🤖 Elon Musk Sought Mark Zuckerberg’s Support in $97.4 Billion OpenAI Takeover Bid, Court Filing Reveals

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tried to recruit Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, as part of his $97.4 billion unsolicited takeover bid for OpenAI, according to newly released court filings.

The revelation adds a dramatic twist to the ongoing Musk vs OpenAI legal battle, which has already shaken the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

Court Filings: Musk Approached Zuckerberg Over OpenAI

According to the filing, Musk communicated with Zuckerberg earlier this year regarding potential financing or investment arrangements for his bid to acquire the nonprofit board that controls OpenAI.

• No formal deal: Zuckerberg and Meta did not sign a letter of intent.

• No participation: Meta did not join the investor consortium backing Musk’s offer.

• Meta’s response: The company said there was no evidence it had coordinated with Musk.

Both Meta and OpenAI declined to comment, while Musk has not responded publicly.

Rare Alliance That Never Happened

If the partnership had materialized, it would have marked a rare collaboration between two of Silicon Valley’s most influential rivals.

• Musk vs Zuckerberg feud: The two billionaires have publicly clashed for years over AI safety, tech dominance, and social media platforms.

• Cage fight challenge: Their rivalry escalated after Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter (now X), with both even agreeing in 2023 to a cage fight via social media.

• Dueling AI ambitions: Zuckerberg has poured billions into Meta AI and LLaMA models, while Musk launched xAI to compete directly with ChatGPT.

Musk vs OpenAI: The Legal War

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Sam Altman but left in 2018 after a power struggle. Since then, their relationship has deteriorated:

• Lawsuits: Musk sued OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its nonprofit mission and becoming too closely tied to Microsoft.

• Governance challenge: He has asked courts to block OpenAI restructuring efforts.

• Apple fight: Musk recently accused Apple of antitrust violations, claiming the App Store favored OpenAI’s ChatGPT while suppressing his Grok AI chatbot.

Musk called Apple’s practices an “unequivocal antitrust violation” and threatened immediate legal action. Apple dismissed the allegations.

OpenAI’s Structure and Microsoft’s Influence

OpenAI operates under a unique hybrid model:

• A nonprofit board governs the organization.

• The for-profit entity powers ChatGPT, GPT-4, and other AI models.

• Microsoft has invested billions into OpenAI, embedding its models across Azure cloud services.

Musk argues that this structure contradicts the company’s original open-source mission, which aimed to share AI safely for humanity’s benefit.

GlobalWorldCitizen.com Insight

The Musk-Zuckerberg saga underscores the high-stakes power struggle in AI:

• Elon Musk: Wants to reshape AI through xAI and Grok, while fighting OpenAI in court.

• Mark Zuckerberg: Building Meta into a leader in generative AI and virtual worlds.

• Sam Altman: Steering OpenAI into deeper partnerships with Microsoft, Apple, and global institutions.

• Apple, Google, and Amazon: Watching closely as AI rivalries escalate.

This battle isn’t just about AI companies—it’s about who will control the future of artificial intelligence, global data, and the next trillion-dollar digital economy.