After OpenAI removed Sam Altman as CEO in November 2023, he floated a striking idea in private messages: Microsoft could acquire OpenAI. Those texts were shown in court during Elon Musk’s case against Altman, turning a chaotic five-day corporate crisis into one of the most closely watched moments of the hearing.
Reuters reported that the messages were projected in federal court in Oakland. The exchange centered on November 19, 2023, two days after OpenAI’s board fired Altman, saying only that he had not been “consistently candid” in his communications. At the time, then-CTO Mira Murati was speaking with the board, relaying updates to Altman over iMessage, and also communicating with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Board moved to install a new chief that same night
The texts showed Altman asking what direction the board wanted. Murati replied that the direction was “very bad.” Altman said he could simply leave, which appeared to match what the board wanted. He also asked whether he could join and speak directly with the board, but that request was rejected.
Murati told him the board had outlined all of its reasons and concerns about removing him and wanted a new CEO in place that night. The choice was not Murati, but former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. In one message, Murati referred to him as a “rando twitch guy”.
Altman then asked whether OpenAI staff should send a joint letter to pressure the board. Murati shut that down, saying the board “don’t care if everyone quits.” Altman also questioned whether the board wanted intellectual property to drift toward Anthropic, the company founded by former OpenAI research executive Dario Amodei. Murati said no, adding a sharper line: “Just not your hand on AGI.”
Altman raised a Microsoft acquisition idea
At that stage, Altman proposed a possible solution: Microsoft buying OpenAI if that would satisfy the board’s governance demands. Murati then brought Nadella into the board call.
When Altman later asked how the talks were going, Murati replied that “Satya is being diplomatic.” The court also displayed another set of texts from a group chat involving Altman, Nadella, and former Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor, who later became chair of OpenAI’s new board.
In that chat, Altman suggested that Murati, acting as interim CEO, could rehire him and co-founder Greg Brockman while also seeking a legal injunction against the board. Nadella responded, “Sounds good.” Still, by 3:20 a.m., Altman was saying Murati remained on the phone with the board and that progress was not going well.
Altman returned in five days as OpenAI reshaped its board
Altman was reinstated five days after his firing. A letter signed by more than 700 employees ended up carrying weight, despite Murati’s earlier message that the board did not care if the workforce resigned.
OpenAI’s original board was later almost entirely replaced, with Bret Taylor taking over as chair. Murati left OpenAI in late 2024 and went on to found Thinking Machines Lab.
The messages presented in court filled in the details of OpenAI’s November 2023 power struggle. Musk’s side has been pressing a broader argument: that after Altman returned, OpenAI accelerated its shift toward a for-profit model and moved away from its original nonprofit structure, a central point in the lawsuit.