OpenAI lawyers question Meta’s role in Elon Musk’s $97B takeover bid 

OpenAI is asking Meta to produce evidence related to any coordinated plans with Elon Musk and xAI to acquire or invest in the ChatGPT-maker.

The request was made public in a brief filed Thursday in Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI. Lawyers representing OpenAI said they subpoenaed Meta in June for documents related to its potential involvement in Musk’s unsolicited, $97 billion bid to take over the startup in February. It’s unclear from the filing whether such documents exist. OpenAI ultimately rejected Musk’s bid.

OpenAI’s lawyers said they discovered that Musk communicated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg concerning xAI’s bid to purchase the ChatGPT-maker, including “about potential financing arrangements or investments.”

Meta objected to OpenAI’s initial subpoena in July; the ChatGPT-maker’s lawyers are now seeking a court order to obtain such evidence. OpenAI is also asking the court for any of Meta’s documents and communications related to “any actual or potential restructuring or recapitalization of OpenAI” — the core issue in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone directed TechCrunch to a section of OpenAI’s filing which states that neither Meta nor Zuckerberg signed Musk’s letter of intent to acquire the ChatGPT-maker.

Meta declined to comment further. OpenAI and legal counsel for Musk did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

In the background of OpenAI’s fight with Musk, Meta has significantly invested in its own efforts to develop frontier AI models. In 2023, Meta executives obsessed over developing an AI model that could beat OpenAI’s GPT-4, court filings in another case revealed. By early 2025, Meta’s AI models had fallen behind the industry standard, reportedly infuriating Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg has upped the pressure in recent months, poaching several of OpenAI’s leading AI researchers, including Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT who now leads research efforts at the company’s newest AI unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs. Meta also invested $14 billion in Scale AI and reportedly approached several other AI labs about acquisition deals.

While it’s unclear how far talks progressed between Musk and Zuckerberg, the mere idea of a partnership between the two billionaires represents just how much of a threat OpenAI poses. Two years ago, Musk said he would physically fight Zuckerberg in a cage match (though it never happened).

The rise of AI may have prompted Musk and Zuckerberg to set aside their differences.

The filing disclosed Thursday is part of a larger lawsuit filed by Musk against OpenAI that takes issue with OpenAI’s conversion of its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation. Such a conversion is necessary for OpenAI to obtain funding from investors, and eventually go public. However, Musk — a cofounder and early investor in OpenAI — has attempted to throw a wrench in the endeavor, claiming that the restructuring goes against the startup’s founding mission.

Lawyers representing Meta asked the court to reject OpenAI’s request for evidence, arguing that Musk and xAI can provide any relevant information. Meta also argues that its internal discussions of OpenAI’s restructuring and recapitalization are not relevant to the case.

This story has been updated to add more information about the case, as well as the history of Musk and Zuckerberg’s relationship.