Elon Musk tried to enlist Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to join his unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI earlier this year — at what now looks like a bargain basement price below $100 billion, lawyers for Sam Altman’s firm alleged.
In February, Musk made a shock $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI.
That’s a fraction of the eye-popping $500 billion valuation that OpenAI was reportedly set to reach last week while in advanced talks to raise $6 billion from investors.
OpenAI attorneys said Musk identified “Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s Chairman and CEO, as an individual with whom he had communicated concerning the [letter of intent]” related to his offer, according to a statement included in court filings on Thursday.
The communication between Musk and Zuckerberg was “’about potential financing arrangements or investments’” in connection with OpenAI, the filing added.
OpenAI noted that the discussion between the two billionaires occurred even as Meta was “spending heavily to develop its own AI capabilities, including, according to public reports, offering pay packages of $100 million or more to leading AI researchers and attempting to poach OpenAI employees.”
Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta ultimately signed the letter of intent to participate in Musk’s bid, the filing said.
Instead, the bid’s backers included close associates of Musk.
Still, the fact that Musk approached Zuckerberg came as a surprise to many because the two billionaires are also longtime rivals — to the point that they nearly faced off against each other in a cage match in 2023.
Musk’s takeover offer was quickly rejected by its CEO Sam Altman and his fellow board members at the time. OpenAI has alleged that Musk’s bid and the lawsuit itself are part of a long-term “harassment” campaign meant to slow down its progress on artificial intelligence.
It’s the latest dispute in the bitter legal war Musk has waged on Altman and OpenAI for allegedly abandoning its charitable mission in favor of profit.
OpenAI is asking the court to force Meta to turn over any documents related to Zuckerberg’s talks with Musk. Meta has in turn argued that the request is too invasive and should be denied.
Representatives for OpenAI and Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff did not immediately return requests for comment on the filing. Meta declined to comment.
Musk runs xAI, which created the Grok AI chatbot and directly competes with OpenAI.
Musk and Altman were once close allies, with Musk even serving as a cofounder and initial financial backer for OpenAI. However, the two eventually had a falling-out that resulted in Musk exiting the firm.
Musk has taken issue with OpenAI’s plan to restructure itself as a for-profit entity.
Altman and his allies insist that the nonprofit board that has long governed OpenAI will remain in overall control of the company.
