Elon Musk seeks up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft

Elon Musk seeks up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoftsaying he deserves the “unwarranted gains” they received from his early support, according to a court filing filed Friday.

OpenAI earned between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from the billionaire entrepreneur’s contributions when he co-founded what was then a startup in 2015, while Microsoft earned between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion, Musk told Federal Court ahead of his lawsuit against the two companies.

“Without Elon Musk, there would be no OpenAI. He provided the bulk of the seed funding, lent his reputation and taught them everything he knew about growing a company. A leading expert quantified the value of that,” Musk’s lead attorney, Steven Molo, said in a statement to Reuters.

OpenAI and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment outside of business hours on the amount of compensation Musk is seeking.

During the week, OpenAI called the lawsuit “baseless” and part of a campaign of “harassment” led by Musk. A lawyer for Microsoft said there was no evidence the company was “aiding and abetting” OpenAI.

The two companies disputed Musk’s damages claims in a separate filing on Friday.

Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 and runs xAI, a ChatGPT competitor, alleges that ChatGPT operator OpenAI violated its founding mission by carrying out a high-profile restructuring into a for-profit entity.

A judge in Oakland, California, ruled this month that a jury will hear the trial, which is expected to begin in April.

Musk’s filing says he contributed about $38 million, or 60%, of OpenAI’s initial funding, helped recruit staff, connected the founders with contacts and lent credibility to the project during its inception.

“Just as an early investor in a startup can realize gains far in excess of their initial investment, the unjustified gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned – and which Mr. Musk now has the right to return – are far greater than Mr. Musk’s initial contributions,” Musk asserts.

The filing says Musk’s contributions to OpenAI and Microsoft were calculated by his expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan.

Musk can seek punitive damages and other sanctions, including a possible injunction, if the jury finds either company liable, the filing says, without specifying what form an injunction might take.

In their own filing, OpenAI and Microsoft asked the judge to limit what Musk’s expert could present to jurors, arguing that his analysis should be excluded as “invented,” “unverifiable” and “unprecedented” and as seeking an “implausible” transfer of billions from a nonprofit to a former donor turned competitor.

The companies also challenged Musk’s damages figures more broadly, saying the expert’s approach was unreliable and could mislead the jury.