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Elon Musk wants a jaw-dropping $79 billion to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming the AI company defrauded him by jettisoning its nonprofit mission, Bloomberg first reported<\/a>. The figure comes from expert witness C. Paul Wazzan, a financial economist whose bio says he has been deposed nearly 100 times and testified at trial more than a dozen times in complex commercial litigation cases.<\/p>\n Wazzan, who specializes in valuation and damages calculations in high-stakes disputes, determined that Musk is entitled to a hefty portion of OpenAI\u2019s current $500 billion valuation based on his $38 million seed donation when he co-founded the startup in 2015. (If you\u2019re wondering, that would mean a 3,500-fold return on Musk\u2019s investment.)<\/p>\n Wazzan\u2019s analysis combines Musk\u2019s initial financial contributions with the technical know-how and business contributions he offered to OpenAI\u2019s early team, calculating wrongful gains of $65.5 billion to $109.4 billion for OpenAI and $13.3 billion to $25.1 billion for Microsoft, which today owns a 27% chunk<\/a> of the company.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s legal team argues he should be compensated as an early startup investor who sees returns \u201cmany orders of magnitude greater\u201d than his initial investment. But the sheer scale of the damages demand underscores that this legal battle isn\u2019t really about the money.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s personal fortune currently hovers around $700 billion, making him by far the world\u2019s richest person. As Reuters recently noted<\/a>, his wealth now exceeds that of Google co-founder Larry Page, the world\u2019s second-richest person, by a stunning $500 billion, according to Forbes\u2019 billionaires list. In November, Tesla shareholders separately approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk, the largest corporate pay package in history.<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, even a $134 billion payout from OpenAI would represent a relatively modest addition to Musk\u2019s wealth, likely reinforcing for those at OpenAI their characterization of the lawsuit as part of an \u201congoing pattern of harassment\u201d rather than a legitimate financial grievance. OpenAI already reportedly sent a letter<\/a> Thursday to investors and others of its business partners, warning that Musk will make \u201cdeliberately outlandish, attention-grabbing claims\u201d as his lawsuit against the company heads to trial in April. The case will be heard in Oakland, California, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n