Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos... IT Innovators Caught in Scandals of Infidelity and Divorce

Elon Musk: "It's Not an Affair"
Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Also Caught in Affair Rumors, Leading to Divorce

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO (51), has been embroiled in an affair rumor involving his friend and Google co-founder Sergey Brin's wife. Musk denied the related news, stating, "The affair is not true."

[Asia Economy Culture Young Intern Reporter] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (51), has been reported to have had an inappropriate relationship with the wife of the Google co-founder, who is a close friend, reigniting public interest in the private life controversies of so-called IT giants such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Musk currently denies the affair rumors, calling them "fake news."

On the 24th (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources, reported that Musk had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, which ultimately led to the breakdown of their long-standing friendship. According to WSJ, Musk reportedly had an affair with Shanahan at the Art Basel event held in Miami, Florida, in early December last year. Art Basel is an annual event attended by billionaires from around the world.

The report also states that Brin's family has broken down. Brin and Shanahan filed for divorce in January this year at the Santa Clara County Court in California, citing "irreconcilable differences." According to WSJ, Musk reportedly knelt and begged Brin for forgiveness at a party earlier this year. Although Brin seemed to forgive him, the relationship worsened as Musk sold his personal investment shares in Brin's company, according to WSJ and other foreign media.

Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates [Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Bill Gates, Inappropriate Sexual Relationship with MS Employee... Recommended to Step Down

This is not the first time an IT company leader has been embroiled in an affair scandal. Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates divorced his wife Melinda due to an affair and his association with a sex offender. Jeff Bezos (55), founder of the largest US e-commerce company Amazon, also announced his divorce on Twitter after affair rumors surfaced.

Bill Gates was once accused of having a sexual relationship with a female engineer working at the company in the early 2000s. The MS board received a letter from this woman detailing the affair at the end of 2019. They hired an external law firm to conduct a confidential investigation and ultimately decided last year that Gates should completely step down from the board.

However, Gates voluntarily stepped down from the board in March 2020, before this fact became public, stating he would focus on charitable work. A spokesperson for Gates drew a line, saying, "Stepping down from the board was unrelated to the affair."

Specific circumstances also emerged indicating that Gates exhibited problematic behavior, such as requesting meetings with female employees even after marriage. In 2019, Melinda French Gates hired a divorce lawyer, raising the possibility that her husband's misconduct influenced the divorce.

Previously, the Gates couple did not disclose the exact reason for their divorce. Some foreign media reported that Melinda was greatly angered by Gates maintaining a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender. In fact, Melinda appeared on the US CBS broadcast in March and said, "I did not like Bill meeting Jeffrey Epstein." She added, "There is not just one reason for the divorce."

Jeff Bezos Amazon CEO [Photo by Yonhap News]

◆ Jeff Bezos Announces Divorce on Twitter, "Divorce After Separation"

Jeff Bezos was also embroiled in affair rumors. The other party was Lauren Sanchez (49), a former Fox TV anchor. They reportedly grew close while working on matters related to Bezos's space exploration company Blue Origin.

Bezos declared the divorce through a joint statement posted on Twitter under both spouses' names. The Bezos couple stated, "After a long period of loving exploration and a trial separation, we are divorcing and will continue to share a life as friends."

Meanwhile, after WSJ raised the affair allegations against Musk, Musk denied the claims on Twitter 11 hours after the article was published. He said, "It's completely fake," adding, "Brin and I are still friends and met at a party last night." He firmly denied the affair rumors, saying, "I have only met Shanahan twice in three years, and both times there were multiple people."

He continued, "WSJ has covered too much gossip about me and Tesla, I can't even count. Once, they wrote an article saying the FBI was trying to arrest me, so I called the FBI to ask what was going on, and they said it was nonsense," expressing doubts about WSJ's credibility.

This affair news draws more attention as Musk has recently been embroiled in a sex scandal. In May, the economic media Business Insider reported allegations that Musk sexually harassed a female flight attendant on SpaceX's private jet in 2016. It was also revealed that Musk secretly had twins with a female executive in her 30s at Neuralink, a company he founded. This occurred just before Musk's girlfriend, singer Grimes, was about to give birth to their daughter via surrogate.