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- Elon Musk has built connections with some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
- At one point or another, Larry Ellison, Jack Dorsey, and Kanye West all seemed to be in his circle — though he’s fallen out with some of his friends since his Twitter takeover.
- Here’s a closer look at the relationships Musk has built over the years.
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The Oracle founder has repeatedly said he is “very close friends” with Elon Musk.
Ellison has defended Musk against critics in the past, and in 2018, Musk even added him to Tesla’s board of directors.
“I think Tesla has a lot of upside,” Ellison said at the time. “I am not sure how many people know, but I’m very close friends with Elon Musk, and I’m a big investor in Tesla.”
While Ellison announced earlier this year that he was leaving Tesla’s board, the two men appear to have maintained their close friendship. The Oracle founder pledged $1 billion to Musk’s Twitter acquisition, and the two billionaires were texting into the early hours of the morning ahead of Musk’s decision to put the acquisition “temporarily on hold” in May.
Source: Insider
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Musk has been known to bring his younger brother, Kimbal Musk, into his business ventures. The younger Musk is a board member at both Tesla and SpaceX.
The two brothers founded Zip2 together in 1995. The startup was designed to create a searchable business directory and was later sold for $300 million. Kimbal Musk told Vanity Fair in 2015 that the two would have wrestling matches in the office over business disagreements at Zip2.
More recently, at a November trial over Musk’s Tesla compensation, Kimbal Musk said that the two men often vacation together with their families, visiting spots like Jackson Hole and David Copperfield’s Island, as well as Burning Man.
Sources: Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Insider.
David Becker/Getty Images
The Twitter cofounder and Musk had been friends for years, though that appears to have changed in recent months.
Dorsey publicly praised Musk as early as 2016, saying the Tesla CEO was a “really good model” of how to use Twitter. Dorsey has also asked Musk for feedback on how to run Twitter in the past, and Musk has repeatedly praised the former Twitter CEO, saying on more than once occasion that he believes Dorsey “has a good heart.”
Dorsey was also quick to support Musk when he first attempted to join Twitter’s board of directors and then later when he decided to purchase the company.
“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company,” Dorsey tweeted in April after Musk offered to buy Twitter. “Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”
Now that Musk is leading the company, Dorsey has criticized some of his decisions, including his release of the so-called “Twitter Files.”
Source: Insider
HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Musk and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner appear to have a longstanding relationship. (Insider is owned by Axel Springer.)
The Tesla CEO has sat down for several interviews with the German billionaire, and private text messages between the two men revealed in October showed that Döpfner suggested Musk buy Twitter days before his accumulation of just over 9% of Twitter’s stock became public.
“Why don’t you buy Twitter?” Döpfner asked. “We run it for you. And establish a true platform of free speech. Would be a real contribution to democracy.”
“Interesting idea,” Musk replied a few minutes later, according to the text log.
“I’m serious. It’s doable. Will be fun,” Döpfner wrote back.
Source: Insider
Greylock
Musk’s relationship with the LinkedIn cofounder goes back to one of his first startups.
Both Hoffman and Musk are members of the PayPal Mafia — the group of entrepreneurs that helped build the business venture and later went on to found some of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies.
Earlier this year, Hoffman told Axios that he was initially wary of Musk’s decision to buy Twitter, but said he never doubts Musk for long and that he texted Musk when he learned about the deal.
Hoffman has been known to support Musk in the past. In July, the entrepreneur went to bat for Musk after former president Donald Trump slammed the Tesla CEO.
“Not surprised to see Trump’s attacks on @elonmusk. Elon’s a classic immigrant story — an entrepreneur with a real record of success,” Hoffman tweeted at the time. “Started EV revolution w/Tesla, resurrected US rocket industry w/SpaceX, fighting climate change while promoting American innovation.”
Zenefits
David Sacks, the CEO of investment firm Kraft Ventures, is another member of the PayPal Mafia who has publicly supported Musk.
Sacks was subpoenaed by Twitter earlier this year in its court battle against Musk after Sacks responded to Musk’s tweets with several ideas about how to fix Twitter. At the time, the investor called Twitter’s legal request “a giant fishing expedition.”
Sacks has been quick to defend Musk’s actions at Twitter since he took the company private and was even brought in to assist in the transition. The New York Times reported in November that Sacks and other members of Musk’s team were privately referred to by Twitter employees as “Elon’s goons.”
Musk also appears to be close with several other members of the PayPal Mafia, including investors Joe Lonsdale and Keith Rabois.
Sources: Insider, The New York Times
Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImage via Getty
Calacanis is an angel investor and friend of Musk who often promotes the CEO on Twitter and in the”All-In Podcast” that he hosts with Sacks, among others.
Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk revealed numerous text messages between Calacanis and Musk.
At one point, Calacanis offered to serve as Twitter’s CEO and pitched several ideas about how to change the social media company, including how to oust Twitter employees without having to pay severance.
“You know I’m ride or die brother — I’d jump on a grande [sic] for you,” Calacanis told Musk, per the text messages that were revealed as a part of the pretrial discovery process in Twitter v. Musk.
Sources: Insider, “All-In Podcast”
Toni Anne Barson/FilmMagic via Getty
Murdoch is the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a longtime associate of Musk who serves on Tesla’s board of directors.
The former CEO of 21st Century Fox and his wife Kathryn Murdoch also texted Musk ahead of his Twitter acquisition.
“Will call when some of the dust settles,” Murdoch texted Musk on April 26. ” Hope all is ok.”
Source: Insider
James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images
Musk’s friendship with the Google cofounders dates back years.
The Tesla CEO said in 2016 that he took Brin and Page on a test drive during the electric-car maker’s early days. Both Page and Brin invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tesla, and the three men reportedly used to hang out in a Google-owned apartment to brainstorm futuristic tech ideas.
Page has said that Musk used to sleep at his house when he visited Los Angeles and that he’d rather leave his money to Musk than give it away to charity.
But it’s unclear whether Musk’s relationship with Brin has gone sour. In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that their friendship had ended after Musk allegedly had an affair with Brin’s wife. Brin filed for divorce last year and sold all of his holdings in Musk’s companies, the publication reported.
Several hours after the story was published Musk, who denied the rumored affair, tweeted: “This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!”
Sources: Insider, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post
YouTube/TechCrunch
Investor Steve Jurvetson says he’s been friends with Musk for over 25 years, and Musk has been known to party at his house in Half Moon Bay.
He’s also a board member at SpaceX and served as a board member at Tesla from 2006 to 2020.
Musk appeared to stand by Jurvetson in 2017 when the investor left his firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) after he was accused of sexual harassment. Jurvetson denied the allegations in a Facebook post at the time, calling them “vicious and wholly false.”
At the time, a Tesla spokesperson said that Jurvetson was placed on leave “from the SpaceX and Tesla boards pending resolution of these allegations.”
DFJ later apologized for hosting an event at Jurvetson’s Half Moon Bay home, which reportedly featured sex and drug use. But Musk, who attended the event, appeared to defend Jurvetson.
“If there are ‘sex parties’ in Silicon Valley, I haven’t seen or heard of one ,” he told Wired at the time. “If you want wild parties, you’re in the wrong place.”
In July, Musk posted pictures of himself with Brin at Jurvetson’s birthday party for his wife, per the New York Post.
Sources: The New York Times, “The Twenty Minute VC,” USA Today, Quartz, Wired, New York Post
AP
Musk and billionaire investor Peter Thiel have had their ups and downs over the years. Their relationship goes back to the beginning of Musk’s career in Silicon Valley, and the two men have worked together for decades, but they haven’t always seen eye-to-eye.
In 2000, they combined their respective banking companies when Thiel’s Confinity merged with Musk’s X to eventually become PayPal.
Soon after, Musk reportedly crashed his $1 million McLaren with Thiel in the passenger seat ahead of an investor meeting. Musk was allegedly trying to show off the sports car’s acceleration.
In a book on Thiel, “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power,” Max Chafkin said a source close to both men said the Tesla CEO views Thiel as “a sociopath,” while Thiel sees Musk as “a fraud.”
Chafkin said Thiel and his allies at PayPal worked to oust Musk as CEO while he was on his honeymoon.
Despite their differences, Thiel was instrumental in helping keep SpaceX afloat, investing $20 million in 2008 after the company had three failed rocket launches.
Sources: Insider, “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power,“
Redwood Materials
Musk and the CEO of Redwood Materials JB Straubel worked together during Tesla’s early years.
The two men said they ultimately decided to join Tesla after a lunch meeting during which they discussed the future of electric cars. They were later introduced to Tesla cofounders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, and joined the company in 2004.
Earlier this year, the Tesla CEO said he wished Straubel was Tesla’s only other cofounder. Straubel, who served as Tesla’s CTO until 2019, eventually founded his own EV battery recycling company called Redwood Materials in 2017.
Last year, Musk publicly sent Straubel his “condolences” when it was reported that Straubel’s wife had died in a car accident.
Earlier this year, Straubel told Time he was still on good terms with Musk and talks to him often. But he added that the Tesla CEO “can be a very difficult guy to work for.”
Sources: Time, Clean Technica, Twitter, Tesla
NurPhoto
Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus has a seemingly friendly relationship with Musk on Twitter.
Markus, who calls himself “Shibetoshi Nakamoto” on Twitter, is often seen tweeting back and forth with Musk. The two men seem to share similar senses of humor and viewpoints on social and political issues.
Earlier this year, Markus appeared to support the billionaire after he criticized Dogecoin’s other creator, Jackson Palmer, saying Palmer didn’t write a “single line of Dogecoin code.”
Musk has been promoting Dogecoin on social media since 2019 and has helped buoy the currency to new highs in the past. Last year, Musk booked a mission to the moon that would be funded entirely by Dogecoin, naming the satellite that would be launched Doge-1.
Source: Insider
The Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube
Musk and UFC commentator Joe Rogan appear to have fostered a relationship.
The billionaire famously smoked marijuana on Rogan’s podcast in 2018 and has been on “The Joe Rogan Experience” two more times since. Rogan has promoted Musk’s companies on social media, including a sneak peek of the Tesla Cybertruck earlier this year, dubbing it “the coolest car I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Last year, the two men posted pictures together at Stubbs barbeque in Austin alongside Dave Chappelle and Grimes, Musk’s girlfriend at the time.
In April, Rogan congratulated Musk for attempting to join Twitter’s board and later offering to buy the company outright.
“Are you going to liberate twitter from the censorship happy mob?” Rogan texted Musk on April 4, per a court exhibit in Twitter v. Musk.
A few weeks later, after Musk had offered to acquire Twitter, Rogan on April 25 texted again. “I REALLY hope you get Twitter. If you do, we should throw one hell of a party,” Rogan said. Musk replied with the “100” emoji.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Musk also has some buddies in Hollywood — most notably, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.
Emanuel is one of Hollywood’s most powerful agents and was the basis for the character of Ari Gold on the HBO show “Entourage.”
The two men have been spotted together on several occasions while yachting or lunching. In July, they were photographed vacationing on a superyacht off the coast of Greece.
More recently, Emanuel reportedly tried to help Musk broker a deal with Twitter to avoid a court battle.
Source: Insider
Comedy Central
In October, The New York Times reported that Musk is fan of deadpan comedian Nathan Fielder.
The publication said Musk tries to make Fielder laugh at parties. The comedian wrote, directed, and starred in the Comedy Central show “Nathan For You” that ran for four seasons. On the show, Fielder offers unusual ideas and strategies to struggling small businesses
In 2016, Musk invited the comedian to have lunch at SpaceX, per the Times. That year, the two men also interacted on Twitter after Musk shared a photo of his “Dumb Starbucks” coffee mug — a nod to one of Fielder’s business projects that went viral.
—nathan fielder (@nathanfielder) February 20, 2016
Since, Musk has invited Fielder to his parties, per The Times.
Source: The New York Times
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Musk has also developed a relationship with the creators of “Rick and Morty,” Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.
In 2017, Musk said on Twitter that he was a fan of the TV show.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2017
“‘Kinda’ disgusting? Just wait,” @RickandMorty, the TV show’s official account responded. “We’ll have the whole Musk family fully disgusted by the end of the season.”
Musk’s Twitter thread soon spawned a discussion of singularity — the theory that machine intelligence will one day surpass our own — with @RickandMorty.
Two years later, Musk made a cameo on the show as “Elon Tusk,” the CEO of Tuskla and a business magnate in the multiverse.
The New York Times reported earlier this year that Musk set up meet-and-greets with Harmon and Roiland at one of his parties.
In April, Roiland congratulated Musk for buying into Twitter.
“I fucking love that you’re the majority owner of Twitter,” Roiland texted Musk on April 6, per court documents.
He proceeded to suggest that Musk meet friends of his who had created a program to verify people’s identities.
Musk corrected him two days later, saying “I just own 9% of Twitter, so don’t control the company,” adding he said he would “raise the identity issue” with Twitter’s then CEO.
Sources: The New York Times, Insider
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME
Kanye West, also known as Ye, and Musk have a complicated history.
The two men appeared to develop a friendship in 2011 when Musk shared a photo of him and West in front of what appears to be a SpaceX capsule with the caption, “Kanye stopped by the SpaceX rocket factory today.”
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2011
In 2015, Musk praised Ye, saying “he fought for his place in the cultural pantheon with a purpose.” A few years later, Musk cited Ye as someone who inspires him, and in 2020, Musk expressed support for Ye when he announced his plans to run for US president.
And Ye has also defended Musk in the past. In 2018, the rapper gave an impromptu speech at a school, telling people to “Leave that man the fuck alone,” allegedly referencing Musk’s funding secured fiasco from 2017.
More recently, the two men’s friendship appears to have hit some roadblocks after Musk booted Ye off Twitter when the rapper tweeted an antisemitic image.
After Ye was suspended, Musk tweeted about the suspension saying: “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”
Musk later said in a Twitter Spaces meeting that he wanted to “punch” Ye after he tweeted the image of a swastika.
Since, Ye has made some strange comments about Musk. In December, Ye posted a bizarre Instagram rant in which he called the billionaire a “genetic hybrid.” Musk responded to the comment via Twitter, saying “I take that as a compliment,” and Ye said on Instagram “It was meant as a compliment my friend.”
Source: Insider
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Musk has appeared to remain friends with his former girlfriend Claire Boucher, more commonly known as the musician Grimes.
The two broke up last year after welcoming their first child together, X Æ a-12, in 2020.
Grimes told Vanity Fair earlier this year that the two have remained in contact. The pair welcomed their second child via surrogate in 2022.
Source: Vanity Fair
