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(KRON<\/a>) \u2014 Closing arguments in an Oakland Federal courthouse happened Thursday in what\u2019s become 2026\u2019s trial of the year \u2013 Two of the world\u2019s richest men bickering over the globe\u2019s most speculated industry.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re uninitiated, here\u2019s what you need to know:<\/p>\n Elon Musk filed a $134 billion lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and Microsoft over its 2024 investments in the company.<\/p>\n Musked helped found and fund OpenAI between 2015-2018.<\/p>\n Musk claims OpenAI violated its original mission to operate as a nonprofit, focused on developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.<\/p>\n OpenAI completed a restructuring last October. The for-profit half still reports to the nonprofit foundation.<\/p>\n OpenAI has repeatedly denied Musk\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n A longer, more detailed read about the trial itself can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n The legal battle is arguably, half business dispute, half a personal vendetta, but its consequences could ripple through the entire AI industry \u2013 currently the hottest sector in the tech economy.<\/p>\n \u00a0Number of tech layoffs in 2026 already tops 100K: report\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Since its founding in late 2015, OpenAI has largely stayed at the forefront of the frontier labs. It pioneered the now basic scaling laws many similar companies follow, successfully commercialized deep learning models, and testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee of Safety in 2023 to help create the first legal frameworks for regulating artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n But the competition is steeper now than it was a decade ago. Among the current offerings domestically, five companies dominate the LLM leaderboard \u2013 both in modeling and the ability to build the required computing powering.<\/p>\n And in a distant fifth, Elon Musk\u2019s \u2018xAI.\u2019 According to San Francisco marketing and SEO firm FirstPageSage, OpenAI\u2019s Chat GPT dominates general market share at 60.6%. xAI\u2019s \u201cGrok\u201d sits at just 0.6%.<\/a><\/p>\n While Google and Meta have been publicly traded since 2004, and 2012 respectively, the other three aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n With evaluations soaring, all three firms are racing toward planned initial public offerings this year that could be some of the largest ever.<\/p>\n That\u2019s creating new questions, namely, is there enough money for all three of them? And what does Musk stand to gain right now?<\/p>\n Why initial public offerings, or IPOs, matter<\/p>\n Initial Public Offerings matter because they allow companies to raise massive amounts of capital. They also allow early private investors and employees to liquidate their stocks for a massive payday.<\/p>\n In Silicon Valley, the appeal of working for a start-up is often the prospect of a massive potential IPO. When Meta went public in 2012, it turned thousands of employees into millionaires overnight.<\/p>\n Additionally, IPOs lift the hood so to speak on the financials of a firm. Regulatory, disclosure and governance requirements are significantly higher for public companies than they are private ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n What Elon Musk stands to gain<\/p>\n It\u2019s imperative to note that Musk\u2019s xAI isn\u2019t just an artificial intelligence firm. In February of this year Musk merged his space exploration and satellite company SpaceX with xAI.<\/p>\n While xAI has struggled to contend with its competitors, SpaceX has dominated the aerospace industry.More recent rumors suggest Musk is also interested in merging Tesla, an already public company worth $1.41 trillion.<\/p>\n SpaceX filed its declaration with the SEC to IPO on April 1, and is expected to seek a valuation of $1.75 trillion with a listing target as soon as June. Both Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly eyeing the end of this year.<\/p>\n Together, the three companies hold a total market cap of roughly $3.6 trillion at the time of publishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Typical IPOs offer between 10% and 25% of their shares to the public \u2013 which allows for price discovery while also maintaining control of the company.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how that looks for the three leading AI companies:<\/p>\n Company:<\/p>\n Market Cap:<\/p>\n 15% Float:<\/p>\n 20% Float:<\/p>\n 25% Float:<\/p>\n OpenAI<\/p>\n $852 billion<\/p>\n $127.8 billion<\/p>\n $170.4 billion<\/p>\n $213 billion<\/p>\n SpaceX<\/p>\n $1.75 trillion<\/p>\n $262.5 billion<\/p>\n $350 billion<\/p>\n $437.5 billion<\/p>\n Anthropic<\/p>\n $1 trillion<\/p>\n $150 billion<\/p>\n $200 billion<\/p>\n $250 billion<\/p>\n Total:<\/p>\n $3.9 trillion<\/p>\n $540.3 billion<\/p>\n $720.4 billion<\/p>\n $900.5 billion<\/p>\n Recent reports indicate SpaceX is eyeing closer to $75 billion in stock sales.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Across the last five years, IPOs have roughly raised $266 billion<\/a>. More than half of that came in 2021 ($155.8 billion).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe anticipation is that [OpenAI\u2019s] IPO will be massive, $1 trillion now,\u201d says Ahmed Banafa, a professor with San Jose State\u2019s college of engineering, and the school\u2019s foremost expert on AI. \u201cWhoever will go first is going to set up the stage for what\u2019s going to happen to the other two.\u201d<\/p>\n Saudi Aramco, or the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, currently holds the record for the single largest IPO in history, raising $29.4 billion in 2019.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Timing often matters as much as valuation. While his ability to hold a grudge should certainly be considered a motive, Musk\u2019s ongoing lawsuit works to delay the offering of one of his biggest rivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole story here is, if I can\u2019t beat you in court, I can go and move this fight into Wall Street,\u201d Banafa said.<\/p>\n \u201cElon Musk, he doesn\u2019t like to lose\u2026this is a founder regret going back and saying, \u2018No, I have to find a way to get back and get into this company or stop them,\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cWhat [Elon] needs is to slow down the company by having questions around their governance, leadership, that there is a conflict of interest, non-profit to profit.\u201d<\/p>\n Companies frequently pause or delay their filings during a suit. It can also spoil the narrative firms spin ahead of time, shaving off value.<\/p>\n In the event a judge rules in favor of Musk, it could decimate OpenAI overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not only would it force the company to restructure back to a non-profit and unwind its commercial partnerships, it could force the exit of both Altman and Brockman from the board \u2013 handicapping its future ability to seriously fundraise.<\/p>\n What OpenAI stands to gain<\/p>\n In a word, nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a defendant, OpenAI is fighting for the survival of its current corporate structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI look at it as this is going to set up the tone for the AI infrastructure and governance\u201d Banafa said. \u201cA lot of the startups are going to look at this and say, we have to be very careful about our structure.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s just one battle among a war on several fronts for the company. Other ongoing lawsuits include the death of a California college student after \u2018Chat GPT\u2019 told him to take a lethal combination of drugs<\/a>, and the alleged role of its chatbot ahead of a shooting at Florida State University that killed two<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s in addition to Altman\u2019s outside business dealings are now being probed by the House Oversight Committee<\/a>, and recent doubts from OpenAI\u2019s own investors the company is worthy of its valuation.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n And that\u2019s all before the company addresses copyright complaints. OpenAI is actively defending claims from authors that it illegally trained its models on their work. The timelines for those suits both vary, and are uncertain.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next<\/p>\n Jury deliberations are slated to begin Monday. The jury\u2019s verdict will only be an advisory, meaning Judge Gonzalez Rogers will ultimately make the final decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n The remedies phase of the trial also starts Monday, where Judge Rogers will hear arguments about the next steps that should be taken if OpenAI is found liable.\u00a0<\/p>\n That phase will not include a jury, nor will the already selected jury weigh in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n