When Time determined that Musk’s Questionnaire was the newspaper’s Man of the Year, ‘the magazine painted a spartan picture of his living conditions. “The richest man in the world does not own a house,” was the opening sentence of the article.
The magazine repeated what had become a core element in Musk’s public figure. Since last year, when the billionaire, who serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, declared he “sells almost all of his physical assets” in an effort to simplify his lifestyle, Musk has repeatedly been described as a man of modest taste.
“My main home is approximately $ 50,000 in a Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX,” he tweeted in June, referring to a city in Texas not far from the border with Mexico near SpaceX’s missile launch facility. “But he’s pretty cool.”
What Musk did not say, and what few people know, is that for about a year he also lived on a waterfront mansion in Austin owned by a wealthy friend nicknamed “Kenny,” said people familiar with the subject. Such a luxurious home that was the most expensive home that was registered in the Texas capital when it was sold just a few years ago.
Musk also hired a series of real estate agents who showed him estates in the Austin area for purchase – and toured some of the homes in person, some people said.
The house in Austin where Musk lives belongs to the Uri nest, a billionaire in his own right who has known Musk for several decades. Musk’s stay there was so secretive that some Uri friends said they were unaware of the arrangement between them.
Uri is a co-founder of PayPal – the company where Musk was a senior executive at the beginning of his career – and later, alongside famed investor Peter Thiel, founded the Founders Fund, a venture capital fund that supported some of the companies Musk founded.
The three men are considered part of what was popularly referred to as the “PayPal Mafia,” a group of former executives at the company who went on to other successes in the field.
In 2017, Musk tweeted that he was attending a party attended by actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Orlando Bloom when he went to say hello to Laurie.
Uri served as U.S. ambassador to Sweden during the second half of former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
He left his home vacant for Musk, who said last year he moved to Texas. Earlier this year, he moved Tesla’s headquarters to the outskirts of Austin.
Uri and Musk deny it
The property features nearly 745 square feet of interior space on a peninsula that juts out into the Colorado River at the foot of Mount Bunnell in an exclusive Austin neighborhood, so you can learn from the property’s listings. It has a pool, hot tub and private boat slide, and is protected by several gates From a prestigious construction project called “Watersedge”.
The house in Austin / Photo: zillow
This estate was sold for more than $ 12 million in 2018; Real estate agents say it will now be sold at a multiple of that amount, reflecting the city’s thriving housing market. It was not possible to determine whether Musk paid Laurie for the use of the property. Musk is worth about $ 240 billion. Neither of the two responded to requests for response.
Following the publication of the article, Uri wrote in a text message: “Alon does not live in my house, he lives in South Texas. He stayed in my house as a guest from time to time when he traveled to Austin.”
Musk, after the article was published, told the Insider website: “I do not live there and am not looking to buy a house anywhere.”
The house in Austin / Photo: zillow
Musk’s prolonged stay at the Austin estate, as well as the ongoing pursuit of a ostentatious property not far away, complicates the narrative he has cultivated for himself. A few years ago, there was a time when he slept on a pillow-free white pillow under his desk at a Tesla factory in San Francisco.
Last year he promised on Twitter that “I will not have a house” and kept that promise when he sold several houses he owned.
“I do live in a $ 50,000 house,” he wrote on Twitter in July. Public records show he was registered as a voter in Cameroon County, Texas, not far from Boca Chica Beach, in a house built in 1971 on a one-fifth of an acre. The house belongs to his company SpaceX, according to the listing.
Musk is looking for a property in Austin
In recent months, Musk and his representatives have hired a series of real estate agents from Austin to hunt for an equal property in the area, people familiar with the matter said. That’s what the people said.
Musk toured several houses himself, two of the men said. Among the homes in which he expressed interest, the people said, is an estate built to order and belonging to renowned jewelry designer Kendra Scott.
Scott, who declined to comment through her spokeswoman, was open to closing a deal, but Musk did not show up for several home tour meetings, one of the men said.
One of the most important things for Musk is his privacy, said people familiar with the search for his apartments.
The search for the home is so secretive, they said, that some high-end home sellers in Austin say it will remain a secret even after he is selected and buys some property. When the most expensive home listed in Texas was sold for about $ 39 million earlier this year to a California-based company that has ties to Musk, there was a rumor circulating in the neighborhood that the buyer was Musk himself.
He was not the buyer, said Johnny Jones, a businessman who owned the previous home and found himself as the one tasked with silencing that rumor.
Michelle Tranquist, a real estate agent who represented Jones at the sale, said she continues to receive misplaced praise. “Five people have already told me, ‘You know, Alon bought your house,'” Tranquist said. “I tell them that if Alon was the one who bought my house, I have no idea about it.”
Rebecca Elliott participated in the preparation of the article.