OAKLAND: A federal jury ruled Monday that Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its co-founders, delivering a decisive victory to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and ending one of Silicon Valley&#39;s most closely watched courtroom battles. The jury in Oakland federal court found that Musk&#39;s claims against Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, The OpenAI Foundation and Microsoft were barred by relevant statutes of limitations, rejecting the billionaire&#39;s core arguments. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who had asked the jury to advise her on the matter, accepted and confirmed the verdict. The three-week trial saw a parade of tech titans take the stand, with Musk arguing that OpenAI&#39;s pivot to a profit-driven business betrayed its original nonprofit mandate. The outcome spares OpenAI from a potentially existential legal threat. Had Musk prevailed, he was seeking to force the company to revert to its nonprofit structure -- a move that would have derailed its planned IPO and unwound ties to major investors including Microsoft, Amazon and SoftBank, who have poured billions into the company amid the global AI race. Musk, the world&#39;s richest person, had sued OpenAI over its transformation from a scrappy nonprofit into the $850 billion juggernaut behind ChatGPT, claiming Altman and Brockman improperly used a $38 million donation he had intended to sustain OpenAI as a research lab devoted to developing AI for the benefit of humanity. The jury first had to resolve a threshold issue: whether Musk, who filed suit in 2024 -- four years after his last contribution -- had done so within the statutory time limit. It found he had not, ending the case before jurors could weigh the underlying merits. The judge had ruled ahead of deliberations that the jury&#39;s verdict on the statute of limitations would be advisory, but said she would likely follow its recommendation. Had the case proceeded, jurors -- and ultimately the judge -- would have determined whether OpenAI&#39;s co-founders misappropriated Musk&#39;s donations and broke promises to him in order to pursue a commercial path and enrich themselves. Dueling billionairesClosing arguments had centered heavily on Altman&#39;s integrity and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that rankled colleagues. Musk attorney Steven Molo attacked Altman&#39;s credibility, invoking OpenAI&#39;s founding vision. &quot;A non-profit devoted to the safe development of artificial intelligence, open-sourced as practical, for the benefit of humanity. You know, we&#39;re supposed to buy that,&quot; Molo said Thursday. OpenAI attorney Sarah Eddy countered with an attack on Musk himself, pointing to testimony from Shivon Zilis -- a business associate of Musk with whom he has four children -- who had served as an intermediary between the tech executives. &quot;Even the people who work for him, even the mother of his children, can&#39;t back his story,&quot; Eddy said. As Judge Gonzalez Rogers noted during the trial, the case had in many ways come down to a simple question: who to believe among the bickering billionaires. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and has since pursued AI projects through his rocket company SpaceX, while his AI startup xAI has struggled to gain traction against OpenAI and Anthropic, another prominent California-based company. Altman, who was fired unexpectedly by OpenAI&#39;s board in November 2023 for a lack of candor before being reinstated under pressure from employees, emerged from the trial with allegations of manipulation and a toxic work culture largely unresolved by the verdict. Microsoft, OpenAI&#39;s largest private backer with $13 billion committed, was also spared. Musk&#39;s accusation that the Windows-making giant was liable for aiding and abetting the alleged breach of charitable trust fell away once the underlying case was ruled invalid.

Business

US jury ruled Elon Musk sued OpenAI too late, ending his challenge against Sam Altman, Microsoft and OpenAI’s for-profit shift, preserving the company’s structure, investor ties and planned public offering.

Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late

NEW YORK: A Delaware appeals court cleared the way Friday for tech CEO Elon Musk to receive a long-contested $56 billion Tesla pay package, reversing an earlier judgment in the long-running case. The decision by the Delaware Supreme Court rejects a pair of judgments by Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware&#39;s Court of Chancery and sets the stage for another windfall for the world&#39;s richest person. In a pair of 2024 rulings, McCormick invalidated the 2018 package, which once loomed as historically large but has since been eclipsed by the billionaire&#39;s most recent Tesla package. The five-judge appeals panel determined that McCormick ruled improperly in ordering a rescission, the tossing out of Musk&#39;s package in its entirety. &ldquo;It is undisputed that Musk fully performed under the 2018 grant, and Tesla and its stockholders were rewarded for his work,&rdquo; the ruling said.&nbsp; &ldquo;We reverse the Court of Chancer&#39;s rescission remedy.&rdquo; &#39;Superstar CEO&rsquo;&nbsp;Though approved by a majority of Tesla shareholders, the 2018 package ended up in court when Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta challenged the award as excessive. The court struck down the award in January 2024 following a five-day trial, calling the process &ldquo;deeply flawed.&rdquo;&nbsp; The board proved vulnerable to manipulation by Musk, &ldquo;the paradigmatic &#39;Superstar CEO,&quot; wrote McCormick, who upheld her determination in December 2024 following an appeal. But Tesla&rsquo;s board has provided staunch support to Musk throughout the legal saga, approving in August 2025 an &quot;interim&quot; compensation award worth about $29 billion for Musk and then unveiling a pay package worth as much as $1 trillion. Tesla shareholders on November 6 easily approved the latest package, which is tied to a number of performance and valuation targets.

The ruling said, ‘It is undisputed that Musk fully performed under the 2018 grant, and Tesla and its stockholders were rewarded for his work.’ 

Elon Musk wins US court appeal of $56B Tesla pay package

NEW YORK: Tesla shareholders will determine on Thursday the fate of a massive pay package meant to retain Elon Musk long enough to achieve technological breakthroughs he vows will change the world. Musk &mdash; who has boasted that Tesla&#39;s engineering prowess in artificial intelligence, autonomy, and robotics will leave rival tech giants in the dust &mdash; stands to garner as much as $1 trillion in an unprecedented package tied to performance benchmarks. Tesla Chair Robin Denholm has appeared on CNBC and other broadcasts in recent weeks to promote the plan, a sign of the board&#39;s continued enthusiastic backing for Musk, despite criticism that the billionaire&#39;s embrace of far-right political figures has weighed on sales. &quot;Without Elon, Tesla could lose significant value, as our company may no longer be valued for what we aim to become: a transformative force reimagining the fundamental building blocks of mobility, energy, and labor,&quot; Denholm said in an Oct. 27 message to shareholders. Musk himself has hinted he could leave Tesla or take a back seat if his ownership share is not raised enough to give him the influence over its future that he desires. The package could raise Musk&#39;s stake in Tesla to more than 25%, up from its current level of more than 12%. &quot;It&#39;s not like I&#39;m going to spend the money,&quot; Musk said on a conference call in October. &quot;It&#39;s just if we build this robot army, I want to have at least a strong influence over that robot army.&quot; The outcome of the vote will be announced at Tesla&#39;s annual shareholder meeting at the company&#39;s factory in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. Anti-Musk protesters plan a demonstration outside the Tesla gigafactory that day, after an anti-Musk rally in downtown Austin on Wednesday. &quot;A trillion dollars is way too much any person should have under any circumstances,&quot; activist Ethan McBride told AFP, calling the package a means of &quot;enriching the man who is funding degradation of our democracy.&quot; Norway fund says no Musk, with a net worth of more than $500 billion, is already the world&rsquo;s richest person, according to Forbes&#39; real-time list of billionaires. He must hit 12 milestones related to market capitalization to receive the full pay package. The first tranche would be available if and when Tesla reaches $2 trillion in market value. The plan also involves a series of operating profit and product goals, such as the delivery of 20 million Tesla vehicles. The package aims to ensure that Musk stays at Tesla for at least 7.5 years. Musk has described Tesla&#39;s potential growth as nearly boundless, saying in July that &quot;Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world by far&quot; if the company delivers on its vision for autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. Musk&#39;s success in growing Tesla, SpaceX, and other ventures has inspired many believers. However, skeptics have complained that the company has been slow to introduce new models and that Musk has a penchant for pushing back or not delivering on targets that sound difficult, if not impossible. The pay proposal has been panned by Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), advisory firms Musk has referred to as &quot;corporate terrorists.&quot; An Oct. 17 ISS analysis of the proposal criticized the rationale for the potential windfall, noting that Musk&#39;s financial interests are already closely tied to Tesla&#39;s fate. As structured, the separation of the overall package into tranches of &quot;unprecedented&quot; value &quot;could undermine the necessity for all goals to be realized,&quot; said ISS, which also flagged the lack of explicit requirements that the busy Musk keep focused on Tesla. Norway&#39;s sovereign wealth fund, one of Tesla&#39;s 10 largest shareholders, said this week it was voting no. &quot;While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr Musk&#39;s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk &mdash; consistent with our views on executive compensation,&quot; Norges Bank Investment Management said on its website. Others voting against the proposal include New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Florida state officials have endorsed the plan, noting Musk&#39;s record of creating equity value and calling the package the &quot;gold standard for executive compensation.&quot;

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the public memorial service for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21, 2025. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)

Artificial Intelligence

Tesla shareholders will determine on Thursday the fate of a massive pay package meant to retain Elon Musk long enough to achieve technological breakthroughs he vows will change the world.

Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package to face Tesla shareholder vote

Reuters

AUSTIN: Tesla on Sunday teased an event on October 7, as investors and analysts await the unveiling of a more affordable model to sustain sales momentum. In a nine-second video posted on the social media platform X, the Elon Musk-led automaker showed a vehicle with its headlights illuminated in a dark setting.&nbsp; The company hinted at an event scheduled for Tuesday in a separate video that ended with &quot;10/7&quot;. <div class="fr-embed responsive-video"><div class="video-wrapper aspect-video"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 560px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1974732638863974735&lang=en&maxWidth=560px&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fmedia-library%2F&sessionId=89dfd6a3fca7769d77544e320f8f672253c6886a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 560px; height: 316px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;"></iframe></div></div></div>Tesla has previously delayed rolling out a lower-cost version of the Model Y in the United States. The company stated in June that it had completed &quot;first builds&quot; of the vehicle, but would begin selling it in the fourth quarter and ramp up production more slowly than planned. The stripped-down version is designed to be roughly 20% cheaper to produce than the refreshed Model Y and could scale to about 250,000 units a year in the US by 2026, sources told Reuters earlier this year. Tesla reported record quarterly deliveries for the three months ended September, driven by a surge in EV purchases ahead of the US tax credit&#39;s expiration. The teaser videos followed the expiration of a $7,500 US EV tax credit on Sept. 30, a shift that could shape consumer choices and prompt Tesla to recalibrate its pricing strategy.

Gadgets

Tesla releases a brief teaser for an October 7 event, fueling speculation about the launch of a lower-cost Model Y. The announcement comes after US EV tax credits expired and as Tesla seeks to maintain sales growth.

Tesla teases Tuesday event as focus shifts to affordable EVs

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: US auto safety regulators have opened a preliminary investigation into the 2021 Tesla Model Y after receiving multiple complaints from parents who were unable to open the vehicle from the outside, sometimes resorting to breaking windows to retrieve their children, according to an announcement reviewed Tuesday by AFP.&nbsp;The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it received nine complaints involving the Model Y, with several incidents where parents were unable to access the rear seats to retrieve children.&nbsp;In four of those cases, the parents reportedly had no option but to break a window to regain entry into the vehicle.&nbsp;Although Tesla vehicles are equipped with manual door releases inside the cabin, those mechanisms are not always accessible to children, raising serious safety concerns.&nbsp;Entrapment risks in emergencies&ldquo;Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle,&rdquo; the NHTSA stated in its notice.&nbsp;A preliminary review indicates the issue may stem from the electronic door locks receiving insufficient voltage, which renders the exterior door handles inoperative. However, Tesla owners involved in the incidents did not receive low-voltage battery warnings prior to the failure.&nbsp;The agency has now initiated a &ldquo;preliminary evaluation&rdquo; to determine the scope and severity of the issue.&nbsp;Not first Tesla door issueThis investigation follows a string of incidents involving Tesla&rsquo;s door mechanisms, some of which have had dangerous or even life-threatening consequences.&nbsp;In one high-profile case from April, Alijah Arenas, a college basketball recruit from the University of Southern California, described being trapped inside a burning Tesla Cybertruck after it crashed into a tree. He said he was &ldquo;fighting time&rdquo; to escape, but couldn&rsquo;t open the doors. Arenas was later placed in a medically induced coma. He survived by dousing himself with water as smoke filled the cabin.&nbsp;Focus on exterior door lock failuresThe current NHTSA probe is specifically focused on the inoperability of exterior electronic door locks, situations where there is no manual alternative to open the door. Although interior manual releases exist, the agency noted they are not accessible from the outside, and thus create a serious safety risk when passengers, especially children, are inside the vehicle.&nbsp;The preliminary evaluation covers approximately 174,300 units of the 2021 Model Y, Tesla&rsquo;s most popular midsize SUV.&nbsp;Battery power concernsThe agency noted that the failures appear to occur when low voltage disrupts power to the door locks. In several repair invoices reviewed, battery replacements were performed after such incidents. Yet none of the owners reported receiving a low-voltage warning prior to the malfunction.&nbsp;As part of the ongoing investigation, the NHTSA will evaluate:<ul><li>The design and reliability of Tesla&rsquo;s power supply system for the door locks</li><li>The effectiveness of battery alerts</li><li>The potential risk posed in emergency entrapment situations</li></ul>&nbsp;Despite the growing safety concerns and the federal investigation, Tesla&rsquo;s stock remains resilient. As of 2 p.m. in New York (18:00 GMT) on Tuesday, Tesla shares were up approximately 2%, according to AP.

US investigates Tesla Model Y after parents report door lock failures, forcing some to break windows to rescue children.

Articles tagged with "Tesla"

Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late

Elon Musk wins US court appeal of $56B Tesla pay package

Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package to face Tesla shareholder vote

Tesla teases Tuesday event as focus shifts to affordable EVs

Tesla under US investigation over door lock failures, window-breaking incidents