Brockman Reveals $30 Billion OpenAI Stake in Musk Lawsuit Testimony

OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman disclosed during testimony on May 4, 2026, that his stake in the company is worth nearly $30 billion. The revelation occurred on the fourth day of a federal trial in Oakland, California, where Elon Musk is suing Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Musk alleges that Brockman, Altman, and others breached their duties to OpenAI as a charitable organization and unlawfully enriched themselves by converting it from a nonprofit into a for-profit business.

Brockman, who was the chief technology officer of Stripe before co-founding OpenAI in 2015, testified that he received his stake in 2018 and did not participate in the board vote granting it. He stated that compensation was secondary to the mission, emphasizing that OpenAI has developed the most well-capitalized nonprofit in human history.

The trial stems from OpenAI's structure, which is controlled by a nonprofit foundation, while its for-profit arm operates as a public-benefit corporation.

Brockman testified that all co-founders, including Musk, wanted a for-profit arm, though they disagreed on details. OpenAI, known for creating the artificial intelligence app ChatGPT, was valued at $852 billion in March after its latest funding round. Following a restructuring in October, the nonprofit foundation owned 26% of the company, and employees owned another 26%.

Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, stopped donating to OpenAI in 2017 and left its board in 2018. The company's first office was Brockman's apartment in San Francisco.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers struck as argumentative. Brockman was grilled over these diary entries, which included fantasizing about becoming a billionaire, even as the then-nonprofit received millions in donations from Musk.

“Musk's lawyer questioned Brockman on returning $29 billion to charity, to which Brockman replied that assumptions in the question did not align with his view of compensation and mission. Brockman replied, 'That’s not how I think about it,' adding, 'There are assumptions baked into the question.' Molo followed up, 'It takes $30 billion to get you out of bed in the morning, but $1 billion doesn’t get you out of bed in the morning?' Brockman responded, 'That’s not what I’m saying.' The nearly $30 billion figure was one Musk posted about last year on X, and his net worth is estimated at $657 billion, the highest in the world according to Bloomberg. Two days before the trial began, Musk texted Brockman to gauge settlement possibilities, according to a court filing by OpenAI’s lawyers on Sunday. Court filings revealed Musk's pre-trial texts warning of public backlash if no settlement, as part of ongoing negotiations between the parties. The trial, about a week into proceedings, has included testimony from Brockman, Musk himself, and Musk's fixer Jared Birchall. Brockman was photographed in Las Vegas on January 5. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, has emerged as a figure in the trial's margins. OpenAI received millions in donations from Musk while it was a nonprofit.”