To purchase all of OpenAI’s assets, the investor group made an offer of over $97.4 billion and is “prepared to consider matching or exceeding higher bids,” it said in a press release.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is not amused. “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” was his prompt response on X.
Baron Capital Group Inc., Atreides Management, LP, Vy Fund III L.P., Emmanuel Capital Management LLC, Eight Partners VC LLC, and Valor Management LLC are all members of the consortium.
The others are clearly in Musk’s sphere of influence, even though Emanuel Capital Management has a lower public profile.
Ron Baron formed the Baron Capital Group, which oversees a number of mutual funds. He and his son Michael Baron oversee the company’s Baron Partners Fund, which holds significant holdings in SpaceX and Tesla.
Atreides Management is connected to the hedge fund Atreides, which is situated in Boston. Gavin Baker, the creator, made his initial investment in SpaceX while working for Fidelity for eighteen years, as we previously reported. Baker publicly backed Musk’s massive Tesla compensation package, and Atreides has also invested in the company.
Antonio Gracias, a former board member of Tesla and an early SpaceX investor, created Valor Management. Before Tesla bought it, he also invested in Musk’s SolarCity.
Alexander Tamas formed Vy Capital, which also owns a share in SpaceX and has made investments in several other Musk-related businesses, including Neuralink and The Boring Company.
According to public documents, Eight Partners VC is most often known as Joe Lonsdale’s company, 8VC. Running in similar circles, Lonsdale is an outspoken supporter of Musk. He recently appeared on CNBC calling himself “a huge fan” of Musk’s DOGE, an interview that Musk reposted on X.
The seriousness of this group is still unknown. One reasonable explanation that has been circulating online is that this is as much trolling as it is offered. Some claim that Musk is attempting to raise the cost of purchasing OpenAI’s underlying assets so that Altman’s team can restructure the company from its initial nonprofit status.
Musk has been trying to stop Altman’s plans for restructuring, and he was involved in the establishment of OpenAI as a nonprofit AI research organization.
