Elon Musk contacted Mark Zuckerberg to buy OpenAI intellectual property
Turns out, Elon Musk reached out to Mark Zuckerberg about teaming up to buy OpenAI's intellectual property before Musk made his massive $97.4 billion offer.
This all came out in court documents from Musk's ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the company's direction.
In early 2025, Zuckerberg texted Musk to say he was following along and rooting for him.
OpenAI transitioned to for-profit status
Although Zuckerberg was mentioned as a possible partner in funding talks, neither Zuckerberg nor Meta signed the Letter of Intent.
Musk still tried to stop OpenAI from shifting toward a commercial model with his big offer, but Altman shot it down publicly on X.
By October 2025, OpenAI had fully transitioned into a for-profit company, while keeping some nonprofit elements; that transition has been a point of contention in disputes involving Musk and Altman.