The AI industry's most explosive secret just surfaced in court documents: Elon Musk approached Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in early 2025 to help finance a staggering $97.4 billion takeover of OpenAI. The revelation, buried in legal filings from Musk's ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI, exposes the billionaire's desperate attempt to reassemble the AI company he co-founded before it completes its transformation into a for-profit juggernaut.
The tech world's most unlikely alliance almost happened. Elon Musk, through his xAI venture, reached out to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in February 2025 with a letter of intent to help finance what would have been the largest AI acquisition in history. The $97.4 billion bid represented Musk's nuclear option to regain control of the company he co-founded with Sam Altman in 2015.
But Zuckerberg wasn't buying in. According to court documents filed Thursday, neither the Meta CEO nor his company signed the letter of intent. The rejection speaks volumes about the fractured state of AI's power players—even facing OpenAI's dominance, former rivals couldn't unite.
The filing emerges from Musk's escalating legal war with OpenAI, now proceeding in Northern California federal court. What started as Musk's attempt to block OpenAI's for-profit conversion has morphed into mutual destruction, with OpenAI firing back counterclaims alleging Musk's "sham bid" damaged their business through systematic "harassment."
The timing of Musk's overture reveals his desperation. By February 2025, OpenAI had already secured billions from Microsoft and was steamrolling toward its for-profit transformation. Musk, who launched xAI in 2023 as a direct competitor, watched his former protégé Altman build exactly what he'd envisioned—but without him.
"When Musk and xAI were trying to form a consortium of investors to finance a takeover, they approached Zuckerberg with a letter of intent," OpenAI stated in court filings. The consortium approach suggests Musk recognized he couldn't go it alone against an AI company now valued in the hundreds of billions.
Meta's rejection wasn't surprising given their own AI ambitions. The company has been "spending heavily to develop its own AI capabilities" and "offering pay packages of $100 million or more to leading AI researchers and attempting to poach OpenAI employees," according to the filing. Why help Musk buy OpenAI when you can simply raid their talent?
The legal maneuvering has reached new levels of acrimony. OpenAI has subpoenaed Meta for communications about the bid, seeking to establish a pattern of interference. Meta pushed back, arguing OpenAI should get the documents directly from Musk and xAI instead. Neither Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff nor Meta responded to requests for comment.
This failed alliance illuminates the AI industry's tribal warfare. Musk and Zuckerberg, who once planned an actual cage match, couldn't even agree on dismantling their common competitor. Instead, Meta chose its own path: building competing AI systems while systematically hiring away OpenAI's best minds with compensation packages that would make investment bankers blush.
The $97.4 billion valuation itself sends shockwaves through Silicon Valley. That figure positions OpenAI above most S&P 500 companies, reflecting the market's belief that artificial general intelligence represents the ultimate prize. Musk's willingness to pay that premium underscores how personal this battle has become.
The failed Musk-Zuckerberg alliance reveals how personal vendettas are reshaping AI's future. Rather than uniting against OpenAI's dominance, tech's biggest players are choosing parallel paths—Musk through legal warfare and xAI competition, Zuckerberg through talent poaching and in-house development. As this $97.4 billion drama unfolds in court, the real winners might be the AI researchers commanding nine-figure salaries while the industry's titans tear each other apart. The battle for artificial general intelligence has become as much about ego as innovation.
