Will.i.am says he invested in Tesla before Elon Musk became CEO — but missed out on Airbnb

• Pop star will.i.am said he invested in Tesla before Elon Musk was appointed CEO in 2008.
• The FYI founder and CEO said he regrets turning down the chance to be an early backer of Airbnb.
• The musician has credited Musk and Apple cofounder Steve Jobs as two big reasons his "life is nice."

Music legend will.i.am says he bet on Tesla before Elon Musk took the wheel — but turned down the chance to be one of Airbnb's early backers.

"I invested in Tesla in 2006, before Elon took over the company, and he's done great, taking it to where it is," he recently told Fortune. "Hopefully, he can figure out a way to get it back to its glory."

The founder and CEO of FYI, whose real name is William Adams, stands to have made a fortune if he kept his stock. Tesla went public in June 2010 at $17 a share, or $1.13 adjusted for stock splits in 2020 and 2022.

The electric vehicle company's stock hit a record high of about $480 in December, representing a more than 420-fold increase from the IPO price.

Tesla shares closed at just under $249 on Friday, meaning an investor who bought in at the IPO price and held until now has made more than 200 times their money. Earlier buyers would have paid less for their shares, paving the way for an even greater return if they retained their stake.

The singer was asked on the "Drinks Champs" podcast last year to pick his favorite between Musk and Steve Jobs, the Apple cofounder.

"Damn, both of those cats is why my life is nice," will.i.am replied, noting he was part of the team that sold Beats by Dre to Apple for $3 billion in 2014. "You're talking about two companies that … changed my life — so I say both."

The rapper and producer recently told Channel 4 that Tesla has "had its valleys and its highs" and applauded Musk for having "saved it out of bankruptcy in the past."

He also hailed Musk as a dreamer and one of the "heroes of this era" while sitting next to the Tesla and SpaceX chief during a 2012 discussion hosted by Singularity University's executive program.

Another entertainment legend, Morgan Freeman, has also said he owns Tesla stock and has spoken highly of Musk. "He's, you know, what he's done, nobody else has ever done," the movie star said in 2016. "He's landed a rocket ship so it's reusable — you know what a feat that is?"

A representative for will.i.am declined to confirm whether he still owned Tesla shares, telling Business Insider he "doesn't publicly discuss his holdings at this level of detail."

The one that got away

The music superstar — who shot to fame with the Black Eyed Peas and later became a judge on "The Voice UK" — told Fortune his previous bets include Pinterest, Dropbox, OpenAI, and Anthropic, along with another company that Musk now owns.

"I invested in Twitter early on. When Jack [Dorsey] left, I sold it. Made good there," will.i.am said.

The "I Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow" singer also said Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky invited him to invest up to $200,000 in an early fundraising round.

After will.i.am learned the home-sharing platform offered neither a concierge nor room service to guests, he rejected the invitation. He explained that frequently traveling and staying in hotels meant he'd been "pampered by the best," leading him to judge Airbnb by luxury hospitality standards.

Passing was the "wrong decision" and a "bad one," he said at a recent SXSW event, per an Instagram video. Airbnb went public in December 2020 and is now valued at about $80 billion, meaning even a 0.1% stake would be worth roughly $80 million.

"Ballin', I would have been," will.i.am quipped. "Now, I'm like bawlin'."