, Altman wasted no time rejecting the offer. In a sharp response on X, he quipped: “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” a jab at Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter (now X) for $47 billion—an investment widely seen as overvalued.

OpenAI takes additional steps to protect the sovereignty of OpenAI

After turning down the bid, OpenAI’s leadership appears to be taking further steps to block Musk or any other powerful entity from trying to take over the company.

Reports suggest that the company is considering granting its nonprofit board special voting rights, a move designed to prevent hostile takeovers and maintain control over its direction.

This strategic shift, if implemented, would allow OpenAI’s board to override key investors, including Microsoft and SoftBank, two of its largest backers. Legal experts view this as a classic venture capital (VC) tactic—which grants the company's nonprofit subsidiary power to overwrite the decisions from its profit branch to safeguard decision-making authority.

But what is triggering Elon Musk's sudden urge to be part of OpenAI again, especially when Musk already owns, xAI, a company developing large language models similar to OpenAI's?

Could this be a very expensive taunt that Musk is willing to spend just to spite his own rival Altman, or is there more practical reasons behind this major decision?

The Long-Running Feud Between Musk and Altman

There are many who believe that Musk's move is just another childish play that Musk has devised to taunt his bitter rival Sam Altman. And this won't be the first time that the two bitter rivals have went up against one another.

Back in January 2025, when OpenAI unveiled that it would be helping the Trump administration with the Stargate project-an ambitious $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative-,Musk was very quick to challenge OpenAI's commitment to the project.

In his social media post,Musk wrote that the project would never work because contrary to what OpenAI is claiming, it actually doesn't have the funds it is claiming to have to support the project.

But there is also others who speculates that Musk's latest bid for OpenAI could be fueled by his AI ambitions rather than just his spite for Sam Altman.

Despite having a similar AI company of his own, Musk might be trying to buy over competing companies and to acquire their proprietary technology to integrate into its own ventures.

Sam Alman fending off billionaires who are vying for his company

By granting its board outsized voting power, OpenAI is attempting to secure long-term independence. According to nonprofit governance attorney Clay Grayson, this move is a strategic allocation of authority that could prevent Musk—or any other external force—from seizing control of the company.

"What’s unusual here isn’t the tactic itself—VC firms use this all the time. What’s unique is that OpenAI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is using it to fend off the world’s richest man," Grayson explained.

With tensions escalating, all eyes are on what Musk’s next move will be. Will he attempt another bid? Or will OpenAI’s strategic restructuring succeed in keeping him out for good? The battle for AI dominance is far from over.