Elon Musk
Former OpenAI employees show support for Musk lawsuit
The employees claim that the removal of non-profit status would “fundamentally violate” OpenAI’s mission.
After Elon Musk filed a lawsuit last year against the Sam Altman-run AI firm OpenAI, a group of former employees of the company this week has filed a legal brief supporting the xAI and Tesla leader’s case.
On Friday, a group of 12 former OpenAI employees said in a court filing that the company’s restructuring efforts would “fundamentally violate” the original non-profit mission, as detailed in a report from Reuters. The employees said they were in technical and leadership positions at the company, along with explaining that they believed the not-for-profit model was important for a variety of reasons.
During their time there, oversight of the non-profit was considered a key part of the company’s discussions, according to the group. Although this approach was regularly emphasized during their time at the company, recent pressures from investors to restructure the company into a for-profit could impede on crucial elements of the company’s mission.
The former employees argued that the non-profit structure helped in recruiting efforts, as many of the company’s staffers simply joined because they believed in the original mission. OpenAI, however, responded by claiming that the original mission wouldn’t change even if the structure does.
“Our Board has been very clear: our nonprofit isn’t going anywhere and our mission will remain the same,” the company said in a statement.
🚨NEWS: OpenAI CEO shares some of his thoughts on Elon Musk during a conversation with Bloomberg TV. As per Altman, OpenAI is not for sale.❌
Altman’s comments followed reports that Musk and several large investors have offered $97.4 billion to acquire the nonprofit controlling… pic.twitter.com/bDN8OBr2oR
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 11, 2025
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Musk, who helped start OpenAI but left in 2018, has been highly critical of Altman and OpenAI’s efforts to become a for-profit in recent years. He officially filed a lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker last February, before dropping it in June and reviving it in August.
In the suit, Musk alleged that he had been “betrayed by Altman and his accomplices” after investing around $45 million dollars into the company, while OpenAI and investor Microsoft “established an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates, engaged in rampant self-dealing.”
In November, Musk’s legal team filed a motion for an injunction with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is presiding over the case, claiming that “irreparable harm” would occur if it wasn’t granted. The judge last month denied the injunction request, saying that Musk’s recent offer to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion undermined his claims of harm.
“Musk has not demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits,” Rogers said in response to the request for an injunction, adding that the original $45 million “is just a lot of money [to invest] on a handshake.”
Despite denying the request, the judge did say that the case could proceed in a California courtroom as soon as this fall, “given the public interest at stake and potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred.”
Elon Musk
SpaceX strengthens manufacturing base with Hexagon Purus aerospace deal
The deal adds composite pressure vessel expertise to SpaceX’s growing in-house supply chain.
SpaceX has acquired an aerospace business from Hexagon Purus ASA in a deal worth up to $15 million. The deal adds composite pressure vessel expertise to SpaceX’s growing in-house supply chain.
As per Hexagon Purus ASA in a press release, SpaceX has agreed to purchase its wholly owned subsidiary, Hexagon Masterworks Inc. The subsidiary supplies high-pressure composite storage cylinders for aerospace and space launch applications, as well as hydrogen mobility applications. Masterworks’ hydrogen business is not part of the deal.
The transaction covers the sale of 100% of Masterworks’ shares and values the business at approximately $15 million. The deal includes $12.5 million in cash payable at closing and up to $2.5 million in contingent earn-out payments, subject to customary conditions and adjustments.
Hexagon Purus stated that its aerospace unit has reached a stage where ownership by a company with a dedicated aerospace focus would best support its next phase of growth, a role SpaceX is expected to fill by integrating Masterworks into its long-term supply chain.
The divestment is also part of Hexagon Purus’ broader portfolio review. The company stated that it does not expect hydrogen mobility in North America to represent a meaningful growth opportunity in the near to medium term, and that the transaction will strengthen its financial position and extend its liquidity runway.
“I am pleased that we have found a new home for Masterworks with an owner that views our composite cylinder expertise as world-class and intends to integrate the business into its supply chain to support its long-term growth,” Morten Holum, CEO of Hexagon Purus, stated.
“I want to sincerely thank the Masterworks team for their dedication and hard work in developing the business to this point. While it is never easy to part with a business that has performed well, this transaction strengthens Hexagon Purus’ financial position and allows us to focus on our core strategic priorities.”
Tesla engineers deflected calls from Apple on a daily basis while the tech giant was developing its now-defunct electric vehicle program, which was known as “Project Titan.”
Back in 2022 and 2023, Apple was developing an EV in a top-secret internal fashion, hoping to launch it by 2028 with a fully autonomous driving suite.
However, Apple bailed on the project in early 2024, as Project Titan abandoned the project in an email to over 2,000 employees. The company had backtracked its expectations for the vehicle on several occasions, initially hoping to launch it with no human driving controls and only with an autonomous driving suite.
Apple canceling its EV has drawn a wide array of reactions across tech
It then planned for a 2028 launch with “limited autonomous driving.” But it seemed to be a bit of a concession at that point; Apple was not prepared to take on industry giants like Tesla.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives noted in a communication to investors that, “The writing was on the wall for Apple with a much different EV landscape forming that would have made this an uphill battle. Most of these Project Titan engineers are now all focused on AI at Apple, which is the right move.”
Apple did all it could to develop a competitive EV that would attract car buyers, including attempting to poach top talent from Tesla.
In a new podcast interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it was revealed that Apple had been calling Tesla engineers nonstop during its development of the now-defunct project. Musk said the engineers “just unplugged their phones.”
Musk said in full:
“They were carpet bombing Tesla with recruiting calls. Engineers just unplugged their phones. Their opening offer without any interview would be double the compensation at Tesla.”
Interestingly, Apple had acquired some ex-Tesla employees for its project, like Senior Director of Engineering Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who eventually left for Archer Aviation.
Tesla took no legal action against Apple for attempting to poach its employees, as it has with other companies. It came after EV rival Rivian in mid-2020, after stating an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees was noticed.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
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