oElon Elon Musk’s SpaceX is getting ready to issue a tender offer in December to sell out its current stock at a price of $135 a share.
TakeAway Points:
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch a tender offer in December to sell existing shares at a price of $135 per share, two sources familiar with the matter said.
- SpaceX would be worth more than $250 billion in the bidding offer.
- Billionaire businessman Elon Musk added federal antitrust and other charges to his case against ChatGPT creator OpenAI and also named Microsoft as a defendant.
SpaceX’s tender offer
The tender offer would value SpaceX at more than $250 billion, according to the sources.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is expected to wield significant influence in Washington to secure favorable government treatment for his companies, including SpaceX, after Donald Trump’s victory for a second presidency.
Musk’s dream of transporting humans to Mars could also become a bigger national priority under Trump, as reported earlier this month.
NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to use SpaceX’s Starship rocket to put humans on the moon as a proving ground for later Mars missions, is expected to focus more on the Red Planet under Trump and target uncrewed missions there this decade.
Under Trump, SpaceX is also expected to push for even softer regulations on worker safety and the safety of participants in private space flights in orbit.
An investigation last year documented at least 600 worker injuries at SpaceX facilities across the U.S. and how SpaceX disregarded safety regulations and standard practices.
Musk expands lawsuit against OpenAI, adding Microsoft and antitrust claims
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expanded his lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, adding federal antitrust and other claims and adding OpenAI’s largest financial backer Microsoft as a defendant.
Musk’s amended lawsuit, filed on Thursday night in federal court in Oakland, California, said Microsoft and OpenAI illegally sought to monopolize the market for generative artificial intelligence and sideline competitors.
Like Musk’s original August complaint, it accused OpenAI and its chief executive, Samuel Altman, of violating contract provisions by putting profits ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI.
“Never before has a corporation gone from a tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon—and in just eight years,” the complaint said. It seeks to void OpenAI’s license with Microsoft and force them to divest “ill-gotten” gains. OpenAI, in a statement, said the latest lawsuit “is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones.” Microsoft declined to comment.
“Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices have escalated,” Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Musk has a long-simmering opposition to OpenAI, a startup he co-founded and that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.
Elon Musk gets role in government
Musk has gained new prominence as a key force in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Trump named Musk to a new role designed to cut government waste after he donated millions of dollars to Trump’s Republican campaign.
The expanded lawsuit said OpenAI and Microsoft violated antitrust law by conditioning investment opportunities on agreements not to deal with the companies’ rivals. It said the companies’ exclusive licensing agreement amounted to a merger lacking regulatory approvals.
In a court filing last month, OpenAI accused Musk of pursuing the lawsuit as part of an “increasingly blusterous campaign to harass OpenAI for his own competitive advantage.”
