[jsnk]

I had forgotten that OpenAI started as a non-profit. Elon Musk gave $100 million for a non-profit cause, and even he doesn't know how OpenAI became a for-profit company. I am not sure about the legality, but this transition seems like a unethical rug pull against the early contributors.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1636047019893481474

[gumby]

> I am not sure about the legality

non-profits can own for-profit businesses. They generally invest their endowments in...the stock market, and owning a whole company is just that at a larger scale.

A well known example is Usenix taking its networking sideline and turned it into the company UUnet which let Rick Adams become a billionaire (for a while). I actually considered this scandalous and still do, but it was all legally above board. It ended up ensnarled in the Worldcom fraud, which felt like poetic justice to me.

[quadcore]

Admitedly, this is somewhat an hilarious tweet.

[indymike]

Not-for-profits can also vote to sell themselves if their bylaws don't prohibit it.

[dekhn]

He fundamentally misunderstands what it means to be "non-profit" (or is being intentionally disingenous; it's hard to tell with him). It doesn't mean you can't make a profit.