Elon Musk appeared on stage with his son X A-12 as part of the TIME Person of the Year celebration.
Elon Musk appears to be less interested in promoting the family planning goals of his staff than he is in the birth rates around the world, which he is borderline obsessed with. According to a report from Insider and a tweet by Platformer reporter Zoe Schiffer, the father of (at least) 10 children, who had twins with an executive at one of his other companies in 2021, has cut in half the fertility benefits offered to Twitter employees.
According to Insider, Twitter employees had previously gotten lifetime coverage of up to $80,000 for costs associated with reproductive procedures, egg and sperm storage, donor retrieval, surrogacy, and the price of adopting children. But as of right now, that perk has been cut in half, as Carrot, a third-party provider, informed the staff in an email. The email reportedly stated that employees would only have access to $40,000 in coverage starting January 1, 2023.
A single round of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy can cost between $15,000 and $30,000, even though $40,000 may seem like a lot. A person often needs numerous cycles of IVF to become pregnant. The adoption price can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars for private or international adoptions, while expenses can vary greatly. According to Investopedia, the cost of surrogacy is often around $100,000.
Musk and his many partners have used these reproductive technologies to raise their families. IVF was used by the Tesla CEO and his first wife, Justine Wilson, to have five children. In 2021, the billionaire allegedly used IVF to create twins with Shivon Zills, a Neuralink executive who was his employee. Musk’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, musician Claire Boucher (also known as Grimes), employed a surrogate to give birth to the couple’s second child.
Along with being personally hypocritical, cutting the fertility benefit for Twitter employees directly conflicts with what he previously pledged to do. Before owning the business, in July 2022, Musk declared he would increase childcare benefits for employees at his companies to reduce the expense of raising children. Even though childcare differs from fertility benefits, having children and raising children nowadays involve frequent and expensive costs.
The argument that dropping birth rates constitutes a threat to humanity and society as we know it has been widely publicized for years by Elon Musk. He has argued repeatedly that civilization will end if people don’t have more children. Demographers and other specialists contest Musk’s population ideas, but one would expect that such a firmly held view would show up in the practices of the numerous firms he oversees. However, his goal to reduce Twitter’s expenses comes before the potential future of society.
Since Musk took over as CEO of the social media network, he has reduced the size of the workforce, insisted that employees work longer at their desks, and is even reported to have fallen behind on rent to save costs as Twitter struggles financially.
According to Platformer’s Schiffer, the corporation is reportedly eliminating commuter reimbursement and food allowances in addition to the cut in employee fertility benefits. But refreshments like coffee and sandwiches will still be offered.