After Google co-founder Sergey Brin divorced his wife in January upon learning of her alleged affair with Elon Musk, Musk reportedly dropped to his knees and begged his longtime friend for forgiveness.
Sources close to the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the incident happened at a party earlier this year. Even though Brin acknowledged the apology, the two tech moguls are not currently speaking.
Brin planning to sell his investments in Elon Musk’s various businesses: Reoports
The fallout started from Musk’s affair with Brin’s wife, Nicole Shanahan. It is being reported that the affair started at the Art Basel art show in Miami in December 2021. Even though Brin and Shanahan were separated at the time but they were still living together. They had encountered difficulties tied to COVID-19 and caring for their toddler daughter.
“I hope for Sergey and me to move forward with dignity, honesty, and harmony for the sake of our child. And we are both working towards that,” Shanahan told the news website Puck earlier this month.
According to court documents, Brin filed for divorce in January, citing “irreconcilable differences”.
Brin and Musk were close friends. Brin also invested $500,000 in Tesla during the 2008 financial crisis to help the electric-car maker when it was struggling to boost production.
His relationship with Musk had been strained, and Brin instructed his financial advisers to sell his investments in Elon Musk’s various businesses. It also includes Tesla.
“This is total bs”- Elon Musk
The reported affair occurred only after Musk broke up with his girlfriend, Grimes. Together they have two children, including a daughter who was born via surrogate the same month of the affair. In November 2021, Musk quietly had twins with one of his top executives, Shivon Zilis.
Notably, Elon Musk on Sunday denied the affair in a series of tweets. “This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!” Musk wrote.
“I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.” In a follow-up tweet, Musk added: “Haven’t even had sex in ages (sigh).”
News of the reported affair comes as Elon Musk encounters a series of public professional challenges. As of now, he is dealing with a contentious legal battle with Twitter. It is after the Tesla CEO pulled out of his $44 billion deal to purchase the social media platform.