Finance
From non-profit roots to for-profit ambitions: the OpenAI saga
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 12, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 12, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
OpenAI's journey from non-profit roots to for-profit ambitions involves leadership changes, strategic partnerships, and legal battles.
(Reuters) - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said "no thank you" to a $97.4 billion bid for the startup's nonprofit parent from a consortium led by Elon Musk, the latest twist in a high-stakes power struggle over the future of the ChatGPT maker.
The nonprofit that controls OpenAI is not for sale, Altman told Reuters on Tuesday when asked about Musk's offer that came amid the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.
Below is a timeline of important events related to the AI company since its inception:
Date Event
December 11, Tech executives including Musk and Altman
2015 announce the launch of OpenAI, pouring in $1
billion to create the AI firm
2018 OpenAI announces that Musk is leaving its
board
2019 OpenAI creates for-profit arm to help raise
funds from investors
Nov. 17, OpenAI board fires CEO Altman and President
2023 Greg Brockman quits. Mira Murati named as
interim CEO
Nov. 18, Altman's firing was over a "breakdown in
2023 communication between Sam and the board," and
not "malfeasance", COO Brad Lightcap says in
an internal memo
Nov. 20, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the Windows
2023 maker has hired Altman, Brockman and their
colleagues to lead a new advanced AI research
team
OpenAI appoints former Twitch boss Emmett
Shear as interim CEO. Shear pledges probe into
Altman's exit.
Nearly all OpenAI staff threaten to quit and
join Altman at Microsoft, demanding board
resign and Altman and Brockman are reinstated
Nov. 21, OpenAI says Altman will return as CEO with a
2023 new initial board. Brockman will also return
Nov. 29, Altman says Microsoft will take a non-voting,
2023 observer position on OpenAI's board
Dec. 13, Axel Springer partners with OpenAI in a
2023 first-of-its-kind deal to deliver summaries of
the global news publisher's content
Dec. 27, The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft,
2023 accusing them of using the newspaper's
articles without permission to train chatbots
Jan. 25, The FTC orders OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet,
2024 Amazon and Anthropic to provide information on
recent investments and partnerships as it
scrutinizes tech deals
Feb. 16, OpenAI completes a deal that values it at $80
2024 billion or more, according to media reports
March 1, Musk sues OpenAI and Altman, saying they
2024 abandoned the startup's original mission to
develop AI for the benefit of humanity
March 8, Altman returns to the OpenAI board along with
2024 three new directors
May 14, 2024 OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya
Sutskever leaves the company
June 10, OpenAI hires Sarah Friar, former CEO of social
2024 media firm Nextdoor, as its first CFO
June 11, Musk moves to dismiss his lawsuit against
2024 OpenAI and Altman
July 10, Microsoft gives up its board observer seat at
2024 OpenAI
August 5, Musk revives lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI
2024
September OpenAI's three top technical leaders,
25, 2024 including CTO Mira Murati, quit the company
October 2, OpenAI raises $6.6 billion, valuing the
2024 company at $157 billion
December 27, OpenAI says it plans to revamp its for-profit
2024 arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC) to
ease the restrictions imposed by its current
non-profit parent
January 14, Private equity veteran Adebayo Ogunlesi, CEO
2025 of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), joins
OpenAI's board
January 21, OpenAI plans joint venture with SoftBank and
2025 Oracle to build up to $500 billion of new AI
data centers in the United States
Microsoft changes its exclusive deal terms
with OpenAI to allow the company to build
additional data center capacity, paving the
way for the JV
January 22, OpenAI and SoftBank say they will each commit
2025 $19 billion to fund Stargate, a joint venture
to develop data centers for AI in the U.S
January 30, SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding
2025 round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a
valuation of $300 billion, including new
funds, sources say
February 10, A consortium led by Musk offers to buy the
2025 nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4
billion.
February 11, OpenAI's board has not received Musk's
2025 takeover bid, source says
(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Arsheeya Bajwa, Zaheer Kachwala, Kritika Lamba and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Rosalba O'Brien and Shinjini Ganguli)
The article discusses OpenAI's transition from a non-profit to a for-profit entity, including leadership changes and strategic partnerships.
Key figures include Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
OpenAI plans to become a public benefit corporation and has significant partnerships for AI data centers.
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