A Wall Street Journal report this week gave an extensive look into how Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a senior Trump adviser, handles his companies and his more than a dozen children.
The answer, it seems, is by relying heavily on his longtime right-hand man, Jared Birchall. Birchall’s role, as he reportedly said in a phone call, is to “protect Elon.” Here’s what to know about Musk’s fixer.
Birchall’s Early Career
Birchall graduated from Brigham Young University in 1999 and spent a year as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. In 2000, he moved into private wealth management at Merrill Lynch but was fired after a decade for “sending correspondence to a client without management approval,” according to a regulatory report cited by Bloomberg. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2010, where he managed Musk’s money as part of a small team. In 2016, Musk recruited Birchall to run his family office, Excession.
A Quiet Contrast to Musk
Birchall and Musk present starkly different public personas. Birchall, according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, is a practicing Mormon who prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Musk, by contrast, thrives on attention—having hosted Saturday Night Live and frequently sharing his views on X, the social media platform he owns.
The Fixer’s Role
Birchall’s responsibilities are wide-ranging. According to Bloomberg, he helped arrange the loans from Wall Street that enabled Musk to purchase what was then known as Twitter. He also handled disbursements from Musk’s super PAC, which supported Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. More recently, The Wall Street Journal reported, Birchall has acted as a go-between for Musk and several of the mothers of his children. That has allegedly included acquiring a property in Austin for them to live in and offering secrecy agreements in exchange for large sums of money.
Loyalty and Wealth
Birchall has remained at Musk’s side throughout the billionaire’s meteoric rise. While his exact income is unknown, Bloomberg cited a report estimating that the typical head of a large family office earns between $1 million and $3 million annually—though his salary may be much higher. In 2020, Birchall reportedly purchased a $2.25 million home in Austin, complete with a pool and tennis court.
He also serves as the head of Musk’s neurotechnology firm, Neuralink. However, Bloomberg noted that Birchall holds no actual executive authority there. His name was added to company documents as a legal formality, and he does not participate in day-to-day operations.
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