Musk wants Microsoft and OpenAI to give him up to $134 billion.

According to a court filing from Friday, Elon Musk is seeking up to $134 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens a new tab, claiming that he deserves the “wrongful gains” that they received from his early support. Musk claimed in the federal court filing, opens new tab ahead of his trial against the two companies, that OpenAI received between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion from the billionaire entrepreneur’s contributions when he was co-founding what was then a startup in 2015. Microsoft received between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion.

OpenAI would not exist in the absence of Elon Musk. He taught them everything he knew about growing a business, lent his reputation, and provided the majority of the seed funding. In a statement to Reuters, Musk’s lead trial lawyer Steven Molo stated, “A preeminent expert quantified the value of that.” In a statement, OpenAI said Musk was making an “unserious demand” and that it was part of his “harassment campaign” against OpenAI. Outside of business hours, a request for clarification regarding Musk’s compensation amount was not met by Microsoft. OpenAI and Microsoft both use file suits. OpenAI referred to the lawsuit as “baseless” and a component of Musk’s “harassment” campaign throughout the week. There is no evidence, according to a Microsoft lawyer, that the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI.

In a separate filing on Friday, the two businesses contested Musk’s claims for damages. Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 and now runs xAI with its rival chatbot Grok, claims that ChatGPT operator OpenAI violated its founding mission during a well-publicized transformation into a for-profit entity. This month, a judge in Oakland, California, decided that the trial, which is expected to begin in April, will be heard by a jury. Musk’s filing says he contributed about $38 million, 60% of OpenAI’s early seed funding, helped recruit staff, connect the founders with contacts and lend credibility to the project when it was created.

“In the same way that an early investor in a startup company may realize gains that are many orders of magnitude greater than the investor’s initial investment, Mr. Musk is now entitled to disgorge – are much larger than Mr. Musk’s initial contributions,” Musk argues.
The filing says Musk’s contributions to OpenAI and Microsoft were calculated by his expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan.

Musk may seek punitive damages and other penalties, including a possible injunction, if the jury finds either company liable, the filing says, without specifying what form any injunction might take.
In their own filing, OpenAI and Microsoft asked the judge to limit what Musk’s expert may present to jurors, arguing his analysis should be excluded as “made up,” “unverifiable” and “unprecedented” and as seeking an “implausible” transfer of billions from a nonprofit to a former donor-turned-competitor.
The businesses also disputed Musk’s damages estimates in general, claiming that the expert’s method is suspect and could lead the jury astray.