Elon Musk Loses Case Against OpenAI & Sam Altman; Nigeria Stock Market Overttakes European And London Stock Markets In Trade Settlement Times; And Shakira Gets A €55 Million Tax Refund From Spain
- Dipo Owolabi
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Courts, capital markets, and portfolio strategy all moved today. OpenAI cleared a major legal overhang when a California jury rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit, Nigeria’s SEC set June 1 for a T+1 settlement cycle to speed up market plumbing, Berkshire continued its post-Buffett shakeup by fully exiting UnitedHealth after the stock rebounded, and Shakira won her latest Spain tax battle with the court ordering a refund of tens of millions of euros. It is a day defined by reversals, exits, and faster-moving financial systems. All this and more in today’s Read It And Eat! |
Markets as of 18th May 2026.. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.
MAJOR HEADLINES
Jury Unanimously Rules Against Elon Musk; Took 2 Hours To Deliberate
A California federal jury ruled unanimously against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding the company not liable for allegedly straying from its original mission to benefit humanity. Reuters said the jury concluded that Musk brought the case too late and deliberated for less than two hours, a fast verdict that gave OpenAI a clean legal win rather than a narrow one. The ruling matters because it removes a major cloud hanging over the company as it prepares for a possible public offering.
The case had become about much more than one lawsuit. Musk had argued that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure betrayed the nonprofit ideals that originally drew him in, while OpenAI countered that Musk had known about the company’s evolution for years. Reuters reported that the legal dispute had been seen as a serious financial and operational risk, with analysts putting the potential drag on an IPO at roughly $134 billion if the case had gone the other way.
The verdict also matters for OpenAI’s next chapter because it helps clear the path toward a potential IPO that some reports have placed at a valuation of up to $1 trillion. Musk has said he intends to appeal, but the immediate significance is that OpenAI is no longer forced to carry this lawsuit as a live threat while trying to raise more capital, expand enterprise business, and defend its lead in the AI market. In practical terms, the company has gained legal breathing room at exactly the point where market scrutiny is intensifying. Reuters
The Nigerian Stock Market To Move To Fastest Settlement (T+1); Overtaking European and London Stock Markets
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered the capital market to move to a T+1 settlement cycle for equities and commodities transactions cleared by the Central Securities Clearing System, effective Monday, June 1, 2026. BusinessDay said the new framework means eligible trades will settle one business day after execution, a meaningful acceleration from the current system and a continuation of the market’s modernization push after the successful T+2 rollout in November 2025.
The mechanics of the rollout are tightly defined. BusinessDay reported that Friday, May 29, 2026 will be the final trading day under the old T+2 system, and that trades executed on May 29 and June 1 will both settle on June 2. From June 1 onward, every eligible trade will move to T+1, which should shorten settlement risk, improve liquidity, and reduce the time capital sits locked between trade date and settlement date.
The SEC said the change is part of broader market modernization efforts aimed at improving efficiency, lowering counterparty exposure, strengthening risk management, and aligning Nigeria with international best practice. It also instructed market operators, exchanges, custodians, registrars, issuers, and other infrastructure providers to ensure they are fully ready before launch. That makes this more than a technical change: it is a structural upgrade to how Nigeria’s market processes risk and capital flow. Business Day
Berkshire Hathaway has fully exited its UnitedHealth position, selling its entire 5 million-share stake after the stock had rebounded roughly 45% from about $271 to $394, according to Yahoo Finance. Reuters said the sale came as part of Berkshire’s first-quarter portfolio reshuffle and that UnitedHealth shares fell more than 2% on the news, underscoring how closely markets still watch Berkshire’s moves even after Warren Buffett stepped back from the CEO role.
The trade is notable because Berkshire was not just trimming a position; it was making a clean exit. Reuters reported that Berkshire had originally bought the stake in August 2025, when UnitedHealth was under pressure, and that the company has since been working through a turbulent period marked by scrutiny over healthcare costs, insurance practices, and a federal probe. The latest sale suggests Berkshire decided the rebound had already captured enough of the turnaround story to justify cashing out.
What makes the move especially important is that Berkshire’s portfolio decisions still move markets even in a post-Buffett era. Reuters and Yahoo both point to the same broader message: Berkshire is actively reshaping its book under its current leadership, and investors are still reading those moves as signals rather than routine reallocations. In UnitedHealth’s case, the immediate reaction was negative, but the longer story is that Berkshire appears to be rotating capital away from a stock it once saw as attractive and into other opportunities. Yahoo finance |
Shakira Wins Tax Battle Against Spain; Court Orders Country To Refund €55 Million
Shakira has won her latest tax battle in Spain after the country’s High Court acquitted her in the 2011 case and overturned a 55 million Euro fine imposed by the Spanish tax agency. Reuters reported that the court ruled authorities failed to prove she spent more than 183 days in Spain that year, which would have made her a tax resident under Spanish law. The judgment effectively clears her in the final open legal battle tied to that case.
The financial consequence is significant. Reuters said the court ordered the Treasury to reimburse her with more than 60 million euros, or about $70 million, including interest, while the FT framed the case as a €55 million tax battle that ended with the government ordered to hand back unlawful penalties. The tax agency has said it will appeal to the Supreme Court, so repayment will not be made until the legal process is fully exhausted.
The ruling does not affect the separate 2012-2014 tax case that Shakira resolved in 2023 through a plea deal, but it does close another long-running chapter in her fight with Spanish authorities. Reuters quoted her legal team describing the ordeal as an unacceptable toll, and the singer said she hoped the ruling would set a precedent for ordinary taxpayers who feel trapped by administrative presumptions. In effect, the court victory is both a personal win and a broader rebuke of how the case was handled. Financial Times
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