OpenAI President Confirms Exploration of IPO for the First Time in Court Hearing: Personal Stake Valued at Nearly $30 Billion

According to Dynamic Beating monitoring, OpenAI President Greg Brockman publicly confirmed for the first time during Monday's court testimony that the company is exploring an initial public offering (IPO). As the Musk v. OpenAI case entered its second week, Brockman's appearance not only confirmed previous IPO rumors but also revealed his personal stake in OpenAI worth nearly $30 billion. Currently, OpenAI is privately valued at around $850 billion and a successful IPO could be one of the largest in history.

During cross-examination at the trial, Musk's lawyer attempted to prove that early OpenAI executives lacked genuine charitable intent. The lawyer pointed out in court that Brockman had claimed in 2014, in order to attract external funding, to have personally donated $100,000 to the nonprofit project, including to former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. Brockman admitted that he never actually donated any money and shifted the blame to Altman: "I asked Sam when I should make this payment, and he said he would let me know." Furthermore, Brockman also confirmed that in addition to holding a significant stake in OpenAI, he has $4.71 billion in shares of Stripe.

Also testifying that day was an expert witness hired by Musk's side, Stuart Russell, an AI expert from the University of California, Berkeley. He revealed that he was being paid an hourly rate of up to $5,000 funded by the Musk family office, totaling around $235,000. Faced with intense questioning from Musk's lawyer regarding his personal motives, Brockman insisted that OpenAI still holds the "moral high ground," emphasizing its mission to serve humanity as its primary trust responsibility and claiming that the current for-profit entity was "built with sweat and tears."