Elon Musk is considered a thrillionaire, a modern-day tech entrepreneur that dreams of turning science fiction into a reality. He is known for many things. Being Chief Executive Officer/CEO of electric autos maker Tesla Inc., the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX, and the co-founder of PayPal. That is not all. He has founded eight companies to date!
After being in 2nd place for four years, he has finally overtaken Jeff Bezos' title as the wealthiest person in the world. Elon Musks' current net worth is $234.4 billion (July 21, 2022).
Early Life -
Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa to a Canadian mother (Maye Musk, Canadian nutritionist and model) and a South African father (Errol Musk, a South African Engineer). His parents were barely around to raise him. They left all the child-rearing duties to their housekeeper. Musk says that piles upon piles of books were his constant companions during his childhood.
At age 12, Elon Musk turned himself into a self-taught programmer. He sold his first-ever video game for $500! Musk was not a very talkative kid but was somewhat known for being awkward and introverted. His parents once took him to the doctor thinking he was deaf but it turned out it was just daydreaming. He was often harshly bullied by his fellow schoolmates. A few boys from his class threw him down the stairs causing him to be severely injured and hospitalized. He was not considered bright at school and was not known for being a genius or exceptional at education. Instead, most of his classmates thought of him as a likable, quiet, unexceptional student.
During his younger years, nobody believed he would grow to be successful. They always thought he would be somewhat average. They could not have been more wrong.
His Adventures Began -
When Elon Musk was 17, he left South Africa for two reasons. To avoid compulsory military service and attend college in Canada. He attended Queens University before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania on scholarship. There he received a bachelor's degree in physics and economics in 1997. In 1995, he joined a Stanford Ph.D. program in physics. However, after two days, he called it quits. He decided the internet would have more potential to impact the world than his physics research.
He wanted to take advantage of the internet boom, so he did.
With the help of his brother, Kimbal Musk, he launched Global Link Information Network in 1995. This company provided online city guides to newspapers. Some of these newspapers included Chicago Tribune and New York Times. The times were hard for the Musk brothers. To keep expenses at a minimum, they lived in their office and showered at the YMCA. Their company ran during the day, and they would code it at night with the one computer that they shared. In August of 1996, their company name became Zip2. The company was an immense success! Later, in 1999, Compaq Computers saw potential in Zip2 and bought it for $300 million! Elon Musk earned $20 million from the sale. More than enough to get him started on his next big idea. By the age of 28, he had become a self-made millionaire.
His Next Big Idea -
Musks' adventures were nowhere near over. After the success of Zip2, he started up his next grand idea. He founded his next company, X.com. Envisioned by 28-year-old Elon Musk in late 1999, he planned on turning the company into a full-scale banking and investment service. He wanted the site to offer everything a user could need. The website included checking accounts, insurance services, mortgage lending, and bonds. Musk took the role of chairman of the company. The company had only 15 employees when it became operational.
To bring in customers, X.com offered $20 to anyone who opened a checking account. Members who referred the site to others were awarded $10 for every referral. Within two months, they had a steady 100,000 consumers!
In March of 2000, X.com linked with PayPal, a company since November 1999. However, they maintained the name X.com. At the time, PayPal brought in nearly 15,000 new clients daily with their advertised P2P payment service. In June, X.com helped develop PayPal services. Payments were able to be made between businesses and consumers (B2C). Including those made through phone calls. About seven months after X.com joined PayPal, they began offering online payment services on Evite.com. People receiving invites via Evite could send out payments simultaneously while responding to an online invitation.
In August, X.coms customer count rose above 3 million! At that point, they worked on business-to-business payments. X.com forged a deal with BuyLink Corp, a San Francisco-based online marketplace serving thousands. Using PayPal, BuyLink users could make payments to one another online. The firm faced public negativity when 125 PayPal users failed to receive the computer hard drives they purchased at an online auction. After that, X.com began offering fraud protection, similar to what credit card companies offer now. X.com also provided a new information guide allowing buyers to know which companies had been inspected by X.com.
Eventually, in 2002 eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock. Of this $1.5 billion, Elon Musk, the largest shareholder, received $175.8 million.
However, in 2017, it was bought from PayPal by Musk at an undisclosed price; he said it had sentimental value to him.
A Journey Through Space Exploration -
Musk is convinced that for humanity to meet its full potential and survive, it must become a multi-planetary species. With this, the creation of Space Exploration Technologies, more commonly known as SpaceX was born. He was not satisfied with the current expense of launching rockets. Because of this, his goal was to make rocket launching more affordable. Not long after it began, SpaceX became the first privately owned space company to launch and return a spacecraft from Earth's orbit.
The first two rockets they manufactured were the Falcon 1 (launched in 2006) and the Falcon 9 (in 2010, named after its use of 9 engines). It is designed to cost much less than standing competition but to be just as efficient. The spacecraft could be just as successful while being much cheaper because of the SpaceX-developed Merlin engine. It was a more cost-effective option than those used by competitors. SpaceX also worked hard on creating reusable rockets. Spacecrafts from competitors were only usable once. Later in 2018, they launched a third rocket, the Falcon Heavy, designed to carry 117,000 pounds into orbit. This amount was nearly twice as much as their biggest competitor (the Boeing Companys Delta IV Heavy), yet it cost one-third the price.
SpaceX has announced its newest spacecraft, the Super Heavy Starship System. The first stage took off in 2020. However, there is no definite date for the launching of the second stage. It could launch as early as July/August 2022. The first stage of the Super Heavy will be able to carry roughly 100,000 kg (roughly 220,000 pounds). The weight will be the Starship, a spacecraft designed to be a form of fast transportation between Earth, the Moon, and Mars.
SpaceX has also created the Dragon Spacecraft, transporting supplies from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft can carry up to 7 astronauts. Elon Musk was the CEO of SpaceX and the chief designer of the Falcon Rockets, Dragon spacecraft, and Starship system.
Due to the lack of funding at the beginning of the SpaceX journey, Elon Musk invested in the SpaceX rockets with his own money. However, three months after being named the first private company to launch a liquid-fueled rocket into space, SpaceX won a NASA contract in appreciation of SpaceX servicing the ISS for $1.6 billion. This contract allows the company to continue its research to change the world with affordable, reusable, and efficient spacecraft.
An Electric Future -
Elon Musk has always believed in the future of electric vehicles. In 2004, Musk became one of the largest funders of Tesla, previously named Tesla Motors, contributing over $30 million in the belief that electric vehicles were the future. In 2006, Tesla Motors debuted their first fully electric vehicle, the Roadster, and orders began in 2008. The Roadster reached 245 miles after one charge. And, it could go 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds! The power comes from lithium-ion batteries, commonly found in laptop-computer batteries.
Eberhard, one of the co-founders of Tesla resigned as CEO and president of technology in late 2007 and joined the advisory board instead. It got announced in 2008 that Eberhard had officially left the company, yet he was still a shareholder. Marc Tarpenning, the co-founder with Martin Eberhard, left the company in 2008, allowing Musk to take over as CEO of Tesla Motors.
After four years, in 2012, Tesla paused their work on the Roadster to give complete focus to their newest vehicle, the Tesla Model S Sedan. The Model S initially did not have an auto-pilot function but was later added in 2014.
Not long after, in 2015, Tesla released their next vehicle, Tesla Model X, a crossover vehicle, meaning it had the functions of a sports utility vehicle built on a car chassis. The Model X includes third-row seating and seats up to 7 passengers. It also has a 340-mile range after one battery charging.
In 2017 due to the demand for a more inexpensive car, Tesla began production on the Tesla Model 3 Sedan. The Model 3 ranges 353 miles for every full charge of the battery. It has a complete glass roof and four doors, seating up to 5 passengers. This model was the best-selling Tesla production and had been the best-selling electric car, outperforming the Nissan Leaf.
Tesla had also begun creating other products, most popularly, solar-energy equipment. In 2016, Tesla bought a solar panel company and worked on better improving the service. In 2017, the name was changed from Tesla Motors to Tesla to convey that the company no longer only sold cars.
Fun Fact: Tesla car batteries can sustain 300,000-500,000 miles of driving distance. Based on the average number of miles driven per year, the battery can last 21-35 years! That is about double the period of a gas vehicle.
In 2020, Tesla released yet another crossover vehicle, the Tesla Model Y. This new car was smaller but less costly than the Model X, and the sale skyrocketed, their new best-selling car. Tesla announced the makings of new vehicles, such as the second Roadster and the Cybertruck, a pickup truck with a boxy shape. A new excitement for the future of electric cars.
You Probably Did Not Know -
1. Musk almost sold Tesla to Google for $11 billion!
2. He would drink 96 oz of diet coke and numerous cups of coffee to keep himself awake during his 100-hour work weeks.
3. He has made appearances in a few Hollywood productions and American sitcoms, notably; the Big Bang Theory, the Simpsons show in the episode "The Musk Who Fell To Earth", and South Park.
4. He bought James Bond’s submarine car in his movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” for almost $1 million.
5. He paid for college by throwing house parties at his dorm to help pay rent, charging $5 for entry.
6. Musk was Robert Downey Jr.'s inspiration for Tony Stark in Iron Man and received a cameo in Iron Man 2.
7. He opened a school for his kids and some SpaceX employees' children believing the modern school system was not teaching children problem-solving skills. The school was called Ad Astra, which means To The Stars.
8. He is a dedicated fan of well-known rapper Kanye West and considers him his inspiration.
9. He produced the concept of the Hyperloop in 2013. This was the idea of the fifth new form of transportation. In his mind, there are planes, trains, cars, and boats, but he believed there could be another type of transportation. Hyperloop, a tube that would be able to transport you from LA to San Francisco in 90 minutes he wants transportation to be fast, affordable, and accessible.
This is one of his biggest future goals.
10. He wants to colonize Mars!
11. He does not earn a salary from Tesla, but he earns compensation packages from the company when he reaches company milestones. He earns larger compensation packages than anyone else in the world.
12. He is a dedicated fan of X-Men.
13. He is the father of 7 children.
14. He named one of his sons Xavier which he later admitted was inspired by Professor Xavier from X-Men.
Many things make Elon Musk successful, his great mind, innovation, and a different mindset on many matters. But, above all, it is his determination, dedication, and perseverance to pull through even when things don't work the way he expects.
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