Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sold his Silicon Valley estate and opted for a rented house in a bizarre move to sell off all his possessions, reports confirmed.
Musk, 50, who has a net worth of $151 billion, had previously shared that the 47-acre property south of San Francisco was his ‘last remaining house’ after selling off all his other homes.
Musk, currently lives in a home he rents worth $50,000 in Boca Chica, Texas, near his Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Starbase rocket manufacturing plant, where he moved last year.
The multi-billionaire sold for $30 million this month, $7.5 million, less than the original $37.5 million asking price when it was first listed in June, according to records.
‘My primary home is literally a $50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,’ Musk tweeted.
Musk had previously said he wanted to sell it to a large family who will live in the home. ‘It’s a special place,’ he tweeted.
Last year, the eccentric billionaire indicated that he planned to sell all his homes and he will “own no home” by the end of 2021: ‘I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no home.’
He said he was doing it as a way to defuse criticism of his wealth, telling podcast host Joe Rogan last May: ‘I think possessions kinda weigh you down. And they’re kind of an attack vector. People say, ‘Hey, billionaire, you got all this stuff.’ ‘Well, now I don’t have the stuff — now what are you gonna do?”
At the time, Musk owned seven houses in California – six in Los Angeles within walking distance of each other. Musk has since sold all of his residential properties for a whopping $144 million.
The sale of multiple homes in the first place was a vital step in “fleeting the high-tax” of the state, as Bloomberg reports.
California has the highest income tax on the wealthy, and so Elon’s exit from his ownership of all his properties there, which range from a Bay Area luxury estate to a ranch house, means he isn’t actually a resident of the state anymore which affords him heavy tax-shedding simply through the endeavour.
The new owner of the Hillsborough, California, mansion at 891 Crystal Springs Road has not been named publicly.
The 16,000-square-foot estate features seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a music room, grand ballroom and a cocktail room with retractable library shelves.
It was built in 1912 by Count Christian de Guigné, a member of French nobility who moved to the Golden State after marrying a local Gold Rush heiress.
The beautiful property remained in the family for just over a century before being listed for $100 million in 2013- it was later reduced to $29.85 million three years later.
Musk purchased the stunning property for an even lower price of $23.4 million in 2017 and primarily used the home as a rental space for events. However, the homes are not the only properties that on Musk’s sale list.
Bloomberg on Wednesday reported that Elon Musk sold a further $1.02 billion of Tesla Inc. shares, taking him close to his target of reducing his stake in the electric-car maker by 10%.
Musk has been offloading Tesla stock since asking his Twitter followers in November whether he should sell some of his stake. Musk said in a tweet last week that he was “almost done” trimming his Tesla holding by 10%.
The latest sale takes Musk’s total to about 15.6 million shares, for approximately $16.4 billion. He’d need to dispose of about 17 million shares to offload 10% of his stake, assuming his pledge excludes exercisable options.
After announcing his plans to sell all his homes, Musk quickly listed two of his Bel Air mansions on the market.
His other home that overlooked the Bel Air Country Club, was purchased by Musk in 2012 for $17 million and listed for $30 million.
The 16,251-square-foot mansion boasts six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a two-story library, swimming pool, and a tennis court. It also features a gym, pool, a wine cellar, fruit orchard and a five-car garage.
The second Bel Air home was listed for $9.5 million and was previously owned by the late Willy Wonka actor, Gene Wilder, who died in 2016.
Musk purchased the three-quarter-acre Bel Air home for $6.75 million in 2013 and turned it into a private school. It features five bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, an oval pool and a private guest cottage.
