Elon Musk’s use of illegal drugs was reportedly widely known among current and former directors at both Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday.
Concerns were raised about the extent of Musk’s drug use, including instances of consuming drugs with some board members, as per sources who either witnessed the drug use or were briefed on it.
The report stated that the board did not conduct investigations into the matter, and no concerns were officially documented.
This revelation comes on the heels of a Delaware judge’s criticism of the relationship between Elon Musk and his directors, citing conflicts of interest in a recent ruling that deemed Musk’s $55 billion pay package excessive.
Elon Musk and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, did not respond to requests for comment from the Wall Street Journal. Previous reports from the paper suggested that Musk had used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms, primarily at private gatherings.
In response to those reports, Spiro stated that Musk underwent regular and random drug testing at SpaceX and had never failed a test.
According to sources cited in the Saturday report, some friends and directors felt compelled to partake in illegal drug use with Musk to avoid upsetting him. The fear of potentially “losing the social capital” associated with being in Musk’s circle was also a motivating factor, the report stated.
Elon Musk responded to the previous Wall Street Journal story on his alleged drug use on X last month, stating, “Whatever I’m doing, I should obviously keep doing it!” Musk, in his X post, highlighted Tesla and SpaceX as the world’s most valuable car and space companies, adding, “If drugs actually helped improve my net productivity over time, I would definitely take them!”
Elon Musk is at the helm of six companies: Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), The Boring Co. (tunneling venture), Neuralink (brain implant developer), and xAI (artificial intelligence startup).