Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world, but that doesn’t mean he plans to leave his empire to his 10 children.
The billionaire recently said that he won’t automatically make his kids shareholders in his companies simply because they’re his offspring. Rather, Elon says it’s something they’ll have to work towards if it’s what they want.
"I am definitely not of the school of automatically giving my kids some shares of the companies, even if they have no interest or inclination or ability to manage the company," Elon explained. "I think that's a mistake."
In general, Elon said that executives who leave shares of their company to family simply on the basis of being related is problematic, especially when the individual isn’t passionate or skilled at taking on the responsibility.
Rather, Elon endorsed a “merit-based approach” that rewards people within the company who show initiative, regardless of if they’re blood relatives or not.
Elon has a reported net worth of $234.3 billion and is behind a multitude of companies, including SpaceX, PayPal, Tesla, and Neuralink.
The billionaire’s relationship with his children remains much of a mystery, including if any of his eldest have expressed interest in getting involved with his businesses. Elon shares a set of twins and triplets with his ex-wife Justin Justine Wilson, whom he was married to from 2000 to 2008. They also had an older son who died of SIDs in infancy.
He also has a son and a daughter with his on-and-off girlfriend Grimes, plus a set of twins he welcomed last year with a Neuralink executive, Shivon Willis.
In the past, Elon has said he maintains joint custody of his oldest children. But that may not be the current arrangement, as one of his children publicly declared she wanted nothing to do with him last year.
When applying for a legal gender and name change, Vivian Wilson declared she wanted to distance herself from her father.
"Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” she wrote in the court documents.
Elon later appeared to address his daughter’s public admission, but it didn’t give indication that he’s hopeful of repairing their relationship.
"It's full-on communism […] and a general sentiment that if you're rich, you're evil," the Tesla CEO told Financial Times. "It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Can't win them all."
Elon’s relationship with some, if not all of his kids, appears tenuous,and it may become even more complicated now that he’s publicly revealed he’s not leaving them any stakes.
Sources: Yahoo,
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEq6CcoJWowW%2BvzqZmq6GTnXqxu9aeqZ%2BtnGSyrbvNZqSuq5tiwKLF0mafnmWnpLu1ecuemK%2BdXZ22tHnCqKSpmZ6esrR506hkmqapYryneceiqmZpYGKwqbXLnamepl8%3D