<<Print>>

Elon Musk's decision to have children with one of his top executives at Neuralink pushed the limits of corporate governance norms, according to nine corporate governance experts who offered divergent interpretations of the startup's code of conduct for employees.

Known more widely for his electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and rocket developer SpaceX, Musk is also the chief executive of Neuralink, a company with about 300 employees that is seeking to develop chips that connect the human brain directly to machines.

He and Shivon Zilis, one of his direct reports at the company, had twin babies last November, Insider reported on July 6, citing a confidential court filing.

Zilis, 36, has since told some of her colleagues that she was not involved romantically with Musk, 51, and conceived the children with him through in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to five people familiar with the situation. Reuters could not establish the accuracy of Zilis’ account.