Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Elon Musk says he’s selling all his possessions so people can’t attack him for being a billionaire

Tesla CEO is back on Joe Rogan’s podcast

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Friday 08 May 2020 14:34 BST
Comments
Elon Musk explains why he's selling all his possessions

Elon Musk says he has chosen to sell all of his possessions so that people can no longer “attack” him for being a billionaire.

The Tesla CEO spoke in a new episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast released on Thursday.

Musk announced earlier this month on Twitter that he’s ”selling almost all physical possessions” and ”will own no house”.

“Why are you doing that?” Rogan asked on the podcast. Musk said he’s “slightly sad” about the move, prompting Rogan to enquire: “If you’re sad about it, why are you doing it?”

Musk then explained: “I think possessions kind of weigh you down. They’re kind of an attack vector, you know?

“People say, ‘Hey, billionaire, you’ve got all this stuff.’ Well, now I don’t have stuff, what are you going to do?”

Rogan asked Musk if he means that people “target” his status as a billionaire, to which Musk responded affirmatively.

Musk then said he’s going to rent a place to stay and keep some possessions, including those that have sentimental value.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen?” Musk mused. “It’ll be fine.”

Rogan replied: “Yeah, you can always buy more stuff if you don’t like it.”

He asked Musk if he feels like people define him according to his wealth. Musk, whose net worth is $37.9bn, said it does happen, although “not everyone” does it.

“For sure, in recent years, ‘billionaire’ has become a pejorative. It’s like that’s a bad thing,” Musk said.

“Which I think doesn’t make a lot of sense in most cases.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in