Musk Files Lawsuit Against OpenAI, Microsoft
The tech mogul claims he was fraudulently deprived of the $38 million in seed capital he contributed to OpenAI in 2015, the filing stated, asserting he now deserves a portion of the company's current $500 billion valuation.
OpenAI generated between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from that initial funding, the filing contended. Microsoft, which began investing in the artificial intelligence firm in 2019 and currently controls 27% of shares in OpenAI Group PBC, profited between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion, the document alleged.
"Without Elon Musk, there'd be no OpenAI. He provided the bulk of the seed funding, lent his reputation, and taught them all he knows about scaling a business," the billionaire's lead trial lawyer, Steven Molo, told Reuters, referencing calculations by expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, who appears in the document.
The ChatGPT creator rejected Musk's claims as "baseless" and characterized them as elements of a "harassment" campaign. Microsoft declined to address the compensation dispute.
Both co-defendants filed a separate motion Friday urging the judge to disqualify Wazzan's analysis, branding it "made up" and "unverifiable."
Musk helped establish OpenAI in 2015, ultimately investing approximately $45 million total, but departed the board in 2018 amid strategic conflicts with CEO Sam Altman. The entrepreneur has since become a fierce opponent of OpenAI's profit-driven pivot and tight collaboration with Microsoft.
In February 2025, he proposed acquiring OpenAI for $97.4 billion to block its for-profit transformation. Altman rejected the proposal and sarcastically countered by suggesting he purchase Musk's social media platform, X, for $9.74 billion instead.
OpenAI surpassed Musk's SpaceX as the world's most valuable private technology company in October upon reaching a $500 billion valuation after current and former employees sold approximately $6.6 billion worth of shares to an investor consortium.
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