By Lora Kolodny,Jennifer Elias
Publication Date: 2026-06-14 11:30:00
SpaceX founder Elon Musk jumps for joy at a gathering after NASA commercial crew astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken blast off aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 30, 2020.
Jonathan Newton | The Washington Post | Getty Images
In Elon Musk’s telling of the story, his friendship with Google co-founder Larry Page soured in June 2015, at the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s 44th birthday party. There, Page reportedly called Musk a “speciesist” for saying he favored humans over future digital life forms.
That happened while they were discussing the terrifying potential of artificial intelligence.
With Musk’s 55th birthday just weeks away, and SpaceX having just completed the largest IPO in history, he and Page are the two wealthiest people in the world. Musk’s net worth has ballooned past $1 trillion, and Page is far behind at just under $300 billion. Sergey Brin, Google’s other co-founder, is third.
The rift may never…
