Elon Musk has asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help finance his $97.4 billion takeover bid for AI company OpenAI, according to court filings revealed on Thursday.
The filing, part of a lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI initiated last year, reveals that Meta and Zuckerberg received a letter of intent from Musk but never signed it.
Musk co-founded OpenAI as a non-profit in 2015 alongside Sam Altman. However, Musk became enraged when OpenAI pushed to transform the business into a for-profit entity, which led to a bitter dispute with Altman.
In February, Musk proposed buying OpenAI, and he later sued the company, alleging breach of contract and trying to stop its conversion to a for-profit company.
OpenAI has countered that Musk’s takeover bid was an attempt to harm their business, claiming “sham bid” tactics and harassment through litigation, social media, and press attacks.
As part of his counter claims, OpenAI is seeking to subpoena Meta for communications between the company, its CEO, and Musk about the takeover bid.
When Musk’s consortium approached Zuckerberg with a letter of intent, he declined to comment on whether Meta would participate in financing the deal.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/21/elon-musk-asked-meta-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-to-join-xai-bid-to-buy-openai.html