Before entering into talks to acquire artificial intelligence code-writing startup Windsurf, OpenAI looked at buying another option: Cursor.
The ChatGPT creator last year reached out to Anysphere, the startup that sells the Cursor application, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC. OpenAI reached out again this year as Cursor was enjoying a new wave of popularity. The talks again failed to gain traction, one of the people said.
In retrospect, this will seem like a brilliant decision, or a terrible mistake! 
It does suggest the team is confident in their ability to stay competitive and fundraise.
YouTube sold for $1.65B and Instagram $1B. Both could be valued at over $500B today so the founders seem stupid.
But without Google, YT couldn’t scale, and if Instagram didn’t sell FB would’ve done everything to copy and kill them. 
*I edited the title from ‘acquisition offers’ to ‘acquisition attempts’ since it’s unclear the talks reached the offer stage.