Elon Musk wants to own no houses
Elon Musk has listed two of his Bel Air mansions for sale, just days after a bizarre Twitter rant in which he said he "will own no house".
The Tesla and SpaceX founder - who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $US38.7 billion ($A60 billion) - is remaining true to his word, as two of his properties popped up on US real estate website Zillow.
One is a five-bedroom ranch-style home with an asking price of $US9.5 million ($AU 14.7 million) while the other is a six-bedroom mansion worth $US30 million ($AU 46.5 million).
The grander property is a six-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 1,490 sqm mansion complete with a tennis court and a two-storey library, with the second - a 250sq ranch-style spread - is just across the street, and used to belong to actor Gene Wilder.
Skeptics immediately questioned whether Musk was serious, latching onto the fact that the properties were listed by owner and that Musk's asking price for the bigger house was well above the $US 20.6 million value estimate assigned by Zillow.
Musk paid $US 17 million for the house in 2012.
Musk on Friday tweeted that he was "selling almost all physical possessions," and "will own no house" as he seeks to devote his life "to Mars and Earth."
"Don't need the cash," the eccentric billionaire said. "Possession just weigh you down."
Musk bought the Wilder house - a 5-bedroom, 4.5-bath with an oval pool overlooking the Bel Air Country Club's golf course - in 2013 for $US 6.75 million.
"Just one stipulation on sale: I own Gene Wilder's old house," Musk tweeted.
"It cannot be torn down or lose any its soul."
The listings surfaced late Sunday after a wild week for Musk and his investors.
On Friday, after a profanity-laced rant against "fascist" Bay Area coronavirus lockdowns during Tesla's earnings call last week, Musk tweeted that Tesla's "stock price is too high imo," sending the company's shares down nearly 10 per cent.
The South Africa-born Musk's tweet about Tesla's stock price provoked an outcry from corporate-governance experts, who said it will likely get him into trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The tweets come almost a year to the day after Musk was forced to cut a settlement with the SEC over a misleading 2018 tweet in which he had said he was thinking of taking Tesla private at $420 a share.
It comes after Musk and his girlfriend Grimes gave birth to a baby boy Tuesday, and the Tesla boss later revealed on Twitter that they had named the boy "X Æ A-12".
Tesla shares this week were recently up 6 per cent at $743.89.
Parts of this story originally appeared in the NY Post and were republished with permission.
Originally published as Elon Musk wants to 'own no house'
