Elon Musk sought Mark Zuckerberg’s financial backing for his $97 billion bid to acquire OpenAI earlier this year, according to court filings revealed Thursday in an escalating legal battle between the Tesla CEO and the ChatGPT maker.
OpenAI disclosed that Musk had communicated with the Meta CEO about “potential financing arrangements or investments” related to xAI’s unsolicited takeover attempt in February. The revelation emerged as OpenAI subpoenaed Meta for documents tied to any coordination with Musk’s acquisition bid, though neither Zuckerberg nor Meta ultimately signed Musk’s letter of intent.
Legal Maneuvering Intensifies
OpenAI’s lawyers said they issued the subpoena to Meta in June, seeking evidence of the social media giant’s potential involvement in the February takeover bid. Meta objected to the initial subpoena in July, prompting OpenAI to ask the court for an order compelling the company to produce the requested documents.
The filing represents the latest development in Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI, where he challenges the company’s shift from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure. “Meta’s documents can hold no evidence of ‘coordination’ with Musk,” Meta’s lawyers argued in court filings, urging the judge to deny OpenAI’s request.
Background of the Takeover Bid
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside CEO Sam Altman, made the unsolicited $97.4 billion offer in February as the company was completing a separate $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank. OpenAI’s board formally rejected Musk’s proposal, with Altman responding on X: “No thank you, but we will purchase Twitter for $9.74 billion if you’re interested”.
The bid came as Musk has increasingly criticized OpenAI for abandoning its original open-source mission and partnering closely with Microsoft. He launched his own AI company, xAI, in 2023 to compete directly with his former venture.
