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Brockman Discloses $30 Billion OpenAI Stake as Musk Lawsuit Enters Second Week

• By John K. Waters
• 05/04/2026

As Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI moves into its second week of trial, the courtroom focus is shifting from the company’s nonprofit origins to the financial rewards received by its leaders, after OpenAI President Greg Brockman testified that his stake in the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company is worth nearly $30 billion.

Brockman, a co-founder of OpenAI and a close ally of Chief Executive Sam Altman, said during testimony in federal court in Oakland that he had not personally invested money in the company, according to the Associated Press. His testimony came in a civil trial over Musk’s claims that OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit mission as it grew into one of the most valuable technology companies.

Musk, who helped launch OpenAI in 2015 and provided early funding, has accused Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI of betraying the organization’s founding goal of developing artificial intelligence for the public good. OpenAI denies wrongdoing and has argued that Musk’s claims are driven in part by his position as the founder of xAI, a competing artificial intelligence company.

The disclosure of Brockman’s stake is likely to be central to Musk’s argument that OpenAI’s leaders personally benefited from the company’s evolution from a nonprofit research lab into a business with a large for-profit arm. As of this writing, OpenAI is valued at $852 billion.

The trial also produced a new dispute over a pretrial settlement exchange. Musk contacted Brockman two days before the trial began to gauge interest in a settlement, according to a new court filing. When Brockman suggested that both sides drop their claims, Musk allegedly responded that Brockman and Altman would become “the most hated men in America,” according to the filing cited by Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing the trial, did not admit the text exchange as evidence.

The filing and testimony underscore how the trial has become a broader examination of OpenAI’s governance, incentives, and corporate transformation. Musk’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated its original nonprofit mission and that its leaders wrongfully profited from his charitable contributions.

Musk is seeking changes to OpenAI’s leadership and $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors.

Musk testified last week that he had read only the headline of a 2017 term sheet related to OpenAI’s move from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure, not the fine print.

Brockman’s testimony follows three days of testimony from Musk and is expected to be followed later this month by testimony from Altman and Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella. The trial began on April 28 and is expected to last several weeks, with a verdict possible by mid-May.

The case remains unresolved. For now, the courtroom focus has shifted from Musk’s account of OpenAI’s early promises to questions about what OpenAI’s leaders gained as the company expanded, raised capital, and deepened its commercial ties.