The male friendship between tech entrepreneurs Sergei Brin and Elon Musk has apparently come to an end. Allegedly, the Tesla founder had a brief affair with his friend's wife. Musk denies it, but Brin withdraws his money from his companies.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Google founder Sergei Brin wants to divest himself of all stakes in Elon Musk's companies. The reason: The Tesla founder is said to have had an affair with his then wife Brins.
Brin has instructed its financial advisors to sell the shares, it said. However, the WSJ could not find out whether the divestments have already taken place. It is also unclear which of Musk's companies the Google founder is involved in.
During the 2008 financial crisis, Brin gave Tesla half a million dollars. At the time, the e-car pioneer was in serious trouble and wasted a lot of money. Musk later said Tesla was just days away from bankruptcy.
Musk doesn't just lead Tesla. He owns the space company SpaceX and Starlink, which offers satellite internet. He is also co-founder of Neuralink, which researches the connection between the human brain and computers. And then there's "The boring company". The company is to build tunnels between major US cities, through which passenger capsules are to race at up to 1,000 kilometers per hour. Musk is considered the richest person on the planet. The financial portal "Bloomberg" puts his fortune at around 242 billion dollars.
According to the WSJ, Musk and Brin's wife Nicole Shanahan's brief affair happened in early December 2021 during an art fair in Miami. Brin and Shanahan had previously split but were still living together, the newspaper said, citing a "person close to Shanahan".
Musk dismissed this allegation. "This is total nonsense," tweeted the multi-billionaire. "Sergej and I are friends and we went to a party together yesterday." He has only met Shanahan twice in the past three years - in the presence of other people. There was no love affair.
When a Twitter user advised Musk to "keep his penis in his pants," Musk responded, "I haven't had sex in ages (sigh)." Musk and his on-off partner, singer Grimes, ended their relationship in September last year.
The WSJ has written a lot of bullshit articles about him and Tesla, Musk said in another tweet. He's lost track now. The newspaper once reported that the FBI wanted to arrest him. "I then called the FBI and asked what was going on. They said the WSJ article was complete crap."
According to the newspaper, Musk bent a knee to Brin at a party earlier this year and apologized for crossing the line. Brin accepted the apology, but hardly speaks to Musk anymore. The long-standing friendship between the two men has ended.
Brin filed for divorce from Shanahan in January after around four years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences". Both are currently negotiating an agreement, according to the WSJ. Shanahan is asking for more than $1 billion. That was more than what was stipulated in the marriage contract. "Bloomberg" estimates Brin's fortune at almost 96 billion dollars.
