Elon Musk is trying to buy OpenAI

• It's not clear if Altman and the nonprofit board have yet agreed to a transition price, let alone how that might compare to the Musk offer.
• Altman responded to news by posting on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."

Behind the scenes: Musk may just be trolling OpenAI, as part of his ongoing litigation against the organization.

• Part of his complaint has been that OpenAI has strayed from the original mission he supported, and that it plans to restructure by splitting its nonprofit board from its for-profit entity.

Zoom in: An earlier Wall Street Journal report said Musk wanted to buy the nonprofit itself, which may not even be possible given that nonprofits don't have shareholders.

• Instead, this seems to be about the underlying assets — creating a competitive bidding process.
• WSJ added that Musk's offer is being backed by his own company, xAI, plus several longtime investors in other Musk businesses.

For the record: Musk's attorney did not immediately return emails for comment. He provided a statement from Musk to the Journal confirming the offer.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.