Elon Musk Files Suit Seeking Up to $134 Billion from OpenAI and Microsoft
Musk claims he was defrauded after OpenAI abandoned nonprofit model, legal battle heads to jury trial in April
Mumbai, Jan 17 : Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit demanding damages ranging from $79 billion to $134 billion from OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft, claiming the AI startup defrauded him by abandoning its nonprofit mission and entering a for profit partnership with the software giant.
The damages claim was detailed in a court filing on Friday, following a federal judge’s decision rejecting OpenAI and Microsoft’s bid to avoid a jury trial scheduled for late April in Oakland, California. Musk’s filing cites financial expert C. Paul Wazzan, who calculated Musk’s entitlement based on OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation, relative to the $38 million seed money he donated when helping to found the company in 2015.
“Just as an early investor in a startup may realize gains many times their initial investment, the wrongful gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned and which Mr. Musk is now entitled to disgorge far exceed his original contributions,” Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo wrote.
Musk resigned from OpenAI’s board in 2018, launched his own AI company in 2023, and began litigation in 2024 against CEO Sam Altman over plans to operate OpenAI as a for profit entity. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have denied the allegations.
“Mr. Musk’s lawsuit continues to be baseless and part of his ongoing pattern of harassment… This latest demand is aimed solely at furthering this harassment campaign,” OpenAI said in a statement. Microsoft declined to comment.
OpenAI restructured in October, granting Microsoft a 27% stake while retaining nonprofit oversight of its for profit operations. Altman criticized Musk’s suit as a strategic attempt to hinder competition.
According to the filing, Wazzan’s calculations consider Musk’s financial and non monetary contributions, including business and technical advice, estimating wrongful gains of $65.5–$109.43 billion for OpenAI and $13.3–$25.06 billion for Microsoft.
The high stakes case now moves toward the April jury trial, drawing global attention to one of the largest legal claims in the tech and AI sectors.
