Elon Musk lands in Silicon Valley as SpaceX IPO and OpenAI trial converge

Elon Musk flew from Naval Base Ventura County to Moffett Federal Airfield on Thursday afternoon, a 55-minute hop in his Gulfstream G550, tail N272BG. The flight arrives in the heart of Silicon Valley the same week SpaceX makes its stock-market debut on Friday, per an Independent report, with an IPO that could raise as much as $75 billion and push Musk past the trillion-dollar net worth mark, according to an Oxfam analysis.

The trip lands just miles from the Oakland federal courthouse where week three of the OpenAI trial is unfolding. Musk is suing Sam Altman and Greg Brockman for breach of charitable trust, seeking over $130 billion in damages. Per Contra Collective, the case is now centered on two remaining claims, and the flight pattern—several recent hops between Texas, the Pacific Northwest, and California—suggests a man splitting time between Starbase, the courtroom, and the IPO roadshow. The Gulfstream fleet's heavy use of Point Mugu and Moffett, both military-adjacent fields, fits a playbook Musk has refined since selling his California homes: no fixed address, but plenty of landing pads.