Altman asks Musk for $20M a year for three years

From:: Sam Altman
Date:: February 25, 2016 (Sent 6:13 PM)
To:: Elon Musk
Subject:: cash

I think we're going to need more than I was originally budgeting given a) the salaries in the field and b) the speed at which you want to grow. Can you do $20MM a year for the each of the next 3 years? I can do $10MM/year, and we'll have brought $5MM a year from other donors. Sam

About this email

Altman says OpenAI will need more than originally budgeted given salaries and Musk's desired growth rate, and asks Musk for $20M a year for three years alongside $10M a year from Altman and $5M from other donors.

Notes

Subject line inferred from the replies ('Re: cash'). Email addresses are redacted in the public version.

Where it came from

Court record; attribution confirmed.

Musk v. Altman (N.D. Cal., No. 4:24-cv-04722-YGR), Dkt. 391-13 (Exhibit 55, public redacted version, filed Jan. 16, 2026)
Dkt. 391-22 (Exhibit 74) and Dkt. 391-54 (Exhibit 69), longer versions of the same chain
Dkt. 379-64, Jared Birchall deposition excerpts discussing this chain

OpenAI, executive & internal. Tags: funding, donations, budget, commitment, musk-v-openai

Earlier email Search all emails Later email