Elon Musk rebuffs ‘romantic’ affair with Google co-founder Brin’s wife
Tesla chief Elon Musk said late on Sunday on Twitter that he and Google co-founder Sergey Brin are still friends and denied a relationship with Brin's wife Nicole Shanahan.
Musk’s tweets came after a report published in the Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources that he had a brief affair with Shanahan.
According to the newspaper, the affair prompted Brin to seek Shanahan’s divorce earlier this year and ended the long friendship between technology billionaires.
Rejecting the report, Musk tweeted: “Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.”
Tesla and Google, whose parent company is Alphabet Inc., did not immediately respond to requests for comments from the Reuters news agency outside regular office hours.
Brin testified for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences,” the Journal said, citing the files it said were filed at Santa Clara County Superior Court. Reuters could not independently determine whether divorce documents were filed.
In its report, the WSJ also stated that Brin directed his advisors to sell personal investments in Musk businesses after becoming aware of the affair.
The paper said that it was unable to determine the extent of these investments and whether there had been any sales.
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments on Musk’s refusal to accept the report outside normal U.S. business hours.