Who is Nicole Shanahan, the woman at the centre of alleged rift between Elon Musk, Sergey Brin?

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan has made headlines for being at the center of a rift between two of world’s richest men Elon Musk and Sergey Brin.

Philanthropist Shanahan has been married to American business magnate Sergey Brinn for over three years. The couple announced plans to divorce in June this year after citing ‘irreconcilable differences’.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Musk and Shanahan were into an extramarital affair. Despite claims, Musk has denied the allegation by sharing details on his Twitter account.

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He posted that the story shared by The Wall Street Journal is untrue and added that he saw Brin’s wife twice in three years. According to Musk, they met in the presence of other people and there was ‘nothing romantic’ between the two.

Meanwhile, Brin and Shanahan have signed a prenuptial agreement and currently negotiating the terms of their divorce. According to the American international daily, Shanahan seeks more than $1 billion. With this, the settlement of her divorce will be considered in the same league as those of billionaires MacKenzie Scott and Melinda Gates.

Who is Nicole Shanahan?

Shanahan founded ClearAccessIP, which is a Palo Alto-based firm which helped patent owners to manage and monetise their intellectual rights. The company was acquired by rival IPwe in 2020. At the moment, the woman is an attorney and a research fellow at CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics.

Born to Chinese immigrants, Shanahan has completed her graduation from the University of Puget Sound in Washington State. She studied Asian studies, Mandarin Chinese and economics as part of her syllabus. Next, she completed her law degree from Santa Clara University. She also did a stint as an exchange student at the National University of Singapore.

Shanahan started her own foundation, named Bia-Echo in 2019.. She then pledged to give $100 million to reproductive longevity and criminal justice reform among other problems.

The entrepreneur is a supporter of left-leaning organisations and Democratic political candidates.