When Elon Musk says he wants up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft, it’s hard not to do a double take — not just because the number is absurdly large, but because of what it implies about how ugly this fight has become.
According to Bloomberg, Musk is seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages, arguing that OpenAI defrauded him by abandoning the nonprofit mission it was founded on. The estimate comes from an expert witness hired by Musk’s legal team: C. Paul Wazzan, a financial economist who specializes in valuation and damages calculations and has testified in a long list of high-stakes commercial cases.
Wazzan’s calculation starts with Musk’s early involvement in OpenAI, including the $38 million seed donation he contributed when he co-founded the organization in 2015. Using OpenAI’s current $500 billion valuation as the baseline, the analysis suggests Musk is entitled to an eye-watering share of that value — the kind of outcome that would represent roughly a 3,500x return on what he put in.
The report also includes more than just a dollar-for-dollar investor argument. Wazzan’s analysis factors in Musk’s early technical input and business contributions, and frames the alleged damages as “wrongful gains” split across both OpenAI and Microsoft. Specifically, it estimates wrongful gains of $65.5 billion to $109.4 billion tied to OpenAI, plus another $13.3 billion to $25.1 billion tied to Microsoft — which currently owns a 27% stake in OpenAI.
Musk’s legal team is presenting this as a case where an early backer should be rewarded the way startup investors often are: with returns “many orders of magnitude greater” than the original investment. But the scale of the claim makes it hard to believe this is purely about money.
Musk is already sitting on a fortune around $700 billion, putting him comfortably at the top of the global rich list. Reuters recently pointed out that his wealth now exceeds Google co-founder Larry Page — the world’s second-richest person — by roughly $500 billion, based on Forbes’ rankings. On top of that, Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk in November, which is being described as the largest corporate compensation package in history.
Put all that together and even a $134 billion payout, massive as it sounds, would barely move the needle for him financially. Which is exactly why OpenAI seems to believe the lawsuit is driven by something else entirely.
OpenAI has reportedly been warning investors and business partners that Musk will make “deliberately outlandish, attention-grabbing claims” as the case moves toward trial. The company has also characterized Musk’s behavior as part of an “ongoing pattern of harassment,” suggesting it sees this less as a legitimate dispute and more as a public pressure campaign.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in April in Oakland, California — not far from San Francisco — and it’s shaping up to be one of the most closely watched legal battles in the AI world. Not because anyone expects Musk to walk away with $134 billion, but because it’s a rare moment where the behind-the-scenes power struggles in AI are being dragged into the open, with real consequences for the industry’s most influential company.
This analysis is based on reporting from TechCrunch.
Image courtesy of Unsplash.
This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.
