Sam Altman Wants To Cancel His Tesla Roadster Reservation And Get $50,000 Back
If OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had invested $50,000 in Tesla in 2018 Instead of putting it down as a deposit on the new Roadster that was revealed the prior year, it could be worth $1 million today.
With a net worth estimated in the billions, he’s probably not sweating the lost gains, but he wants that $50,000 back anyway.
Not because he needs it, but because he’s tired of waiting for the $200,000 car, which has yet to launch and won’t anytime soon.
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman posted to X.
Read Also: DOCUMENTS REVEAL THAT THE NEW TESLA ROADSTER MIGHT SUCK
Altman included a series of emails chronicling his initial effort to cancel the reservation. They included the original confirmation mail from 2018, his response that said, “Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund the $50,000?” and a response telling him the mail was undeliverable because the [email protected] address could not be found.
Altman co-founded OpenAI with Elon Musk and others, but Musk ended his involvement as Tesla became more involved in a’ rtificial intelligence and has sued OpenAI, alleging it has breached what he says was a “founding contract” to prioritize non-profit work for the benefit of humanity by shifting toward becoming a for-profit organization.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE AMERICAN CARS AND RACING NEWSLETTER FOR THE LATEST TESLA UPDATES
Despite Altman’s impatience, development of the Tesla Roadster continues and Musk has said a demonstration of the final production version will happen before the end of this year. Tesla also recently listed its first job opening for a Roadster-specific position, but its head designer, Franz von Holshausen, said it still may be two years before deliveries begin.
The Roadster was originally advertised with a 250 mph top speed and 0-60 mph acceleration in 1.9 seconds, both of which have been surpassed by electric cars in the years since. However, Musk later said an optional SpaceX thruster pack was being developed that would get the 0-60 mph time under one second and allow the vehicle to fly short distances. He said this year that the demonstration will be “mind-blowing” and “the most epic demo ever,” but has not yet announced a date for the event.
UPDATE: Elon Musk responded to Altman’s tweet to criticize his management of OpenAI and confirm that the Roadster deposit was refunded.