By Rachel Metz and Kurt Wagne, Bloomberg
Elon Musk tried to enlist Mark Zuckerberg for his unsolicited bid to purchase OpenAI this yr for nearly $100 billion, the startup stated in a court docket submitting.
OpenAI stated Musk recognized Zuckerberg, the chief govt officer of Meta Platforms Inc., as one of many folks with whom he had communicated about doubtlessly financing a deal to buy the ChatGPT maker.
Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta signed the letter of intent or participated within the $97.4 billion bid, OpenAI stated within the submitting. OpenAI’s board formally rejected Musk’s bid in February.
Musk labored with Sam Altman to discovered OpenAI a decade in the past earlier than occurring to launch a rival startup, xAI. He has been locked in a authorized skirmish with OpenAI, repeatedly attempting to derail the startup’s plans to restructure as a extra typical for-profit enterprise. The billionaire filed two lawsuits towards OpenAI for allegedly straying from its founding rules and requested a court docket to dam the corporate’s restructuring efforts.
Proof that Musk was quietly attempting to influence considered one of OpenAI’s chief rivals to assist him purchase the startup might undercut the billionaire’s authorized claims that Altman’s partnership with Microsoft Corp. betrayed the OpenAI’s charity mission. The decide overseeing the authorized battle beforehand has written that “efforts by Musk to incorporate OpenAI into Tesla or to convert it into a for-profit company are relevant because they may be inconsistent” together with his claims towards Altman and OpenAI.
OpenAI requested within the submitting Thursday for the decide to order Meta to show over documentation associated to any communication the tech firm had with Musk.
In a letter Friday, Musk’s lawyer argued to the decide that OpenAI must be barred from getting info from Meta in regards to the February bid. It must also be barred from gathering different materials from third events associated to its declare that Musk is waging a harassment marketing campaign to break Altman’s startup and increase xAI, the lawyer stated.
Musk’s lawyer additionally stated OpenAI has already signaled that it needs to query three different events who signed the February letter of intent to buy the startup.
On the time, Musk enlisted a bunch of rich allies for a money bid to purchase the nonprofit’s property. Backers of the proposal included Valor Fairness Companions, Baron Capital, Atreides Administration, Vy Capital, Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC and Ari Emanuel, by way of his funding fund.
Musk stated he hoped to return OpenAI to being “the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was.”
Meta additionally urged the court docket to disclaim OpenAI’s request, saying, “Meta’s documents can hold no evidence of ‘coordination’ with Musk, or of Meta’s purported attempt to purchase OpenAI, or of any other relevant information when Meta did not join Musk’s bid.”
“Meta’s communications (if any) with entities that did join the bid also hold little to no relevance, and in any event, should be sought from those entities, not Meta, which did not participate,” the corporate added.
Meta declined to remark. OpenAI declined to remark past its court docket submitting.
US District Choose Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, has scheduled a trial for March.
–With help from Riley Griffin.
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Initially Printed: August 25, 2025 at 8:04 AM PDT
