About Elon Musk: Another Reason You Should Read Beyond the Headlines

The 2.800 sq. ft. home was the property of Gene Wilder. Elon Musk sold it to Wilder's nephew.

Elon Musk forecloses on homeowner is a headline that seems to confirm the worst suspicions about a billionaire and his greed; that is, until one digs into the story and the homeowner sings his praises (!). [bold added]

In 2020, tech mogul Elon Musk agreed to sell one of his Los Angeles homes to filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter, for $7 million. Walker-Pearlman had grown up in the Bel-Air house—the longtime home of his uncle, the late “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” actor Gene Wilder—and Musk agreed to loan the couple most of the money they would need to buy it.

“He could have sold it for so much more,” Walker-Pearlman, a film director and writer, told The Wall Street Journal in 2022. “His sensitivity to me can’t be overstated.”

The facts, as noted in the article:

2013 - Elon Musk buys the late Gene Wilder's home for $6.75 million.

2020 - Musk lists the home for $9.5 million but sells it to Jordan Walker-Pearlman for $7 million and provides him with a $6.7 million loan, a much higher advance than any bank would allow.

2024 - The Musk loan managers file a notice of default after Walker-Pearlman fell behind the loan payments. Walker-Pearlman lists the home for $12.95 million ("Musk’s representatives have made it clear that they have no intention of forcing a sale").

Normally a foreclosure is bad news for the homeowner, but look at the overall picture. Jordan Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter put $300,000 down, lived for four years in a house they never could have afforded were it not for a billionaire's generosity, then stand to receive $5.25 million ($12,950,000-6,700,000 mortgage-1,000,000 selling expense plug estimate) on the sale.

That's a $4.950,000 profit, 16.5 times their down payment, a 1,650% return on investment. On a yearly basis, that's 105% per annum over four years [$300,000 x (1+1.05)^4].

Elon Musk has given away multi-million-dollar profits to someone he probably never knew four years ago. Are billionaires greedy? Sometimes, but not always.

Note to Kamala Harris' speechwriters: that's how one does a "return on investment" calculation. It would be nice if you show your work, but I'm not holding my breath.