Category Archives: Elon Musk

Elon Musk shared a photo of him with Google co-founder Sergey Brin late Sunday after the The Wall Street Journal reported Musk had an alleged affair with Brin's wife briefly last year, which the Tesla CEO has staunchly denied.

Musk sent the photo to the New York Post and said he "took this pic only two hours ago," insisting that he had nothing to do with the divorce of Brin and his wife, Nicole Shanahan.

He also tweeted late Sunday night, calling the Journal's report "total bs."

"Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!" he said on Twitter. "I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."

The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources that alleged Musk had an affair with Shanahan at the Art Basel art show in Miami in December. One person familiar with the matter told the publication that Brin and Shanahan were separated but living together at the time.

Musk got down on one knee and begged for Brin's forgiveness when the latter discovered his friend's alleged affair with his wife, one source told the WSJ. Brin reportedly "acknowledged the apology" but the two do not speak regularly, the person said.

According to court documents that the Journal viewed, Brin filed for divorce in January, citing "irreconcilable differences."

The report follows news last month that Musk quietly had twins with one of his top executives at Neuralink in November 2021. That December, the same month of the alleged affair, Musk welcomed a daughter who was born via surrogate with ex-girlfriend Grimes.

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Elon Musk Shares Photo With Sergey Brin After Affair Allegation

Elon Musk periodically faces choices and makes them. Perhaps the knottiest one is whether and when to focus on his positions as Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc. ReportCEO and as a celebrity.

The man has more than 102 million followers on Twitter, and many of those millions stand ready to defend him at all times. Their admiration sometimes turns to adoration.

The Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc. ReportCEO's private life has become the subject of numerous press articles, to the point that the coverage eclipses his professional activities.

Most recently he has contributed to this dynamic by praising families on Twitter. In particular, he has expanded his own with the near-simultaneous arrival of three new children with two different women: his ex girlfriend, the singer Grimes, and Shivon Zilis, a senior. executive of Neuralink, his company specializing in artificial intelligence.

Photos of him shirtless on a yacht in Greece have also made tabloid headlines recently, sparking debates on social media about his physique. He (humorously) participated in the debate by commenting on his calves.

But indulging in the celebrity game can get one burned -- even one who is considered a genius and visionary.

The Wall Street Journalon July 24 reported, citing people familiar with the matter,that Musk had had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google (GOOGL) - Get Alphabet Inc. Report.

The alleged affair, which took place in December, broke the friendship between Brin, 48, and Musk, 51, the newspaper reported.

Brin was one of Tesla's supporters in 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis. The alleged affair also is what prompted Brin to file for divorce last January, the article said. Brin also asked his team to sell all the assets he had in Musk's businesses, TWSJ reported.

Musk denied the assertions.

"This is total bs," Musk reacted on Twitter. "Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! Ive only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."

Besides a barrage of tweets to defend himself, Musk also gave an interview to The New York Post to refute the accusations. He even sent a photo of what Musk said was Brin and he partying on July 24, a few hours before the article was published.

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"The character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but the articles are all nothing-burgers. I work crazy hours, so there just isnt much time for shenanigans," Musk also said. "None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!"

The tech tycoon went so far as to disclose information about his sexuality. TheStreet has chosen not to mention them here.

"We are confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting," a WSJ spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Musk may have defended himself, but the damage has been done, as numerous posts on social networks show. And the billionaire surely has read them.

He also seems to have understood that for him,the moment to choose between his CEO post and his celebrity has come.

Just a few months ago Musk asked Jeff Bezos, his rival in the effort to conquer space, to choose between partying and devoting himself to the quest.

"Does seem like hes spending a lot of time in the hot tub these days," Musk said on May 27 when he was asked about Bezos."If he wants to get to orbit, less partying and more work would be advisable."

He seems to have decided to follow his own advice and again become the CEO who forced the auto industry to convert to electric vehicles and helped revive the idea that man would eventually live on Mars.

"The amount of attention on me has gone supernova, which super sucks," the entrepreneur wrote on twitter on July 25. "Unfortunately, even trivial articles about me generate a lot of clicks."

Then he continued: "Will try my best to be heads down focused on doing useful things for civilization."

"I feel for ya! Ignore noise, build spaceships!" commented crypto billionaire Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the CEO of Binance.com, the world largest crypto exchange by volume.

"The best thing you can do honestly is to keep killing it at Tesla. Kill them with stellar performance and burn the shorts," advised another fan.

"Good point, will do," Musk replied.

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Elon Musk Chooses His 9 to 5 Over Hollywood - TheStreet

Vitro Fertilization. IVF and Human fetus with DNA strand. 3d illustration

Advances in science and technology, coupled with modern medicine, has impacted the way in which we look at life. Reproduction is not an exception. It is no secret that the most prolific innovator on the planet, Elon Musk, took an engineering approach to reproduction, and his first five boys came into this world via IVF, and the last girl was delivered using a surrogate mother. The Tesla mogul and his former wife, author Justine Wilson, welcomed son Nevada Alexander Musk in 2002. Nevada died of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, at only 10 weeks. After losing their firstborn, Musk and Wilson turned to IVF to grow their family. She gave birth to twin sons Griffin and Xavier Musk in April 2004. The couple also used IVF to welcome triplet sons Kai, Saxon and Damian in January 2006. Later on, Musk began dating singer Grimes, who gave birth to their son X AE A-XII. Earlier in March, Grimes revealed that she and the SpaceX founder had welcomed their first daughter, Exa Dark Siderl Musk, via surrogate in December 2021. And there are claims that Elon and Amber Heard had a legal battle around the cryopreserved embryos. In recent weeks rumors surfaced that he had two more kids with the board member of OpenAI and executive at Neuralink. Sex of the babies was not disclosed. Considering how busy Elon is, business ethics of such a relationship, and the fact that there are two babies, there is a chance that he just served as a donor.

While this approach raises many ethical questions including: Were his first babies selected to be male at the preimplantation stage?. While there are regular attempts to build moral and ethical framework for allowing sexing for non-medical reasons, sex selection is illegal in many countries. We recently observed one of the IVF boys taking matters into his own hands changing both name and gender and distancing herself from her father. A very brave move deserving recognition and support.

But the smartest and most accomplished man on the planet is not the only one opting for IVF instead of the traditional approach. Several people in my network recently told me that they chose IVF and surrogacy. Some decided to do this to improve the chances of having a healthy baby. One of my friends decided to reproduce via a surrogate to have undisputed legal rights and ensure that his plans to invest substantial resources into the upbringing and education of their offspring do not go down in flames due to the unexpected divorce. And some chose surrogacy for health reasons.

Also, there is a myriad of startups working on reproductive health and longevity including the two I recently covered, Dr. Dina Radenkovics Gameto, and Oviva, and several research groups and startups are working on artificial wombs.

Can this method of reproduction become mainstream? Are we going to see this trend accelerate as the artificial uterus technology matures and the natural reproduction declines? Lets take a closer look at this emerging and rapidly expanding field.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 2003: A sperm fertilizes an egg under a microscope using ICSI (Intra ... [+] Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) as part of IVF treatment at the private Lister Hospital. One needle holds the egg in position while the other needle injects a single sperm into the egg to fertilize it. The technique is used for male infertility. (Photo by Tina Stallard/Getty Images)

Louise Brown in 1978 became the worlds first baby to be born by in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Her birth revolutionized the field of reproductive medicine. Given that approximately one in eight heterosexual couple has difficulty in conceiving, and that homosexual couples and single parents need clinical help to make a baby, the demand for IVF has been growing. In fact, IVF is so common that over 5 million babies have been born through this technology. On a side note, critics of cryopreservation should note that these babies were cryopreserved before they were implanted...

COVID has also changed the way we view reproduction and IVF. Pew Research estimated there were close to 300,000 fewer births in the U.S. in 2021 as a result of the pandemic and low levels of sexual activity. Many women of reproductive age were perhaps worried about the vaccine, or were concerned about the vaccines effect on future fertility, current pregnancy, and breastfeeding, among other concerns. During the pandemic, there was a decline in the number of concluded assisted reproductive technology cycles as compared to the previous years. This decline can be attributed to many factors: the local restrictions and the fear about SARS-Cov-2 infection, being among the primary. However, a study published the same year by the National Center for Biotechnology Information reported that couples are actually prioritizing IVF treatment in the post-COVID era. No information exists in the literature regarding the effect of coronavirus on the IVF cycle attempt. In fact, a study titled Does COVID-19 infection influence patients' performance during IVF-ET cycle?: an observational study concluded that COVID did not affect patients' performance or ovarian reserve in their immediate subsequent IVF cycle. There needs to be more data available on IVF, both pre and post COVID.

In order to understand IVF, we first need to look at the natural process of reproduction. Believe it or not, it all starts in the brain. Roughly 15 days before fertilization can happen, the anterior pituitary gland secretes follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which ripens a hand full of follicles of the ovary that then release estrogen. Each follicle contains one egg, and on average only one follicle becomes fully mature. As it grows and releases estrogen, this hormone not only helps coordinate growth and preparation of the uterus, it also communicates to the brain how well the follicle is developing. When the estrogen level is high enough, the anterior pituitary releases a surge of luteinizing hormone (LH), which trigger ovulation and causes the follicle to rupture and release the egg. Once the egg leaves the ovary, it is directed into the fallopian tube by the fimbriae. If the egg is not fertilized by the sperm within 24 hours, the unfertilized egg will die and the entire system will reset itself, preparing to create a new egg and uterine lining the following month.

The egg is protected by a thick extra cellular shell of sugar and protein called the zona pellucida. The zona thwarts the entry and fusion of more than one sperm. Each ejaculation during sexual intercourse releases more than a 100 million sperm. But only a 100 or so will make it to the proximity of the egg, and only one will successfully penetrate through the armor of the zona pellucida. Upon successful fertilization, the zygote immediately begins developing into an embryo and takes about three days to reach the uterus. There it requires a couple of days to implant firmly into the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus. Once implanted, the cells that are to become the placenta, secrete a hormone that signals to the ovulated follicle that there is a pregnancy in the uterus. This helps rescue that follicle, now called the corpus luteum, from degenerating, as it normally would do in that stage of the menstrual cycle. The corpus luteum is responsible for producing the progesterone required to maintain the pregnancy until six to seven weeks of gestation when the placenta develops and takes over until the baby is born approximately 40 weeks later.

In patients undergoing IVF, FSH is administered in levels that are higher than naturally occurring, to cause a controlled over-stimulation of the ovaries so that they ultimately produce multiple eggs. The eggs are then retrieved before ovulation would occur, while the woman is under anesthesia, through an aspirating needle guided by ultra-sound. Most sperm samples are produced by masturbation. In a laboratory, the identified eggs are stripped of surrounding cells, and prepared for fertilization in a petri dish.

Fertilization can occur by one of two techniques. In the first, the eggs are incubated by thousands of sperm and fertilization occurs naturally over a few hours. The second technique maximizes certainty of fertilization by using a needle to place a single sperm inside the egg. This is particularly useful when there is a problem with the quality of the sperm. After fertilization, embryos can be further screened for genetic suitability, delivered into the womans uterus via catheter, or frozen for later attempt at pregnancies. This last process is also called embryo cryopreservation. It involves freezing of the embryos. You may choose to freeze extra embryos and use them later if you: postpone or cancel implantation into your uterus after an egg is already fertilized; want to delay IVF to a later date; want an option in case early attempts at fertility treatment fail; or choose to donate unused embryos to other people trying to get pregnant or to researchers rather than destroy them; or for other reasons.

If the womans eggs are of poor quality due to age or toxic exposures or have been removed due to cancer, donor eggs may be used. In the case that the intended woman has a problematic uterus or lacks one, another woman, called the gestational carrier, or surrogate, can use her uterus to carry the pregnancy. To increase the odds of success, which are as high as 40% for women younger than 35, doctors sometimes transfer multiple embryos at once. Which is why IVF results in twins and triplets more often than natural pregnancies. However, many clinics seek to minimize the chances of multiple pregnancies, as they are riskier for mothers and babies.

Millions of babies like Louise Brown have been born from IVF and have had normal, healthy lives. The long-term health consequences of ovarian stimulation with IVF medicines are less clear. In fact, it is possible to avoid the many genetic abnormalities with preimplantation diagnosis. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority of the U.K. published a blog in which they declared that IVF is generally safe, adding that most people who have it experience no problems with their health or pregnancy. They do mention some risks that people should be aware of, including: ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, having a multiple pregnancy or birth, and having an ectopic pregnancy. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine also notes that although serious complications from IVF medicines and procedures are rare, there are still some risks from injectable fertility medications. Though so far, IVF seems safe for women. Because of better genetic testing, delayed child-bearing, increased accessibility, and diminishing costs, it is not inconceivable that artificial baby-making via IVF and related techniques could outpace natural reproduction in years to come.

Clearly, IVF is gaining popularity every year. According to a 2015 report by the U.S. Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (published in 2017), one million babies born in the U.S. between 1987 and 2015 were born through the use of IVF or other assisted reproductive technologies. There are many agencies and centers worldwide that provide these services. Some examples of these agencies are: Circle Surrogacy & Egg Donation, Brilliant Beginnings, The Center For Surrogacy & Egg Donation, ConceiveAbilities, Hatch Egg Donation & Surrogacy, and Growing Families. Others include Ambroise Par Group, AMP Center St Roch, AVA Clinic Scanfert, Bangkok IVF center, Betamedics, Bloom Fertility and Healthcare, Bourn Hall Fertility Center, and Biofertility Center and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Like IVF, surrogacy too is becoming a very popular way to have children, particularly for wealthy couples in the West. According to a 2019 WebMD blog post, about 750 babies are born each year using gestational surrogacy. Similarly, PBS reported that in 2018 over 100 children were born in Boise, Idaho, through surrogacy. In Canada, surrogate births have increased by 400% in the last decade. Even celebrities are doing it! News anchor Anderson Cooper used a surrogate for the birth of his son, as did Sir Elton John, who used a surrogate for the birth of his two sons. Other celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Robert De Niro, George Lucas, and Neil Patrick Harris used surrogates too.

Three generations of women and a robot jumping for joy

There are several reasons why IVF and surrogacy are fast becoming a new way of family planning. Infertility is one of the main reasons why prospective parents opt for surrogacy. Another reason why would-be parents opt for surrogacy is the age factor because age plays a big role in a persons ability to conceive and carry a baby. Likewise, same-sex couples and single individuals who are unable to conceive a child naturally may choose to turn to a surrogate. Some people may also have medical or physical problems that dissuade them from pregnancy or make birth impossible. At the end of the day, it is a personal and private decision.

Interestingly, many in the generation X and Y are reproducing via IVF after going through a divorce. Recently I spoke with one of my friends in the venture capital world who is looking at IVF via a surrogate as a way to avoid the possible legal problems in the case of a future divorce. "I am planning to go to buy a few egg cells from a very accomplished young scientist and use a service in Georgia (country) to get a surrogate. I want to have a very smart kid that I will invest a lot of resources, time and energy in and I won't need to share custody over the kid in the case I break up with my girlfriend," said an accomplished man in his mid-forties who refused to be named in the article. "I went through a very painful breakup once and how I have to share custody of a child and don't have full control over the upbringing. But children are our legacy and I want to ensure that I can raise the child to be a great person, give great education, and provide amazing care without being pulled into a difficult relationship with the mother. I am sure that my girlfriend will invest a lot of energy into this child or I will find another girlfriend."

This statement shocked and puzzled me.

Recently, I covered a startup called Gameto, run by Dr. Dina Radenkovic, a wonderful physician turned VC turned CEO. "The reproductive industry is up for disruption. We are going to help millions of women get the freedom to have babies without the time pressure. And postpone menopause. But I am also investing in a company developing artificial uterus technology. In the future, painful childbirth may be optional and without the need of a surrogate, she told me.

And females also get a lot of freedom to choose the genetic background of their children. Many are choosing to reproduce using the sperm from the validated, healthy, intelligent, and accomplished individuals.

Same week I met a wonderful scientist, a recent PhD from Harvard who also works in the field of reproductive health. "You know, I am an open ID sperm donor. It helped pay my bills during the school years and now I have over 35 confirmed kids worldwide, he said.

A sperm bank is a facility or enterprise that collects and stores human sperm from sperm donors for ... [+] use by women who need donor-provided sperm to achieve pregnancy. (Photo by Evan Hurd/Corbis via Getty Images)

There are few reliable figures on the sperm banking industry and the percentage of donations that are made anonymously. Researchers find it difficult to track how many men have donated sperm, and how many children have resulted from each individuals donation. Approximately, there are about two dozen sperm banks in the United States; each operates independently and with minimal government oversight. Some of the famous ones include Cryos International and California Cryobank. There are others also.

Some of these operations are pretty cryptic and shady. Many clinics have revised their policies not to eliminate anonymous donations, but to make clear that the term only means they will not share donor information. Others are moving toward open ID donor systems, in which donors are told that offspring could connect with them when they turn 18 or sooner if both parties agree to it.

As debates about womens bodies and their right to choose continue to rage throughout the world, surrogacy laws remain in infancy. The laws also change as reproductive technology and the very meaning of a parent changes. In the U.S., there isn't a federal law on surrogacy and state laws vary. Some states have written legislation, while others have common law regimes to deal with surrogacy issues. Surrogacy friendly states facilitate surrogacy and surrogacy contracts while others simply refuse to enforce them. Some states only facilitate married heterosexual couples. States that are considered to be surrogacy friendly include California, Illinois, Arkansas, Maryland, Oregon and New Hampshire.

Surrogacy has become so popular that it has given birth to a new form of tourism called reproductive tourism or cross-border reproductive care. This multibillion-dollar global industry is perfect for price-sensitive, middle-income would-be parents. The surrogates in this case are usually those who are thought to be of low socioeconomic status in countries like India and Nepal. In India, surrogacy may be worth about $400 million each year, driven by the countrys nearly 3,000 specialty clinics. Thailand, Ukraine and Russia are other popular sources of surrogates for international clientele. Thus, surrogacy is the route to escape poverty for many women in these developing states.

Research on the development of IVF and reproductive technology is still in infancy. However, as it becomes more advanced, we are likely to see more non-traditional families and the reality is probably closer than we think. And with the changing trends in family planning, there is no doubt that science and technology will continue to progress and change the way we live and think. Before we know it, this new trend and demand for babies is likely to further advance science and the procedures. Perhaps in the future, women will not need to go through the painful process of childbirth.

Go ahead and continuously improvement concept, silhouette man jump on a cliff from past to future ... [+] with cloud sky background.

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Elon Musk and Other Billionaires Make Their Babies Via IVF And Surrogates - Is It A Future Of Reproduction? - Forbes

Lets just hope he applied sunscreen with a high SPF.

A shirtless Elon Musk was seen soaking up the sun aboard a luxury yacht in Mykonos, Greece, on Sunday, per exclusive photos obtained by Page Six.

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Vanessa Bryant, Vanessa Hudgens and Hoda Kotb were among the...

The multibillionaire was with a small group that included newlywed palsAri Emanuel and Sarah Staudinger as they sailed the Aegean Sea on the Zeus an almost $20,000-per-week motor yacht that can accommodate six guests in over three cabins and comes with a professional crew.

Musk, 51, boarded the swanky boat wearing a plain white T-shirt, black swim trunks, dark sunglasses, a black baseball cap and matching flip-flops.

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Vanessa Bryant, Vanessa Hudgens and Hoda Kotb were among the...

The Tesla CEO soon stripped down to just his bathing suit and took a dive into the ocean. Once back on the yacht, Endeavor CEO Emanuel long held to be the inspiration for fictional Hollywood agent Ari Gold in Entourage hosed him down.

Musk was later seen enjoying a cocktail before the group headed out to explore the island.

The SpaceX founder who recently confirmed to Page Six exclusively that he had welcomed his 10th child did not seem the least bit bothered by Twitters massive lawsuit against him.

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Vanessa Bryant, Vanessa Hudgens and Hoda Kotb were among the...

Musk firstagreed to buy the social media website for $44 billion in April but pulled out of the deal earlier this month on the belief the platform may be lying about what percentage of its users are bots.

In their filing, Twitters attorneysdescribed Musks claim as a bad faith attempt to walk away from the agreement.

In response, Musk called the companys suit meritless and and told a judge that he needs until next year to formally respond.

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The business tycoon informed us earlier this month that he had quietly welcomed twinswith his Neuralink executive,Shivon Zilis, in November 2021, adding that he had no plans to stop procreating.

When congratulated on the newest additions to his brood, he replied, Thanks, followed by, Bravo to big families.

When asked how many kids he would like to have, Musk said, As many as I am able to spend time with and be a good father.

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Shirtless Elon Musk vacations in Mykonos on luxury yacht

Elon Musk's dad has fathered a second child with his stepdaughter, who is 41 years his junior, he said in a new interview.

Errol Musk, 76, told The Sun Wednesday that he had a daughter with Jana Bezuidenhout, 35, in 2019.

The elder Musk and Bezuidenhout previously welcomed a son, Elliot Rush, who is now 5 years old.

Bezuidenhout's mother, Heide, and Musk were married for 18 years and share two children. Bezuidenhout was 4 years old when Musk became her stepfather.

Errol and Maye Musk were married from 1970 to 1979 and share three children: Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca.

Errol Musk told The Sun the child "wasn't planned," adding that he and Bezuidenhout lived together for roughly 18 months after the birth of their first child. They no longer live together but "have a lot of affection for each other," he said.

The elder Musk said his daughters were "shocked" by his relationship with Bezuidenhout. The New York Post reported that he had fathered a total of seven children.

"To them it was their sister," he told The Sun. "They still feel a bit creepy about it, because she's their sister. Their half-sister."

Speaking with the tabloid, Musk echoed his son's views on population growth.

"The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce," he said. "If I could have another child I would. I can't see any reason not to."

Today, Errol and Elon Musk are estranged.

Insider reported earlier this month that Elon Musk quietly had twins in November with one of his top Neuralink executives, Shivon Zilis. That means he has nine known children.

A day later, he tweeted,"Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far."

The tech billionaire has repeatedly expressed concern about falling birth rates over the years. Last year, he tweeted that "civilization is going to crumble" if people don't have more children.

Experts say declining birth rates don't have to spell disaster if governments and corporate leaders take the right steps to adjust to a world with fewer people.

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Elon Musk's Dad Has 2nd Child With 35-Year-Old Stepdaughter: the Sun

Elon Musk may tweet about the Twitter deal but not "disparage the company or any of its representatives," according to a securities filing.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Elon Musk and Twitter continued sparring on Monday, with the social media company slamming the Tesla CEO's request for a slower trial schedule. Musk is trying to terminate a deal he previously made to buy Twitter and take it private for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion.

Musk has repeatedly accused Twitter of lying about the number of bot and spam accounts on its platform. Twitter has denied the claims and is suing to force Musk to complete the deal.

Twitter wants to go to trial as early as September, but Musk had asked the Delaware court to deny its request for an expedited trial and aim for next year. Musk needed time, his attorneys argued, to conduct exhaustive amounts of discovery around whether the company has misrepresented the amount of spam and bot accounts on its platform.

In Monday's filing, Twitter accused Musk of using delay tactics to harm the company in the court of public opinion.

"The earliest possible trial date is imperative," wrote the company's lawyers. "This very publicdispute harms Twitter with each passing day Musk is in breach. Musk amplifies this harm by using the Company's own platform as a megaphone to disparage it."

Twitter's attorneys noted in their filing, "Millions of Twitter shares trade daily under a cloud of Musk-created doubt. No public company of this size and scale has ever had to bear these uncertainties."

The chancellor assigned to rule on the case, Kathaleen St. J.McCormick, on Monday informed the parties that she has Covid. Instead of delaying the hearing about the trial schedule, she said they would hold one via teleconference (using Zoom) on Tuesday, July 19.

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Twitter fires back at Elon Musk's attempt to delay trial - CNBC

Elon Musk has long made it known that his eventual goal is to make it to Mars, and according to new statements made by the billionaire, it looks like that time may be approaching even faster than we thought.

On Friday, the billionaire Tweeted that Mars was a "fixer upper of a planet" but noted that it had "great potential."

One of Musk's 100 million followers then asked him what the estimated time frame would be for "creating a self-sustaining civilization" on the red planet and clarified that by self-sustaining he meant not needing or relying on materials or supplies from Earth.

Musk's answer?

"20 to 30 years from first human landing if launch rate growth is exponential," the billionaire penned in response. "Assumes transferring ~100k each rendezvous and ~1M total people needed."

The Tesla CEO's commentary brought in mixed responses, with many shaming the billionaire for wanting to start anew elsewhere without first fixing the problems on Earth.

"If we can't get it right here with the perfect environment & resources, how are we going to make it work there," one user pointed out in response.

"Please. Please focus on fixing the MANY problems we have on this planet first," said another. "With your resources you truly could."

Though it's unclear exactly when that initial landing could and would take place, Musk has previously hinted that it could be as soon as 2029, according to a Tweet he responded to back in March that asked him to predict when humans would make their first landing on Mars.

On the Full Send podcast, fellow billionaire Mark Cuban talked about how he congratulated Musk on the recent birth of one of his children, though he didn't specify which one.

"I'm like, 'Dude, congratulations, how many you going to have,'" Cuban said, referring to Musk's children. "He sends me a text back, 'Mars needs people.'"

As of Monday afternoon, Musk's net worth was an estimated $232.2 billion.

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Elon Musk Reveals When He Thinks Humans Will Live on Mars -- And It's Sooner Than You Think - Entrepreneur

Elon Musk and I are close to the same age. I've never met him, but long before he was super famous, he always reminded me of some of my friends growing up.

Let's just say he wasn't the only 12-year-old who hated prep school and programmed video games on the Vic-20 or the Commodore 64 back in the 1980s.

Our paths diverged early. From a pure cost-benefit or financial standpoint, he made better choices. As Musk made his first millions and moved on to PayPal and Tesla and SpaceX, I went to law school and spent a few years practicing law.

However, I learned something from that experience that made clear why Musk's deal with Twitter was doomed from the start.

Let me illustrate with two very short stories:

The first story is about something that happened to me when I had to travel to a very remote area one night while working on a legal case and found myself stranded there with no way home. My solution was to go on Craigslist, find the cheapest used car in the area, and buy it immediately for a few hundred dollars in cash.

The second story is about what happened earlier this year, when Musk revealed belatedly that he had acquired 9percent of Twitter's stock, which led to an agreement for him to get a seat on the Twitter board.

By way of comparison, this article is about 800 words. It tells you something if a deal to buy a banged up car for $400 runs so much longer than a deal to become a board member at one of the most influential social-media companies.

Look, here's the brutal truth that nobody wants to admit. It has two parts:

Part 1 is brilliant. It's fun. But Part 2 is also necessary: all the contemplationand negotiation, and the tedium (sometimes) of putting it all in writing -- pages upon pages of agreements.

It leads to people making jokes about how the first thing we should do is kill all the lawyers. But if you want to get things done in this world, you need both kinds of people: the innovators to come up with the ideas and the detail-oriented people to take care of the details.

The deal Musk signed to buy Twitter isn't crazy-short like the abated deal that would have put him on Twitter's board in exchange for not trying to buy Twitter. It runs43,000 words and you can read it here, if you're interested.

But now that it's fallen apart and devolved into litigation, the big lesson according to some of the most entertaining and interesting commentary I've seen is that "get it done at any cost" seems to have taken primacy over "get it done carefully and right."

Part 1 won out big time over Part 2, in other words.

Musk was represented in the Twitter deal by Skadden, Arps. This is a sophisticated firm that has been a leader in mergers and acquisitions since long before Musk and I were both messing around on the Vic-20 and hating prep school.

And yet, as Joe Patrice wrote for the legal site, Above the Law:

What's Skadden supposed to do? As long as everything is legal and the firm provides Musk with complete information about what's going on, Skadden kind of has to roll with it.

I refuse to believe Skadden wanted to waive every possible protection to create an absolute disaster of a deal for Musk, but based on the narrative of the complaint, he seems to have kept telling them to go ahead.

I have no idea what's going to happen with the case. Twitter's complaint was fun to read, but then so was Musk's response(note these are PDFs), filed Friday. I suppose I can guess like everyone else that there will be some kind of settlement, but that's like predicting it will probably rain sometime in the next 30 days.

I do know this, however: At this point, most people seem either to think Musk is a generational genius or a fortunate charlatan. There's not much middle ground.

But as I write in my free e-book, Elon Musk Has Very Big Plans (which needs an update, since it predates the Twitter deal, but it's still pretty good), you don't have to feel one way or the other about Musk to learn from him.

This is one of those moments. Sometimes the deal is in the details. And sometimes the most brutal truths in life are the ones that are most important to face.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Continued here:

Here's the Brutal Truth About Elon Musk and Twitter That Nobody Wants to Admit - Inc.

Good news, Tesla enthusiasts! There might be a price decrease in Teslas lineup.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that the electric car company could lower prices if inflation calms down.

He further added that Tesla is waiting for inflation to calm down before it can finally start reducing the prices of its electric vehicles, which have increased 20-30 percent over the last two years.

The inflation rate in the U.S. has increased by 9.1 percent annually, to a nearly 41-year high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Tesla started its journey with the goal ofreducing electric vehicle prices, and Musk has said he plans to sell an electric car for $25,000 in an effort to make EVs more accessible over and over again, in the past. Nevertheless, the company has increased the prices of its entire lineup in less than 24 months.

However, the price increases have not affected Teslas demand. The electric carmaker is still dealing with a significant backlog of orders, with some of its models still having a 6 to 10-month delivery timeline on new orders.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked about when we can expect Tesla to lower prices again on Twitter, and he said that Tesla plans to lower the prices when inflation calms down.

Tesla has raised car prices several times in the past few months by a few thousand dollars as raw materials costs have surged and automakers have struggled to source chips and other supplies due to industry-wide supply shortages.

Tesla increased the prices of all of its car models in the U.S. and China in March. The company again hiked prices across its models in June when it increased the cost of its Model Y long-range, by $3,000, from $62,990 to $65,990.

Before the price increase, Musk said that he had a super bad feeling about the economy in June and added that he would need to cut 10 percent of salaried staff at Tesla, according to an email originally reported by Reuters.

Musk also told in March that Tesla and SpaceX, were both seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials & logistics. Musk warned about the risk of recession as well in recent weeks.

In the meantime, automakers are scrambling to balance commodities and logistics costs worldwide.

The average price for a new electric car has surged 22 percent in the past year as automakers attempted to recoup commodity and logistics costs.

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Elon Musk says Tesla prices will decrease if the inflation calms down - Interesting Engineering

Elon Musk completely disrupted the automotive industry.

With Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc. Report, the manufacturer of premium electric vehicles, the richest man in the world has caused a real green revolution in the automobile industry marked by promises from almost all car manufacturers to produce less polluting vehicles in the current decade. Offering more electric models has become the watchword of (GM) - Get General Motors Company Report, Ford (F) - Get Ford Motor Company Report, Volkswagen (VLKAF) , Nissan (NSANF) , Hyundai (HYMLF) , Stellantis (STLA) - Get Stellantis N.V. Report, parent company of Fiat Chrysler, and even luxury brands like Ferrari (RACE) - Get Ferrari N.V. Report.

This revolution that is underway has just taken on its full importance with the recent surge in oil prices and their corollary, which is higher gas prices at the pump. This new situation leads rich countries like the United States and the European Union to turn again to Saudi Arabia, the leading exporter of oil, to beg it to produce more oil in order to reduce the impact on consumers already affected by inflation at levels not seen for several decades. The highlight of President Joe Biden's recent tour of the Middle East was his visit to the kingdom as the midterm elections approach.

But when he was running against former president Donald Trump, Biden had promised to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah, in particular because of the 2018 assassination of journalist and critic of the Saudi regime Jamal Khashoggi. Once elected, he had declassified a damning report on the responsibility of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in this murder.

The European Union is on its side confronted with the Russian nightmare after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The EU has taken sanctions against Russia but it finds itself trapped: Russia supplies the EU with 40% of the natural gas it imports. Russian president Vladimir Putinhas taken advantage of the hold this gives him over European countries.

Putin has demanded that the "unfriendly" nations of Europe pay for their gas in rubles, to help him prop up the value of that currency. Poland, Bulgaria and Finland refused to do so, and Russia cut off their supplies. The EU said it viewed Russia's action as a form of blackmail.

In March, the EU pledged to cut its gas imports from Russia by two-thirds within a year. However, it has been difficult to get agreement on other measures, such as an outright ban on imports. Germany, Europe's largest economy, depends on Russia for nearly half of its gas supply.

Many European nations could see their oil supplies squeezed by the ban on Russian imports. In November, Lithuania and Finland got around 80% of their oil from Russia.

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It is in this context that a discussion took place on Twitter between the famous entrepreneur and investor in companies and tech startups David Sacks and Musk. It was Sacks who started by posting a message summarizing the year on geopolitics. This message was followed by another of the same order commenting on a Wall Street Journal article according to which Russia intended to use its gas as a weapon against European economies.

"If this year proves anything, its that there can be no security without energy independence," Sacks wrote on July 13. "In particular, the Europeans have learned the hard way."

That's when Musk stepped in.

"Absolutely," the tech titan agreed. Then he added: "And lithium batteries are the new oil."

Batteries are ubiquitous in our phones, laptops and cars.Lithium-ion batteries have been the dominant storage technology for years, and demand is expected to increase tenfold over the next decade.

The advantages of the lithium-ion batteries are their very high energy density and their high specific energy. In addition, this type of battery is not affected by the memory effect and its self-discharge is reduced.

Lithium batteries are popular because they are easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and can be used on most appliances and gadgets. Experts say they are thethe best current solutions for supplying electricity to mobile devices (camera, mobile phone) or vehicles (hybrid car, electric car).They don't need maintenance.

Lithium batteries can charge and discharge quickly, according to the same experts. They are lightweight and they have a lower-environmental impact than disposable batteries.

Asia dominates the consumer battery market, with more than 90% of production taking place in China, Korea and Japan. The Japanese group Panasonic, South Korea's LG and Samsung and the Chinese groups CATL, BYD and Grepow are the main manufacturers of lithium batteries. Tesla is the only non-Asian company to slip between these Asian giants.

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Elon Musk Warns U.S. and EU About This Delicate Issue - TheStreet