Elon Musk has stated that he has no plans to pass on his companies to his children in the near future. In an interview at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council, the billionaire revealed that he has identified potential successors who could take over his companies if he were unable to continue leading them.
Musk expressed his belief that it is incorrect for executives to automatically transfer their companies or voting shares to their children.
“I am definitely not of the school of automatically giving my kids some share of the companies, even if they have no interest or inclination or ability to manage the company,” Musk emphasized. “I think that’s a mistake.”
It should be noted that Elon Musk did not provide a response to a request for comment from Insider prior to its publication.
Elon Musk has a total of nine known children, with his oldest child currently being 19 years old. Musk often introduces his 3-year-old son, X AE A-XII, at various events and has even granted him his own Twitter badge. Grimes, the mother of baby X, has mentioned that Musk views their child as a “protégé.”
However, it’s worth noting that Elon Musk’s relationship with all of his children is not close. In the past year, his eldest child applied to change her name, expressing her desire to no longer be associated with her biological father in any way, according to Reuters.
The question of whether to involve their children in their vast fortunes has been a subject of debate among billionaires. Not all entrepreneurs, such as Apple’s Steve Jobs, intended to pass down their wealth to their offspring.
However, many billionaires do choose to incorporate their family members into their business enterprises. Some of the world’s wealthiest individuals, including Bernard Arnault and Rupert Murdoch, have transferred portions of their empires to their children, leading to Succession-like battles within their families.
As the owner of five companies, Musk acknowledged that succession planning is a challenging and long-standing issue. However, he stated that he has communicated his preferred successors for his executive roles to the board members of his companies. Musk currently holds the positions of CEO at Tesla and chief technology officer at Twitter.
“I have identified specific individuals to the board and said, ‘If something unexpected were to happen to me, these are the individuals I recommend to take over,'” Musk explained. “So, in all cases, the board is aware of my recommendations.”
Elon Musk has expressed his concerns about who would inherit his shares in his companies, a matter he has been grappling with. His initial concept involves establishing an “educational institution” that would control his voting shares.
In recent times, Musk addressed rumors suggesting that he was seeking a new CEO to replace him at Tesla during the company’s annual meeting. This statement followed a report by The Wall Street Journal that speculated Tesla’s CFO, Zach Kirkhorn, could be Musk’s potential successor.
During a trial for a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla last year, Tesla board member James Murdoch, one of Rupert Murdoch’s sons, mentioned that the billionaire had identified a potential new CEO for Tesla but did not disclose the individual’s identity. Earlier this year, various news outlets speculated that Tom Zhu, Tesla’s chief in China, could be Musk’s successor. Zhu had assumed leadership roles in Tesla’s US assembly plants and sales for North America and Europe in January, according to a Reuters report.
Since Musk’s decision to take Twitter private in October, his succession plan, particularly for Tesla, has garnered attention. Concerns arose among some investors who feared that Musk had become distracted due to his involvement with Twitter. Recently, several Tesla investors sent an open letter to the company’s board members urging them to rein in the billionaire.
However, the spotlight on Musk’s succession plan has somewhat diminished since he appointed a new CEO to manage Twitter. Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives commented in a note that Musk would finally have the opportunity to concentrate on his “golden child” companies.
Information Source: BI
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