Billionaire Elon Musk had an extramarital relationship last year with the wife of Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. The case prompted Brin to file for divorce in early 2022, which ended the tech entrepreneurs’ longtime friendship, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The American outlet claims that their disagreement stems from a series of problems that Musk faced while dealing with business issues, including a drop in production at Tesla, the company of which he is CEO, and a legal fight with Twitter for backing out of the purchase for US$ 44 billion (R$ 239.8 billion).
Last week, the social network won an early victory in its battle to get the billionaire to complete the acquisition of the company. A Delaware judge granted Twitter’s request and set an expedited trial that will begin in October.
According to the WSJ, Elon Musk claimed that for years he regularly went to Sergey Brin’s home in Silicon Valley. During the 2008 financial crisis, the Google co-founder gave about $500,000 to Tesla. In 2015, Musk gifted his then-friend with one of the company’s first all-electric sport utility vehicles.
The cordial relationship, however, is nothing like the scenario that has unfolded between the two in recent months. The WSJ claims, through sources familiar with the matter, that Brin ordered his advisers to sell personal investments in Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX companies. There is no data on the amount of these values ​​and if, in fact, there were any sales.
In January of this year, Sergey Brin asked for a divorce from Nicole Shanahan weeks after learning of the brief affair. As justification, the “irreconcilable differences” between the case, according to records filed in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California.
According to sources told the newspaper, at a party, also in early 2022, Musk would have kneeled in front of Brin and apologized profusely for the affair with his wife, begging for forgiveness. The computer scientist reportedly accepted the apology, but is still not speaking regularly with Musk.
Contacted by the Wall Street Journal, the Google co-founder’s lawyer declined to comment. Elon Musk and a spokeswoman for Shanahan did not respond to requests for comment.
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