Elon Musk is a rarity, like gold at the end of the rainbow. The South African-born entrepreneur is a businessman, inventor and celebrity. As important as the business side of his empire is, this celebrity has been instrumental in the success of his various ventures, especially his electric car brand, Tesla Motors.
Musk who left school at the highest level of education (while doing his doctorate) in 1995, then pursues his corporate career. Since then, its history has been filled with one entrepreneurial success after another. Elon’s dreams have allowed him to contribute to many industries. This includes everything from online payment systems to electric cars, space exploration, unconventional building and transportation systems, artificial intelligence and, of course, vanity toys.
Musk is a strong believer in making the world a better place through solving entrepreneurial problems; no wonder he always seems to start a new business every two years. In December 2016, he was No. 21 on the list of The Most Powerful People in the World. In February 2018, Elon Musk was listed at No. 53 on Forbes’ list of The World’s Richest People, with a net worth of $20.8 billion.
The billionaire is politically active and has often expressed his opinions on different political issues. In December 2016, he became a member of two of then President-elect Donald Trump’s Presidential Advisory Committees. He would resign from Trump’s two-month presidency after losing touch with the president in terms of policy direction.
Through his Musk Foundation, Elon has given more than $11 million to numerous research companies and communities affected by natural disasters.
The life and education of Elon Musk
The outgoing entrepreneur was born Elon ReeveMusk on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. Musk was a voracious reader as a child. He had developed an interest in computer programming at the age of ten. He had then written and sold his first BASIC-based video game code to a computer magazine for around $500.
Musk was often bullied as a child, but he finished high school in the country. On his eighteenth birthday month, Elon moved to Canada after acquiring Canadian citizenship through his Canadian-born mother.
Musk received a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School of Business. He moved to California to pursue a doctorate. in applied physics and materials science but eventually left Stanford University two days later to focus on his entrepreneurial aspirations.
His early career: Zip2 and PayPal
In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, raised money from investors to start their web-based software company, Zip2. They have developed an online city guide for various publishing houses like The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. The company was acquired in 1999 by Compaq for a total of $341 million in cash and stock options. Musk, who owned 7% of the company’s equity, received $22 million from the sale.
In March 1999, he took $10 million of the money he got from the Zip2 sale and started a financial services and email payment company, X.com. The following year it merged with Confinity, and the new entity focused on Confinity’s money transfer service, PayPal. In 2001, the company changed its name to PayPal. The company was sold for $1.5 billion in 2002 to eBay. Musk received $165 million for his 11.7% stake in the company.
Space Exploration Efforts and Tesla, Inc.
In 2001, Musk again dreamed up a project he called Mars Oasis, with the goal of reviving public interest in space exploration. The project never saw the light of day due to difficulties in acquiring refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles from Russia. This led him to decide to start his own company in order to build affordable missiles he needed for his exploration of Mars. Again, rummaging through his coffers, he launched his space exploration technology company, Space X, in May 2002, in California.
In the years following Space X’s accomplishments in its industry, they signed contracts with companies like NASA in 2006 and another $1.6 billion commercial resupply services program in 2008. In February 2018 they became the first private company to launch an object into orbit around the sun. As of November 2017, the company had approximately 7,000 people on its payroll.
In February 2004, Elon led the Series A funding of a company called Tesla Motors at the time. He joined the company’s board of directors and eventually took over as CEO and product architect in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Renamed Tesla, Inc., the company’s primary focus is vehicle manufacturing electric vehicles such as their Tesla Roadster, Model X and Model S vehicles. They also build electronic powertrains for companies such as Toyota and Mercedes’ parent company Daimler to manufacture their electric vehicles.
Tesla exploded under the visionary leadership of Elon Musk, who earned an annual salary of $37,000 according to CNBC. Tesla got into energy storage and solar-powered system manufacturing with the acquisition of SolarCity, a company co-founded by two of Musk’s cousins in 2006. As of December 2017, Tesla, Inc. employs more than 37,000 people.
Other Efforts
Since Space X and Tesla, Elon has long developed his entrepreneurial interests in the areas of transportation and artificial intelligence.
He founded Hyperloop on August 12, 2013 and the Boring Company on December 17, 2016. Their ultimate goal is to make transportation systems more affordable, efficient and reliable. While Hyperloop is focused on building a high-speed transportation system with next-gen technology, The Boring Company — which was inspired by Musk’s traffic — is essentially an infrastructure and construction company aimed at to create an elaborate network of tunnels across the country to relieve above-ground traffic congestion.
Elon Musk’s two artificial intelligence startups are Neuralink and Open AI. According to the billionaire entrepreneur, these two establishments are complementary. Neuralink is a neurotechnology company that aims to integrate artificial intelligence into the human brain. According to Musk, this will amplify all functions of the brain to help it cope with an era of rapidly advancing intelligence. Open AI, on the other hand, is a non-profit organization that serves as a kind of check. Its goal is to continuously explore the dangers of artificial intelligence and design security measures so that the development of AI does not end up becoming counterproductive for our humanity.
In 2018, Musk took an unconventional turn in expanding his business empire. He announced that he would be starting a new comedy media company called Thud.
Elon Musk’s family: mother, father, brother, sister, wife, friend and children
As stated earlier, Elon was born in South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, was a pilot, sailor and electromechanical engineer. Her mother, Maye Musk, was a dietitian and model from Canada. Musk had two younger biological siblings, Kimbal Musk and Tosca Musk. Kimbal has worked with Elon at different points in his entrepreneurial journey. He is also a board member of one of Elon’s many companies. Kimbal owns a chain of restaurants. Tosca, on the other hand, is a filmmaker and producer. She has released a few movies under her company, Musk Entertainment.
It seems the ever-evolving businessman had as many connections as he has business ventures. So far, the man has had five relationships, with four different people.
Musk met Justine Wilson, a Canadian author at the Queen’s University campus in Ontario where they were both students. The couple began dating and married in 2000. Justine would later have five sons for Musk – twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006 – through in vitro fertilization. They had lost their first child before the arrival of these five children. The couple divorced in 2008 and share custody of the children.
Musk started dating Talulah Riley, an English actress in 2008. They married in 2010 and divorced in early 2012. They got together in July 2013 and divorced for the second time in late 2016. Next came the American actress Amber Heard in 2016. However, their busy schedule forced them to split after a year. In May 2018, Elon announced that he was in a relationship with Canadian singer Grimes.
The height and dimensions of the body of Elon Musk
Elon Musk certainly doesn’t walk or look lazy even to the most discerning eye. He stands at an impressive height of 1.88m, which is about two inches above six feet. He maintains a healthy weight of around 82 kg (181 lb), has hazel colored eyes and light brown hair.
