Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk has identified successors for his companies and none of them are any of his children. He doesn't even plan to hand over any of his voting shares to his kids.
What To Know: According to a Business Insider report citing an interview at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, Musk has identified recommended successors for his companies if something were to happen to him, but none of the candidates are his children.
The Tesla CEO actually believes it's wrong for executives to pass companies down or even give voting shares to their offspring.
"I am definitely not of the school of automatically giving my kids some share of the companies ... I think that's a mistake," Musk reportedly said in the interview.
Musk's son X Æ A-12 might be the most well-known of Musk's kids, given all of the attention he got for his unique name, but the billionaire has eight other children, ranging from his youngest daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl (nicknamed Y) to his oldest, who recently applied to have her name changed because she no longer wanted to be related to Musk "in any way, shape or form," per Reuters.
Musk isn't the only one in the camp that believes fortunes shouldn't be passed to children. Apple's Steve Jobs wasn't interested in legacy wealth building, and billionaire investor Warren Buffett only plans to leave a small percentage of his wealth to his kids — the rest has been pledged to philanthropy.
See Also: Buffett Effect? ChatGPT Founder Sees Global Nuclear Agency As Model To Regulate AI
The Tesla CEO has already named potential successors at each of his companies if something were to happen to him.
"There are particular individuals identified ... So in all cases, the board is aware of who [is] my recommendation," Musk said.
The bigger issue is who would take over his voting shares, he said. He's floated around the idea of creating an "educational institution" of some sort to control his shares.
Musk's succession plans have been in focus ever since he acquired Twitter for $44 billion and took the company private. He recently appointed Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO and many wondered if he would soon step down as chief of Tesla, but he shut down all speculation at a shareholder event earlier in the month.
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