--- title: "Musk paid $60 billion for Cursor; OpenAI just hired its two top sellers" description: "Five weeks after SpaceX closed its $60 billion all-stock purchase of the coding-tool maker, the two executives who ran Cursor's sales now work for OpenAI, the rival Musk sued and lost to. OpenAI gets the sellers who know the enterprise book; SpaceX keeps the AI-revenue promise the purchase rests on." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Labor" published: 2026-10-09T01:04:11.308Z modified: 2026-10-09T01:04:11.308Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/musk-paid-60-billion-for-cursor-openai-just-hired-its-two-top-sellers language: en keywords: "OpenAI, SpaceX, Cursor, Talent, Acquisitions, Elon Musk" --- # Musk paid $60 billion for Cursor; OpenAI just hired its two top sellers > Five weeks after SpaceX closed its $60 billion all-stock purchase of the coding-tool maker, the two executives who ran Cursor's sales now work for OpenAI, the rival Musk sued and lost to. OpenAI gets the sellers who know the enterprise book; SpaceX keeps the AI-revenue promise the purchase rests on. ## A second Cursor seller joins the rival [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) [confirmed on Thursday](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-ismail-elmas-emea-sales-spacex-cursor) that Ismail Elmas will run its sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa from Munich, where he ran Cursor's Europe business and was planning a 200-person London office as recently as June. [1] He follows Brian McCarthy, Cursor's president of global revenue, hired in September as OpenAI's first worldwide sales chief. [2][3] Both came up at [Rubrik](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/rubrik). [3] ## The $60 billion promise the sellers left [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex) [closed its $60 billion all-stock purchase of Cursor](https://www.aol.com/articles/spacexs-60-billion-acquisition-cursor-142939000.html) on August 14, 2026. [4][5] On September 24, Musk said SpaceX could field a model matching [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic)'s Fable or OpenAI's GPT-6 within two to three months, shipping new models monthly with a few dozen engineers pulled off Starlink and Starship. [6] Its IPO filing pegged the long-term AI opportunity at $26.5 trillion, and SPCX closed down 4.19% on Thursday. [7][3] ## OpenAI is cutting off the product they sold The buyer is also severing Cursor's model supply. [OpenAI said in August it would stop serving the tool](https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-to-end-partnership-with-spacex-s-cursor-article-14017892.html), citing "our experience with [Elon Musk](https://theinference.org/markets/people/elon-musk)'s companies violating contracts," with a proposed shutoff of November 12, 2026. [4][7] Musk's $150 billion suit over OpenAI's for-profit shift failed this year when a jury found he filed too late. [4][7] Five weeks after Musk paid $60 billion in stock for Cursor, the two people who ran its sales work for the rival he sued. ## The numbers behind the hiring spree OpenAI's own figures explain the urgency. It [told investors annualized revenue approached $50 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/open-ai-revenue-nvidia-oracle-coreweave.html) at the end of September, against the $68 billion in wide circulation days earlier, a figure that had counted partners' gross revenue; enterprise run-rate revenue grew 107% in the quarter. [8] A confidential prospectus filed in June points to a 2027 debut, though Altman calls the present "an ill-advised moment to go public." [8] *Chart: **SPCX fell 4.2% in step with AI names on OpenAI's revenue reset** Bar chart of October 8, 2026, session declines for CoreWeave, Oracle, SPCX and Nvidia* *Session declines on October 8, 2026. SPCX closing change per Yahoo Finance; CoreWeave, Oracle and Nvidia moves as reported by CNBC, rounded to the nearest percent. [3][8]* ## What SpaceX keeps, and what nobody can check The case for the price rests on code, not sellers: Cursor helped train Grok 4.5 on trillions of tokens of its data and runs on the 200,000-GPU Colossus cluster. [5] [Musk said he "couldn't care less" about losing OpenAI's models](https://cryptobriefing.com/spacex-ai-model-gpt-6-level-musk/), which carried about 5% of Cursor traffic by co-founder [Michael Truell](https://theinference.org/markets/people/michael-truell)'s count. [7] No public figure exists for Cursor's revenue under SpaceX, so the payback on $60 billion cannot be checked, only watched. ## Three dates that settle it Watch whether more Cursor sellers reappear at OpenAI, whether the November 12 shutoff holds, and whether Musk's monthly ships arrive on schedule. The asset's first full quarter without its founding sales floor is the test the price tag never got. ## Takeaway OpenAI has hired both executives who ran Cursor's sales within five weeks of SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition closing, while cutting off Cursor's model supply from November 12; SpaceX's AI bet is left resting on code and compute it cannot yet show a revenue number for. ## Sources 1. [The Next Web, "OpenAI hires Cursor's Europe chief, its second sales hire from SpaceX", 8 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-ismail-elmas-emea-sales-spacex-cursor) 2. [The Next Web, "OpenAI hires its first worldwide sales chief from a company it just cut off", 18 September 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-brian-mccarthy-worldwide-sales-spacex-cursor) 3. [Benzinga via Yahoo Finance, "OpenAI Takes Another Executive from Musk's SpaceX as It Pushes into Global Sales", 8 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/openai-takes-another-executive-musk-210802733.html) 4. [Reuters via Moneycontrol, "OpenAI to end agreement with SpaceX's AI coding tool Cursor, deepening Musk-Altman clash", 29 August 2026](https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/openai-to-end-partnership-with-spacex-s-cursor-article-14017892.html) 5. [Business Insider via AOL, "SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition of Cursor just closed", 14 August 2026](https://www.aol.com/articles/spacexs-60-billion-acquisition-cursor-142939000.html) 6. [Crypto Briefing, "Elon Musk says SpaceX could have a Fable or GPT-6 level AI model within months", 25 September 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/spacex-ai-model-gpt-6-level-musk/) 7. [Yahoo Finance, "Musk vs. Altman: SpaceX stock in focus as OpenAI ends Cursor access to AI models", 31 August 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/musk-vs-altman-spacex-stock-in-focus-as-openai-ends-cursor-access-to-ai-models-142228912.html) 8. [CNBC, "Nvidia, Oracle, other AI stocks sink on OpenAI revenue report", 8 October 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/open-ai-revenue-nvidia-oracle-coreweave.html) --- Musk paid $60 billion for Cursor; OpenAI just hired its two top sellers — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/musk-paid-60-billion-for-cursor-openai-just-hired-its-two-top-sellers