Author: Phlippages
Elon Musk reportedly had a brief affair with the wife of his longtime friend Sergey Brin, prompting the Google co-founder to file for divorce from entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan earlier this year, which also ended Musk and Brin’s relationship according to The Wall Street Journal.
The couple cited “irreconcilable differences” in a filing in the Superior Court in Santa Clara County of California in January. The filing says the couple separated on 15 December, 2021.
Musk rejected the Journal’s report in a tweet, calling it “total bs.”
“Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!” Musk tweeted. “I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.”
Mr Brin and Ms Shanahan were married in 2018.
The couple’s divorce marks a significant development in the life of one of the world’s wealthiest men, who continues to hold a controlling stake in Google after stepping away from the company’s daily operations in 2019.
The Tesla CEO is the world’s wealthiest person with an estimated fortune of $220bn. Mr Brin ranks as the world’s 7th wealthiest with $107bn, according to forbes ranking.
“All issues as to the property rights or obligations of the parties will be determined by confidential binding arbitration in accordance with a written agreement between the parties,” according to court filings.
The Journal reported that Musk apologized to Brin at a party earlier this year but that Brin, despite acknowledging the apology, isn’t on regular speaking terms with Musk.
The Wall Street Journal’s report follows several months of public scrutiny into Mr Musk’s personal life as the Tesla CEO jockeyed for control of the social media company Twitter before attempting to pull out of the deal, while his electric vehicle company faces a heightened federal inquiry into its autopilot system, which has been involved in at least 16 crashes that resulted in 15 injuries one death.
Around the same time, it was revealed that Musk and one of his top executives secretly had twins in November. Musk has also battled allegations that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle allegations that the billionaire exposed himself to her during a flight.
One of his 10 children also has publicly disavowed him. His 18-year-old transgender daughter legally changed her name to disassociate from Mr Musk, according to legal filings that were reported last month.
