Nadella's Damning Assessment

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in Oakland federal court on May 11, 2026, offering a stark evaluation of how OpenAI's board handled the November 2023 crisis.

"Whenever I asked specifically why Sam was fired, [the board] never gave me a specific answer," Nadella told jurors, according to reporting by Firstpost citing the Financial Times. His verdict: "It was amateur city as far as I'm concerned."

The CEO of the company that pumped billions into OpenAI watched the board implode in real time and got zero straight answers about why the CEO he'd bet the company on was being pushed out.

Microsoft's Calculation in the Chaos

OpenAI's board claimed Altman was removed because he was "not consistently candid" with directors. Nadella acknowledged that dishonesty would normally justify firing a CEO. But he told the jury Microsoft never received concrete evidence backing that claim.

That absence of clarity strengthened Microsoft's support for Altman rather than weakening it. Microsoft ultimately helped engineer Altman's return to OpenAI within days.

Musk's lawsuit argues Altman and Greg Brockman fraudulently steered a nonprofit toward private enrichment. Nadella's testimony — essentially validating Altman's competence while calling the board chaotic — directly counters Musk's framing of Altman as a calculating schemer.

Sutskever, Murati, and the Diary Entries

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever also testified, providing additional insight into internal tensions. Sutskever was one of the board members who voted to fire Altman in 2023 before reversing course. His testimony, combined with diary entries from Greg Brockman and prior testimony from former CTO Mira Murati, revealed an organization marked by ego clashes.

Murati testified that Altman had a habit of pitting executives against each other — confirming reporting by The Guardian's Karen Hao, who covered OpenAI since 2019 and embedded within its offices.

These details are unflattering for Altman, but they don't necessarily advance Musk's case.

What Musk Actually Said on the Stand

Musk testified on April 29 and went full credit-claimer. "I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything," he told the court, according to CNBC.

He also accused Altman and Brockman of wanting to "have their cake and eat it too" — enriching themselves from a charity while enjoying the PR halo of running a nonprofit.

Musk invested roughly $38 million in OpenAI between December 2015 and May 2017, according to BizzBuzz News. OpenAI is now valued at over $850 billion. The gap between what he put in and what the organization became is the emotional core of his argument.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Getting Wrong

CNBC and much of the center-left press are framing this as a personality contest — two egomaniacs who used to be friends. That framing is incomplete.

The real legal question is narrow and specific: did Altman and Brockman make binding promises to keep OpenAI a nonprofit, and did they break them?

Musk's damages claims have already been gutted by pre-trial rulings. He abandoned his bid for personal damages entirely. What's left is a structural remedy — potentially forcing OpenAI to return to nonprofit status or removing Altman from leadership.

The Guardian takes a different angle, arguing the whole trial is a "distraction" from bigger AI governance questions. Writer Karen Hao makes a fair point: if OpenAI collapsed tomorrow, xAI, Anthropic, or Google DeepMind would fill the vacuum. The underlying race doesn't stop.

But whether a $850 billion company was built on fraudulent promises to donors and the public remains relevant. Nonprofits have legal obligations. If those obligations were violated, a jury should determine it.

The Stakes Right Now

Jurors are deliberating as of this writing. xAI is reportedly preparing its IPO prospectus this week. [Note: The original claim that SpaceX merged with xAI in February and that the combined entity is valued at $1.25 trillion per CNBC could not be verified and has been removed pending confirmation.] Musk needs this trial resolved before that roadshow.

OpenAI is also eyeing an IPO. A verdict against Altman could crater that timeline.

Nadella's "amateur city" line is the quote of the trial. It confirms what anyone paying attention already knew: OpenAI's 2023 board wasn't running a disciplined institution. They were running a soap opera.