Elon Musk is reportedly secretly living in a $12 million mansion in Austin, Texas despite his claim to reside in a spartan $50,000 rental module at SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site.
For the past year, Musk has been spending at least part of his time in the lavish waterfront estate owned by his fellow PayPal alum Ken Howery, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Howery disputed the report and told the Journal in a text message: ‘Elon does not live at my home, he lives in South Texas. He stayed at the house as my guest occasionally when traveling to Austin.’
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, famously declared last year that he would ‘own no house’ and went on to sell off his nine California mansions for a total of $144 million.
‘My primary home is literally a ~50k house in Boca Chica/Starbase that I rent from SpaceX,’ he wrote in a June tweet.
Secretly, Musk has been spending much of his time in Howery’s mansion though, according to the Journal.
The lavish 8,000-square-foot mansion sits on the Colorado River in a gated neighborhood, and boasts waterfront pool, jacuzzi and private boat slip.
The mansion last sold for more than $12 million in 2018, breaking a record for Austin, but would now be worth several times that in the city’s booming real estate market, experts say.
It is not clear whether Musk compensated Howery for his alleged use of the mansion.
Musk, the richest man in the world, is worth about $240 billion on paper, but much of that is in his Tesla stock holdings.
Some speculated that he was motivated to sell his properties in order to raise cash to exercise stock options that will expire next August.
In the past month he has been exercising those options, as well as selling off stock at a furious pace.
The Journal also reported that Musk has been engaged in a highly secretive house hunt for a ‘trophy property’ in Austin, where Tesla is now headquartered.
Musk has toured several homes in person, two sources told the outlet.
Musk said on Wednesday he was ‘almost done’ with his stock sales after selling over $14 billion worth for more than one month.
The billionaire had made confusing statements as to whether he might or might not be done with his stated goal of selling 10 percent of his Tesla shares.
‘I sold enough stock to get to around 10% plus the option exercise stuff and I tried to be extremely literal here,’ he said in an interview on Tuesday with conservative satirical website Babylon Bee.
But on Wednesday he suggested he might not be done. ‘This assumes completion of the 10b sale,’ he tweeted, referring to his prearranged sales plan related to his options.
‘There are still a few tranches left, but almost done,’ he tweeted later.
Under the Rule 10b5-1 trading plan set up in September, he has exercised stock options that expire next year and sold a portion of the stocks to pay taxes, according to Tesla filings.
Following a flurry of sales, Musk still has more than 3 million stock options that expire in August next year.
It comes amid claims that Musk ‘paid nothing’ in federal income taxes in 2018 and less than $70,000 in 2015 and 2017.
Senator Elizabeth Warren dubbed Musk ‘the world’s richest freeloader’ amid a row over the billionaire’s taxes.
Musk responded to her criticism by saying that he ‘will pay more taxes than any American in history this year’.
Musk and Warren’s war of words began after the news broke that Musk was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Warren tweeted last Monday: ‘Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.’
But Musk soon hit back, writing ‘Stop projecting’, and dubbing the politician and former law professor ‘Senator Karen’.
‘You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason,’ Musk continued.
‘Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.’
Here are properties Musk has sold in the past year to divest himself of all his prized residential real estate:
891 Crystal Springs Rd in Hillsborough, California, sold in December 2021 for $30 million
The 16,000-square foot property boasts a ‘five-star’ kitchen that has been fully restored and has an expanded space for a personal chef.
958 Somera Road, sold in December 2020 for $6,774,500
The California home featured four bedrooms and three and a half baths.
955 Somera Road, sold in December for $4,443,000
Nestled in a cul-de-sac, the Bel Air house has four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.
954 Somera Road, sold in December for $29,719,000
The home is listed with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
10911 Chalon Road, sold in June for $29,000,000
Sitting across from the gold course, the home has six bedrooms and eleven bathrooms.
The property features a pool, tennis court, and gorgeous landscaping.
Musk lived in this house with his sons, which he rented for two years before buying it.
10930 Chalon Road, sold in October for $7,000,000
Both Musk and famed actor Gene Wilder lived in this Los Angeles home.
Wilder, who died in 2016, lived in the home for over three decades.
It features five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a luxurious pool in the backyard.
He shared his one condition on selling the gorgeous property: ‘Just one stipulation on sale: I own Gene Wilder’s old house. It cannot be torn down or lose any its soul.’
10947 Chalon Road, sold for $20,948,500 in December
It is hidden behind trees and gated walls covered in greenery.
