Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to acquire Mira Murati’s startup Thinking Machines Lab with a $1 billion offer, but the deal was turned down, according to reports. In response, Zuckerberg reportedly launched an aggressive recruitment campaign to lure away the startup’s key talent.
Meta tried to acquire Thinking Machines Lab
A report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Zuckerberg offered to buy Thinking Machines, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, for $1 billion. After Murati declined, Meta allegedly approached over a dozen of the company’s 50 employees to persuade them to join Meta’s AI division. The publication said the effort resembled a “full-scale raid.”
Andrew Tulloch offered $1.5 billion over six years
One of the top targets was Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines. According to the report, Zuckerberg personally offered him a compensation package worth up to $1.5 billion over six years. The deal was reportedly structured around Meta stock and performance-based bonuses. Despite the lucrative offer, Tulloch declined.
Meta’s wider recruitment strategy
Meta has been actively recruiting from OpenAI and its affiliated startups. Reports say the company has contacted more than 100 OpenAI employees and successfully hired at least 10. Companies like Anthropic, co-founded by former OpenAI VP Dario Amodei, and Murati’s Thinking Machines are also part of this ongoing talent hunt.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed the reported numbers as “inaccurate and ridiculous,” clarifying that offers vary based on stock performance and that there was no attempt to acquire Murati’s company.
Who is Andrew Tulloch?
Andrew Tulloch studied mathematics at the University of Sydney, Cambridge, and UC Berkeley. He worked at Meta from 2012 to 2023, where he contributed to key AI tools like PyTorch. Tulloch joined OpenAI in 2023 and co-founded Thinking Machines Lab in early 2025.
Murati’s startup is one of the new-generation AI companies formed by OpenAI alumni and is said to be working on cutting-edge reasoning and pretraining models.
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