Topline
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, evoked his partner’s ethnicity and claimed the name of their eldest son—allegedly taken from a scientist of Indian descent—proves he isn’t a racist after fellow billionaire Vinod Khosla lobbed accusations of racism and attempted to poach Musk’s employees.
Elon Musk at the White House on May 30, 2025.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Khosla, a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, recently resurfaced a months-old tweet of Musk’s lamenting the world’s falling birth rate, in which Musk specifically claimed, “White people are a rapidly diminishing minority of global population.”
Khosla responded by saying Musk “doesn’t want MAGA, he wants WAGA or ‘white America great again’ as a racism [sic] is great and desirable’ paradigm,” then Khosla encouraged any non-white employees of Tesla, SpaceX and X to quit their jobs and work for his venture capital firm instead.
Musk responded by calling Khosla a “pompous a–hole” and claiming he’s gone “full r-tard” before Musk evoked the ethnicity of his partner, tech executive Shivon Zilis.“
My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar,” Musk said (one of their children has Sekhar as a middle name).
Khosla didn’t respond to Musk’s post, but X users were quick to slam Musk’s defense as a commonly used one to deflect accusations of prejudice. “This response takes the ‘some of my best friends are… ‘ to an entirely different level, Elon style,” one user posted, with another adding, “When your ‘argument’ is just name-calling and slurs, you’ve already lost.”
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here: joinsubtext.com/forbes.
Key Background
The argument over alleged racism is just the latest example of longrunning tensions between Musk and Khosla. The two began arguing in earnest online in 2024, when they traded a series of jabs over the election, development of artificial intelligence, immigration, the role of government in business and other topics. After then-President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 race for president, Khosla posted to X saying the Democratic Party should seek a moderate candidate for his replacement, and Musk instead encouraged him to support Donald Trump. Khosla replied it would be “hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me.” Musk claimed Trump would “promote individual freedoms over the heavy hand of government,” to which Khosla hit back and suggested Musk’s companies—like SpaceX and Tesla—were made successful thanks to government contracts and subsidies. They’ve also argued about artificial intelligence—Khosla’s firm has invested in OpenAI while Musk runs a competing effort—and how it should be regulated, with Musk pushing for open-source development and Khosla backing heavier regulation. The pair have argued over immigration and called each other “dumb,” “deranged” and hypocrites. Later in 2024, their feud boiled over and Khosla demanded an apology from Musk after the latter attacked Khosla for his role in a longrunning public land battle in California. Khosla accused Musk of causing “a lot of damage with your irresponsible behavior.”
Forbes Valuation
Musk is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $776 billion as of Wednesday. His fortune largely comes from his stakes in Tesla, which he owns about 12% of, and SpaceX, which is valued at about $800 billion. Musk owns an estimated 42% stake. Khosla is worth an estimated $13.4 billion as of Wednesday, and is estimated to be the 220th-richest person in the world. He’s the founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that invests in experimental technologies and was the first venture firm to invest in OpenAI.