Businesswoman and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan is at the centre of a reported rift between two of the world’s richest entrepreneurs, Elon Musk and Sergey Brin.
Ms Shanahan is the estranged wife of billionaire Google co-founder Mr Brin and had filed for divorce earlier this year. A recent Wall Street Journal report claimed the reason behind the separation was a brief affair between Ms Shanahan and the Tesla chief.
WSJ claimed, quoting people familiar with the matter, Ms Shanahan had a brief affair with Mr Musk in December. The association is what led to the couple filing for divorce in January this year and brought an end to a long friendship between the two billionaires, the report said.
Mr Musk on Monday, however, denied the report and said he had “nothing romantic” with her.
“This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic,” Mr Musk tweeted.
Ms Shanahan, an attorney by profession, married Mr Brin over three years ago.
The Google co-founder filed for divorce in January citing “irreconcilable differences” and said he and Ms Shanahan had been separated since 15 December 2021.
Ms Shanahan and Mr Brin signed a prenuptial agreement and are presently discussing the terms of their divorce, in which she is seeking over $1bn, according to the WSJ report.
That could put the settlement of her divorce in the same league as those of billionaire philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Melinda Gates.
Ms Shanahan has also founded ClearAccessIP, a software business that employs artificial intelligence to handle patents. The firm was sold to rival IPwe in 2020.
She has also established her own foundation Bia-Echo in 2019 and dedicated $100m to reproductive longevity aimed at allowing women to have children later in life.
She supports several causes, including social justice and climate solutions, and has backed Democratic political candidates.
“I want to get the word out that and assure everyone that I am committed as ever to dedicating my life’s work to social justice, climate solutions and a thoughtful, caring democracy,” Ms Shanahan said in an interview with Puck this month.
“And I actually think that as I move forward out of this separation, I feel very optimistic in how I might grow in this role,” she said.
The daughter of Chinese immigrant parents, she is also an attorney and a research fellow at CodeX, the Stanford Centre for Legal Informatics.
Meanwhile, Mr Musk followed up his denial of the WSJ report with accusations that the publication engaged in “character assassination” numerous times before and alleged that “none of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!”
While denying the claims, the SpaceX founder, known for his candid tweets, also said he had not had sex for a long time.
