Elon Musk will not hand over his business empires to his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.
Elon Musk says he has prepared successors at the companies he founded if “something unexpected happens”, but not his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.
“I’m definitely not one to give my kids voting stock in the company, even if they have the interest, inclination, or ability to manage the business,” Musk told the WSJ on May 23. He asserted that it is “wrong” for leaders to hand over executive or voting stock to their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.
According to the Tesla CEO, succession is “one of the eternal problems that has plagued countries, kings, prime ministers, presidents and CEOs since the dawn of history.” And he has found potential names to lead the companies he runs.
Billionaire Elon Musk and his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.
Currently, Elon Musk is known to have 9 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, the oldest of whom is 19 years old. People often see this billionaire with his 3-year-old son named X AE A-XII.
Musk, however, is not close to his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren. Last year, Musk’s eldest 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 filed for a name change, declaring that he “does not want to be related to his biological father in any way.”
In fact, the issue of inheritance of business to 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren is a long-standing controversy among billionaires. Some businessmen such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett,… do not intend to leave their assets to their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren. Meanwhile, many billionaires in the top richest people in the world such as Bernard Arnault or Rupert Murdoch have prepared for their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren to inherit. There are even succession wars in these families.
Musk is currently the CEO of Tesla and the founder of SpaceX, the Boring Company, and Neuralink. As for Twitter, he has handed over the CEO position to Linda Yaccarino and moved to the role of chief technology officer.
Last year, Tesla board member James Murdoch — one of Rupert’s sons — said in a court filing against Musk and Tesla that the billionaire had identified a potential new CEO for Tesla, but did not comment on who that individual might be.
Earlier this year, several news outlets speculated that the automaker’s China chief, Tom Zhu, could be Musk’s successor after he took over leadership of Tesla’s US assembly plants and sales operations in both North America and Europe in January.