Court Filings Reveal Musk Tried to Recruit Zuckerberg in OpenAI Takeover Battle
Court documents in the United States reveal that Elon Musk tried to involve Mark Zuckerberg in his $97.4 billion takeover attempt of OpenAI earlier this year.
The filings show Musk reached out to the Meta chief executive to discuss possible financing or investment, but Zuckerberg did not commit. Meta later told the court that any relevant records should be requested directly from Musk and his company xAI.
The disclosure matters because it uncovers the scale of Musk’s push to regain influence over OpenAI, a company he co-founded in 2015 and left in 2018. He has since attacked its shift from nonprofit roots to a for-profit model, saying the move betrayed its mission.
In February 2025, Musk led a consortium that made the takeover bid. OpenAI rejected the offer on February 14 and later revealed his contact with Zuckerberg during legal proceedings.
The filings also show how OpenAI asked a federal judge to order Meta to provide any communications about potential restructuring or recapitalization of the company.
OpenAI argued that such documents could clarify the real motives behind Musk’s offer. Meta resisted, saying its internal communications on OpenAI were irrelevant.
The fight is part of a broader legal battle. Musk sued OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman in 2023, accusing them of abandoning the organization’s original goals.
OpenAI countersued in April 2025, arguing Musk tried to damage the firm through lawsuits, public remarks, social media posts, and what it described as a false bid for its assets.
The numbers show how big the stakes are. A $97.4 billion valuation would rank OpenAI among the most valuable private companies in the world.
Musk’s outreach to Zuckerberg reveals how far he was willing to go to secure control, even turning to one of his biggest rivals in artificial intelligence. Behind the courtroom fight lies a deeper struggle.
Musk now leads xAI, which competes directly with OpenAI and Meta in building powerful AI systems. Zuckerberg has positioned Meta as a champion of open-source AI, while OpenAI dominates the consumer space with ChatGPT.
Each company sees AI as the next foundation for profit, cloud services, and digital platforms. The bid failed, and no alliance formed. Yet the filings give outsiders a rare glimpse of the power plays shaping the global AI industry.
The case highlights how control over leading AI platforms is no longer just a technological issue but also a contest of money, influence, and market dominance.
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