Kimbal Musk at Palazzo Chigi for a meeting with Minister Giuli

Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon, was received at Palazzo Chigi together with Andrea Stroppa, Italian representative of the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X. The two were accompanied to the main entrance in Piazza Colonna by Veronica Berti, wife of Andrea Bocelli, who did not enter the government headquarters but answered journalists’ questions: “We accompanied him around some ministries to understand how it works, we have a project.”

Musk wore the classic cowboy hat, while Stroppa had a peaked cap, widely used in the United States. Musk, it is learned, had a conversation with the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, entered Palazzo Chigi almost at the same time as the American guest.

According to the same sources, the prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who was present in the building just “quickly shook hands in the hallway” with Musk. In any case, the meeting with Giuli lasted a little less than an hour. The first to leave was the minister who, pressed by journalists, stated that he had spoken “only about good things” with Musk, “but it is too early to anticipate”, he specified.

When asked if they discussed things concerning Italy, he replied: “Also, I can’t say more otherwise we’re going too far.” “If I’m there we usually talk about Culture, all branches of Culture”, he finally clarified. About ten minutes later Musk and Stroppa left Palazzo Chigi in a car, passing through the rear door. Kimbal Musk, one year younger than his brother, is a businessman active in various sectors including catering.

He sits on the Board of Directors of Tesla and has been a director of SpaceX from 2002, when it was founded, to January 2022. In 2022 Forbes estimated his net worth at approximately $700 milliona sum made possible largely thanks to his 0.04% stake in Tesla, as well as options to purchase 172,250 Tesla shares, worth approximately $170 million. He also owns about $2 million worth of shares in Chipotle, where he is also a director, and likely has a stake in SpaceX.

Raised in South Africa, he attended Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, with Elon. After graduating in 1995, Kimbal and Elon founded Zip2, a software company that was acquired by Compaq in 1999. He later invested in X.com, Elon’s platform. He joined Tesla’s board the same year his brother invested $6.5 million to become the company’s largest shareholder and chairman of the board. “For over two decades – we read on his profile on the Tesla website – he has co-founded and invested in companies in the technology, hospitality, entertainment and agriculture sectors. His personal mission is to empower innovators and expand sustainable technologies that help contribute to a happier and healthier future.”

Immediate reaction from the opposition, in particular of Democratic Party of the Five Star Movement what they ask the government to do clarity on this visit. “Minister Giuli should explain the contours of the meeting with Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon Musk, who was at Palazzo Chigi today, accompanied by Andrea Stroppa and Veronica Berti”, said the leader of the Democratic Party in the Culture commission of the Chamber, Irene Manzi.

“According to what was stated, a mysterious ‘project’ is underway which, according to the protagonists themselves, is taking them ‘on a tour of some ministries to understand how it works’. We ask ourselves: what project is this? What are the methods of participation of the ministries and in what way? At the moment we note with dismay that Palazzo Chigi seems to have been transformed into a Musk annex, where company and family representatives are received to facilitate relations within public institutions, without any transparency on the reasons and on the objectives. We announce that we will continue to monitor the outcome of these visits with the utmost attention, because it is essential to clarify every detail. The credibility and transparency of our institutions are at stake, which cannot be bent to opaque operations or private interests disguised as. ‘projects”, concluded Manzi.

“Alessandro Giuli, as Minister of Culture, has the duty to respond and not to make cryptic jokes. The meeting with Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother, and Andrea Stroppa, Italian representative of the owner of Palazzo Chigi, an institutional headquarters, not in his home. Precisely for this reason, he has the obligation to explain publicly what they said, what issues were addressed and what agreements or projects were discussed”, they declared in a note. The five-star representatives in the culture commission. “When institutional spaces are used – they added – there is no room for confidentiality: citizens have the right to know. Transparency is not a concession, but a duty that accompanies its role. We invite you to clarify immediately, without mincing words Otherwise we will ask him officially in Parliament. While he dabbles in jokey sympathy operations, the world of cinema is on its knees, with 90 percent of small businesses at a standstill, while the employees who work on contract for his ministry are waiting to know what happens. they will do.”