Elon Musk-led group offers $100bn to take control of OpenAI

Good morning. We begin with the most recent chapter in Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s long-running feud over OpenAI. Additionally in in the present day’s publication:

• Hamas says it’s suspending the following hostage launch

• BYD’s ‘God’s Eye’ driving system

• Tokyo Metro chief alerts extra fare will increase

Elon Musk and a bunch of co-investors have submitted a near-$100bn bid for the non-profit that controls OpenAI, complicating chief govt Sam Altman’s try and convert the start-up to a for-profit entity.

Musk submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board of administrators yesterday, in accordance with an individual with direct data of the matter. 

Shortly after the Wall Avenue Journal first reported the unsolicited method, Altman stated on social media web site X, “no thanks however we’ll purchase Twitter for $9.74 billion if you’d like”. Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X.

Altman is within the technique of changing OpenAI right into a for-profit, transferring the corporate away from its roots as a non-profit analysis organisation. Musk, whose start-up xAI is a direct competitor to OpenAI, has made a number of makes an attempt to derail that effort.

Read more about the latest salvo in the bitter rivalry between the Tesla boss and Altman.

And right here’s what else we’re holding tabs on in the present day:

• China’s London mega-embassy: An area inquiry will probably be held on Beijing’s plans to rework the previous Royal Mint web site, which it purchased in 2018, into the largest Chinese diplomatic complex in Europe.

• Japan: Monetary markets are closed for Nationwide Basis Day.

• Outcomes: BP, Kering, S&P World and UniCredit report earnings.

5 extra prime tales

1. Hamas stated yesterday that it was suspending the discharge of Israeli hostages deliberate for this Saturday “till additional discover”, accusing Israel of not sticking to a posh ceasefire settlement between the 2 sides. The transfer is the most recent — and potentially most serious — in a collection of spats which have threatened the delicate deal.

2. BYD has unveiled a complicated self-driving system that it plans to put in on its complete mannequin line-up. Dubbed “God’s Eye”, the driving system was developed in-house by BYD and can equip the Chinese language automaker’s mass-market fashions with features commonly only found on upscale electric vehicles.

• Chinese language chip champion’s ‘snowballing’ progress: CXMT, China’s main producer of reminiscence chips, is rapidly gaining global market share on the expense of South Korean opponents.

3. A federal decide has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to instantly elevate a block on funds to the US’s premier medical analysis institute, and to unlock billions of {dollars} in funding for clear power initiatives. The decide stated the White Home’s try and freeze federal funds was “likely unconstitutional”.

• Trump’s tariffs: Merchants within the US are paying a lot larger costs for copper, aluminium and metal than their European counterparts as they rush to purchase the metals earlier than new levies come into effect.

4. Tokyo Metro’s chief has signalled additional fare will increase because the not too long ago listed firm seeks to win over shareholders by chopping prices and raising prices to cope with falling ridership. Tokyo’s subway system is taken into account one of many world’s most inexpensive and environment friendly — one other worth improve would add to proof that regular inflation has returned to Japan.

5. The Cook dinner Islands will this week signal a strategic settlement with China, in a transfer that has rattled the south Pacific nation’s conventional companion New Zealand and deepened considerations about Beijing’s affect within the area. New Zealand’s overseas minister stated that the federal government was “blindsided” by the transfer. Here’s what the agreement will cover.

Interview: Arm CEO Rene Haas

Rene Haas, the chief govt of UK chip designer Arm Holdings, speaks to Matthew Garrahan about the way forward for AI and why he is not afraid of China’s DeepSeek.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Singapore’s DBS: Chief govt Piyush Gupta signed off his 16-year tenure at south-east Asia’s largest financial institution with record profits introduced yesterday.

• Ruchir Sharma: Why are speculators nonetheless working wild when cash is now not free? One thing even larger than AI and the Trump impact is at work.

• The brand new age of empire: With the US, Russia and China led by males with expansionist ambitions, the implications are bleak for the present worldwide system, writes Gideon Rachman.

Chart of the day

The nuclear power business, notorious for enormous value overruns and infinite delays, is hopeful that building exact copies of established reactors can assist maintain new initiatives on monitor.

Take a break from the information . . . 

Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann sits down for Lunch with the FT to debate the cheating allegations that derailed his career — and the way he plans to revive his repute and turn into world champion.