Elon Musk lost his case against Sam Altman and OpenAI after a jury ruled Monday that he had missed the legal deadline to bring his claims.

The verdict follows a high-profile three-week trial in which jurors cleared Altman, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and OpenAI of all claims. The jury also dismissed Musk’s accusations against Microsoft, which Musk claimed helped facilitate breaches tied to OpenAI’s move toward a for-profit structure.

Court testimony showed OpenAI leaders had discussed a for-profit conversion as early as 2017, before OpenAI established a for-profit arm in 2019. Musk did not sue until 2024.

Musk said during the trial that he at first relied on Altman’s reassurances but became frustrated after Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI in 2023 in exchange for intellectual property rights and a share of future profits.

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) dropped about 4% intraday, per Yahoo Finance.

SpaceX and OpenAI fuel hopes for blockbuster tech IPOs

The court decision comes as OpenAI and Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, are exploring potential IPO plans amid renewed enthusiasm for major AI and tech listings, according to multiple reports.

SpaceX is advancing preparations for a public offering that could value the company at roughly $1.75 trillion, per Reuters. Pricing could come as early as June 11, with Nasdaq selected as the exchange for the listing.

The firm reportedly plans to trade under the ticker “SPCX” and could publicly release its prospectus this week. According to a separate report from The Information, BlackRock is considering investing up to $10 billion in SpaceX’s planned IPO.

OpenAI is also being linked to IPO discussions, though reports portray its plans as less advanced and more dependent on favorable market conditions. Analysts suggest OpenAI could follow SpaceX if enthusiasm for AI-related public offerings continues.

The companies are increasingly being grouped together alongside Anthropic as part of a potential new cycle of mega-cap technology listings tied to AI and advanced innovation sectors.

OpenAI executives are facing growing scrutiny over the company’s financial trajectory ahead of a potential IPO, after CFO Sarah Friar reportedly raised concerns about whether revenue can keep up with soaring infrastructure costs.

OpenAI has recently fallen short of internal goals for users and revenue, while board members have begun questioning expensive data center expansion plans amid rising competition from Anthropic and Google’s Gemini.