The ‘secret’ wealth manager behind a very public tycoon

Elon Musk, infamous for his cryptic tweets and constant social media presence, is hardly the most private billionaire.

But the family office which manages his massive wealth is shrouded in secrecy.

Excession is based in Austin, Texas. Former Morgan Stanley banker Jared Birchall is the man in charge. Unusually for the head of a family office, Birchall also holds a multitude of other roles across Musk’s empire.

He was hired by the Tesla frontman in 2016, and is chief executive of Musk’s brain chip firm neuralink, a director at his tunnelling firm the Boring Company and a board member of his philanthropic private foundation. And court documents revealed it was Birchall who hired an investigator to probe the diver who Musk called ‘paedo guy’ in an ill-judged fit of pique during the mission to rescue a trapped boys’ football team in Thailand.

Birchall’s contacts with Morgan Stanley have also proved to be useful to Musk. The Wall Street bank has led the financing package which lies behind Musk’s bid for Twitter, and advised him on the deal.

When Musk initially tried to take Tesla off the stock market in 2018, he tweeted that Goldman Sachs and Silver lake would manage the bid. But court documents showed Birchall urging Musk to use Morgan Stanley too. ‘They’ve been our best resource on the personal side, by far,’ the banker messaged.

Birchall, born in 1974, began his career with Goldman Sachs before joining Merrill lynch,

according to his linkedin profile. After around a decade, he was dismissed from Merrill lynch for ‘conduct resulting in management’s loss of confidence’, according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records. But less than a month later he was taken on by Morgan Stanley.