Elon Musk, an entrepreneur from South Africa, is recognized for founding the companies Tesla Motors and SpaceX, the latter of which is credited with launching a historic commercial spacecraft in 2012.
Who Is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is an American entrepreneur and businessman born in South Africa. He is the founder of three companies: X.com in 1999 (which eventually evolved into PayPal), SpaceX in 2002, and Tesla Motors in 2003. After selling his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers when he was in his late 20s, Musk had already amassed a fortune worth multiple millions of dollars.
When Musk’s company, SpaceX, successfully launched a rocket in May 2012 that delivered the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station, he became a household name. He increased the value of his holdings by acquiring SolarCity in 2016, and he solidified his position as a pioneer in the business world by serving in an advising capacity during the early stages of the administration of President Donald Trump.
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According to reports, Elon Musk took over the title of the wealthiest man on earth from Jeff Bezos in January 2021.
Early Life
He was born on June 28th, 1971, in Pretoria, which is located in South Africa. Musk’s parents and physicians were concerned about his hearing when he was a child since he spent so much time immersed in daydreams about creating new inventions.
When Musk was 10 years old, roughly concurrent with his parent’s divorce, he became interested in computers. He was able to teach himself how to program, and by the time he was 12 years old, he had already sold his first piece of software, a game he had invented and named Blastar.
Musk was characterized as short, shy, and bookish when he was younger. He was picked on until he was 15 years old, during which time he underwent a growth spurt, learnt how to defend himself through karate and wrestling, and underwent a physical change.
Family
Maye Musk, Musk’s mother, is a Canadian model who holds the record for being the oldest woman to appear in a Covergirl commercial campaign. When Musk was a child, her mother supported her and her siblings by holding as many as five jobs.
Musk’s father, Errol Musk, is a successful South African engineer and a wealthy businessman.
South Africa was where Musk, his brother Kimbal, and his sister Tosca lived throughout Musk’s early childhood years. When he was 10 years old, his parents had a divorce.
Education
Musk emigrated to Canada when he was 17 years old in 1989 to attend Queen’s University and avoid doing his necessary military obligation in South Africa. Musk became a citizen of Canada in that same year, in part because he believed it would be simpler for him to become a citizen of the United States by going through that route.
Musk left Canada in 1992 to attend the University of Pennsylvania and receive his degrees in business and physics. After receiving his diploma for his undergraduate studies in economics, he continued his education and earned a second bachelor’s degree in physics.
After graduating from Penn, Musk continued his education in the energy physics field at Stanford University in California. He left Stanford after just two days to become a part of the Internet boom and launched his first firm, Zip2 Corporation, in 1995. His move, however, was perfectly timed with the boom, and he left Stanford after only two days to become a part of it. In 2002, Musk received his citizenship in the United States.
Companies
Zip2 Corporation
Musk and his brother Kimbal established their first business together in 1995 under Zip2 Corporation. Zip2, an online city guide, quickly became a content provider for the newly launched websites of The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune. In 1999, a subsidiary of Compaq Computer Corporation purchased Zip2 for a total of $307.7 million in cash and $34.75 million in stock options. This transaction took place.
PayPal
In 1999, Elon and Kimbal Musk established X.com, an online financial services and payments company, using the proceeds from the sale of their previous company, Zip2.com. The next year, X.com was purchased, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of PayPal in its current form.
When eBay acquired PayPal in October of 2002 for $1.5 billion in equity, Musk made his first billion dollars. Before the sale, Musk owned 11% of the stock in PayPal.
SpaceX
Musk established his third firm in 2002 under Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (often known as SpaceX) to manufacture spaceships for commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX had already built a solid reputation for itself, so NASA decided to replace its space shuttle missions by giving the company a contract to manage cargo transport for the International Space Station (with plans for astronaut transport in the future). This was done to phase out NASA’s use of the space shuttle.
Falcon 9 Rockets
Musk and SpaceX created history on May 22, 2012, when they successfully launched an unmanned capsule into space atop a Falcon 9 rocket owned and operated by the firm. It was the first time a private enterprise had flown a spacecraft to the International Space Station. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there. Musk was cited as stating the following about the launch: “I cannot believe my good fortune. It’s the equivalent of us winning the Super Bowl for us.”
In December 2013, a Falcon 9 transported a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit. This is the distance at which the satellite could lock into an orbital path that matched the Earth’s rotation. In February 2015, SpaceX successfully launched a second Falcon 9 rocket, outfitted with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite. This mission was to monitor the extreme emissions from the sun, which impact power grids and communication systems here on Earth.
In March 2017, SpaceX witnessed the successful test launch and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket made from reusable parts, a breakthrough that opened the way for more cheap space travel.
An explosion that occurred in November 2017 when the corporation was testing its brand-new Block 5 Merlin engine was a setback for the organization. SpaceX stated that there were no reports of injuries and that the incident would not prevent the company from rolling out a new generation of Falcon 9 rockets as scheduled.
In February 2018, the successful test launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket provided the corporation with another event that marked a significant milestone. The Falcon Heavy was meant to transport enormous payloads into orbit and has the potential to serve as a spacecraft for deep space missions. It was equipped with multiple Falcon 9 launchers to accomplish these goals. Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster served as the payload for the test launch of the Falcon Heavy. The vehicle was outfitted with cameras to “deliver some epic sights” during the spacecraft’s scheduled orbit around the sun.
In July of 2018, Space X celebrated successfully landing a new Block 5 Falcon rocket on a drone ship less than 9 minutes after liftoff.
BFR Mission to Mars
Musk unveiled a revised design plan for his BFR (an abbreviation that either stands for “Big F—-ing Rocket” or “Big Falcon Rocket”) in September 2017. The BFR is a behemoth powered by 31 engines and topped by a spaceship that can take at least 100 passengers. As part of his long-term objective to colonize Mars, he disclosed that SpaceX planned to use the vehicle for the first time to send goods to Mars in 2022. This was part of his overall plan to populate the Red Planet.
At the annual South by Southwest festival held in Austin, Texas, in March 2018, the entrepreneur told the crowd that he wanted to have the BFR ready for short flights early in the year following, while also giving a knowing nod at his previous issues with meeting deadlines.
The announcement that SpaceX would be constructing a facility at the Port of Los Angeles to build and host the BFR came the following month after the announcement. Because SpaceX’s massive rocket will only be mobile once it is constructed and can be transported by barge or ship, the port site provides a perfect location for the company.
Starlink Internet Satellites
At the end of March 2018, SpaceX was granted authorization by the federal government of the United States to put a constellation of satellites into low orbit to deliver Internet access. The satellite network, known as Starlink, would perhaps make internet service more accessible in remote areas. Additionally, it will hopefully promote competition in heavily populated markets, often dominated by only one or two providers.
SpaceX launched the initial payload of 60 satellites in May 2019, and the company then launched another payload of 60 satellites in November of the same year. Although this was a significant step forward for the Starlink endeavour, the appearance of these bright orbiters in the night sky, with the possibility of thousands more to come, caused astronomers to express concern. They believed that increasing the number of satellites in space would make it more difficult to investigate objects at greater distances.
Tesla Motors
Musk is not only one of the co-founders of Tesla Motors but also serves as the company’s CEO and product architect. Tesla Motors was established in 2003 with the mission of developing and manufacturing electric vehicles suitable for mass production at affordable prices, battery products, and solar roofing. Musk is in charge of the entire process of the company’s product creation, including engineering and design.
Roadster
In March 2008, five years after the company was established, Tesla presented the Roadster. This sports automobile could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and travel approximately 250 miles between the charges of its lithium-ion battery.
In June 2010, Tesla Motors went public for the first time, successfully generating a total of $226 million. Before this, Daimler had already purchased a stake in the company and formed a strategic partnership with Toyota.
Model S
In August of 2008, Tesla made public its intentions to produce the Model S, the company’s first electric sedan, which was rumoured to be designed to compete with the BMW 5 series. After years of anticipation, production of the Model S began in 2012 with a starting price of $58,570. Motor Trend magazine recognised it as the best vehicle of 2013, with a range of 265 miles between charges.
Tesla announced in April 2017 that it had surpassed General Motors to become the most-valued automobile manufacturer in the United States. The company, planning to increase manufacturing and launch its Model 3 sedan later that year, received welcome and undeniable good news from the announcement.
At the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey County, California, in September 2019, a Model S broke the speed record for four-door sedans by employing what its owner, Elon Musk, referred to as a “Plaid powertrain.”
Model 3
After significant production delays, the Model 3 was finally given its official debut at the beginning of 2019. The starting pricing of the vehicle was set at $35,000, making it far more affordable than the Model S and Model X electric sedans, which start at $69,500 and go up from there.
After having originally planned to create 5,000 new Model 3 automobiles per week by the end of 2017, Elon Musk shifted that goal back to March 2018 and then again to June when the new year began. The announced delay did not surprise industry experts, as they were well aware of the company’s manufacturing challenges; however, several investors questioned how much longer they would be patient with the process. It also did not prohibit Musk from acquiring a revolutionary new compensation package as CEO. He would be rewarded after meeting milestones of expanding valuation based on $50 billion increments. Musk was able to do this even though he was CEO of Tesla.
In April 2018, as it became clear that Tesla would not meet the production projections for the first quarter, reports circulated that Elon Musk had demoted the head of engineering so that he could personally supervise the work being done in that section. In a conversation on Twitter between Musk and a reporter, Musk stated that it was essential to “divide and conquer” to fulfil production objectives and that he was “back to sleeping at the factory.”
Musk announced in June that Tesla will be laying off 9% of its workers, despite his previous hints that the business would reorganize its management structure. Despite this, the production department continued to function normally. Musk acknowledged that it was necessary to take significant actions toward achieving profitability and communicated his plan to eliminate some “duplication of functions” in a company-wide email he sent to Tesla staff.
It was revealed that Tesla had achieved its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 automobiles per week by the end of June 2018 while also churning out additional 2,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. The restructuring appeared to have paid rewards. In a jubilant email to the business, Musk proclaimed, “We did it!” after the accomplishment. “What an outstanding job done by an even more incredible team.”
In February of the following year, Musk announced that Tesla would soon begin putting out its base Model 3. Musk also stated that Tesla would begin conducting all of its business transactions online and would provide consumers with the option to return their vehicles for a full refund if they did so within seven days or 1,000 miles of delivery.
Semi Truck
Musk caused another stir when he presented the new Tesla Roadster and Semi at the company’s design lab in November 2017. The semi-truck construction, originally scheduled to begin in 2019, has been pushed back. The semi-truck, which has a range of 500 miles and a battery and motors designed to endure for 1 million miles, has been postponed.
Model Y and Roadster
Musk finally introduced the highly anticipated Tesla Model Y in March 2019. The tiny crossover has a range of 300 miles and can reach 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. It began to be delivered to consumers in March 2020.
With a 0 to 60 mph pace of 1.9 seconds, the Roadster, also scheduled for debut in 2020, will become the fastest production automobile that has ever been manufactured.
SolarCity
In August 2016, a $2.6 billion deal was finalized to unite Musk’s electric car and solar energy enterprises. This was part of Musk’s ongoing endeavour to promote and enhance sustainable energy and products for a wider consumer base. Tesla Motors Inc. announced that it would purchase SolarCity Corp. in an all-stock transaction. SolarCity was a firm that Musk had helped his cousins create in 2006. In every organization, he holds the majority of the voting shares.
“The optimal use of solar energy and energy storage occurs when combined. A statement regarding the deal can be found on Tesla’s website. It reads, “As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored, and consumed. These products can be created for residential, commercial, and grid-scale markets.”
The Boring Company
In January 2017, Elon Musk established The Boring Company. This business primarily focuses on the boring construction of tunnels to reduce the amount of street traffic. He started by conducting a trial excavation on the SpaceX property in Los Angeles.
Late in October of that year, Musk uploaded the first snapshot on his Instagram profile showcasing the development of his company. According to him, the construction of the 500-foot tunnel, which would normally run parallel to Interstate 405, would take around four months to reach a length of two miles.
In May 2019, the business known as TBC was awarded a contract from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to construct an underground Loop system to shuttle visitors around the Las Vegas Convention Center. The deal was worth a total of 48.7 million dollars.
TwitterÂ
After several months of back and forth, Elon Musk finally closed the deal to buy Twitter in October 2022 and took over as CEO of the social media firm.
Musk’s Tweet and SEC Investigation
Musk dropped the bombshell in a tweet on August 7, 2018: “I am thinking about taking Tesla private for $420. Funding has been obtained.” The statement made it possible for legal action to be taken against the firm and its founder since the SEC immediately initiated an investigation into whether or not Musk had acquired the funds as reported. Several investors have initiated legal action against Musk because he used his tweet to manipulate stock prices and ambush short sellers intentionally.
The post from Musk caused Tesla stock to surge immediately, and by the end of the day, it had gained 11%. The chief executive officer then posted a letter on the company blog in which he referred to the decision to go private as “the greatest road forward.” He guaranteed that he would keep his investment in the company, and he added that he would establish a dedicated fund to assist all existing investors in maintaining their involvement.
Six days later, Musk issued a statement in which he attempted to clarify his stance by pointing to meetings he had had with the managing director of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund as the source of his “funding secured” remark. Later, he tweeted that he was working on a plan to take Tesla private and that financial advisors Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake would be involved.
Azealia Banks, a rapper, posted on her Instagram account that day that she had been a guest at Elon Musk’s house at the time that he sent out the tweet that made headlines and that she had learnt that Musk was under the influence of LSD when he sent out the tweet that made headlines. Banks claimed that she could listen in on Musk as he made phone calls to secure the cash that he had previously stated was already in place.
When it was announced that Tesla’s outside directors had hired two law firms to deal with the SEC inquiry and the CEO’s ambitions to take the business private, the news rapidly took on a more serious tone once more.
On the 24th of August, one day after meeting with the board of directors, Musk announced that he had changed his mind and would not be taking the firm private. He cited among his reasons the preference of the majority of directors to keep Tesla public and the difficulty of retaining some of the large shareholders who were prohibited from investing in a private company. He also cited Tesla’s difficulty in attracting new investors into a private company. Others have hypothesized that Musk was swayed by the negative connotations associated with an electric car firm receiving funding from Saudi Arabia. This nation is deeply involved in the oil sector.
As part of a settlement with the SEC, it was reported on September 29, 2018, that Elon Musk would pay a fine of $20 million and stand aside from his position as chairman of the board at Tesla for three years.
Inventions and Innovations
Hyperloop
In August 2013, Elon Musk presented the idea for a new mode of transportation that he termed the “Hyperloop.” This innovation would encourage travelling between large cities while drastically reducing travel time. In an ideal scenario, the Hyperloop would be impervious to the effects of the elements and run on energy derived from renewable sources. It would transport passengers in pods at over 700 miles per hour as they travelled through a network of low-pressure tubes. Musk stated that the construction and readiness of the Hyperloop might take anywhere from seven to ten years to complete.
Musk’s idea has been met with scepticism, even though he introduced the Hyperloop with claims that it would be safer than a plane or train. With an estimated cost of $6 billion — approximately one-tenth of the cost for the rail system planned by the state of California — the Hyperloop’s price tag, Musk’s idea has a much lower price tag. Despite this, the business owner has made it a priority to foster the growth of this idea.
The first Hyperloop Pod Competition was held at the SpaceX facility in January 2017, shortly after he announced that he would be holding a competition for teams to submit their designs for a prototype Hyperloop pod. A team of student engineers from Germany competed in the tournament’s third round in 2018, setting a new record speed of 284 miles per hour. The following year, the same team increased their record to 287 miles per hour.
AI and Neuralink
As a result of his interest in artificial intelligence, Musk is now serving as co-chair of the nonprofit organization OpenAI. The research company was formed in late 2015 to enhance digital intelligence to benefit humanity.
It was also revealed in 2017 that Musk provided financial support to a company called Neuralink. This company’s mission is to develop hardware that can be surgically inserted into the human brain to facilitate the fusion of humans and software. During a conversation in July 2019, he elaborated on the company’s progress. He disclosed that the company’s products will have a microscopic chip connecting to a smartphone through Bluetooth.
High-Speed Train
Musk tweeted in late November 2017 that he was going all-in on the competition with The Boring Company in response to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s request for proposals to build and operate a high-speed rail line that would transport passengers from O’Hare Airport to downtown Chicago in less than 20 minutes. He stated that the idea behind the Chicago loop would be distinct from his Hyperloop because its relatively short path would not need to draw a vacuum to get rid of air friction.
In the summer of 2018, Elon Musk announced that he would personally pay the approximately one billion dollars required to dig the 17-mile tunnel connecting Chicago’s airport and downtown. Nevertheless, in late 2019, he tweeted that plans for Chicago would stay in limbo for the foreseeable future because TBC will concentrate on finishing the commercial tunnel in Las Vegas before turning to other projects.
Flamethrower
Reportedly, Musk also discovered a market for the flamethrowers produced by The Boring Company. In the latter half of January 2018, he stated that he had sold 10,000 of them in a single day after announcing that they would be put up for sale for $500 each.
Relationship with Donald Trump
Musk was invited to join President Trump’s Strategy and Policy Forum in December 2016, and he officially started working with the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative in January of the following year. After Trump’s election, Musk found himself on common ground with the new president and his advisers as the president announced plans.
Musk defended his cooperation with the current administration, even though he occasionally finds himself at war with the contentious policies of the president, like a planned ban on immigrants from countries with Muslim-majority populations. At the beginning of 2017, he tweeted, “My goals are to expedite the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization.” He explained that this would create hundreds of thousands of employees and a more inspiring future for everyone.
Following President Trump’s statement on June 1 that he would be withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, Elon Musk resigned from all of his advisory posts.
Personal Life
Wives and Children
Musk has gone through two different marriages. In 2000, he tied the knot with Justine Wilson, and the couple went on to have six children together. Their first son was 10 weeks old when he passed away in 2002 from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Griffin and Xavier were born in 2004, while triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian were born in 2008, bringing the total number of sons that Musk and Wilson have together to five (born in 2006).
Musk’s divorce from Wilson was difficult; soon after, he began dating actress Talulah Riley. In 2010, the couple tied the knot. In 2012, they divorced, but in 2013, they got back together and married. In 2016, they divorced, bringing an end to their long-term partnership.
Girlfriends
After Musk finalized his divorce from Riley in 2016, he started seeing actress Amber Heard around the same time as Heard finished finalizing her divorce from Johnny Depp. Because of their respective hectic schedules, the pair decided to end their relationship in August 2017. Still, they reconciled in January of 2018, only to part ways once more one month later.
In May 2018, Musk began dating artist Grimes (born Claire Boucher). During the same month, Grimes announced that she had changed her name to “c,” the sign for the speed of light. According to rumours, Musk was behind the decision to persuade her to change. Fans voiced their disapproval of the feminist performer’s relationship with a billionaire whose business has been labelled a “predator zone” due to allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
In a piece published in March 2019 in the magazine edition of the Wall Street Journal, the pair addressed their love for one another. Grimes said, “Look, I adore him; he’s amazing…”
I mean, he’s a really interesting person, for the love of god. Musk, for his part, expressed his admiration for “c’s crazy untamed creative imagination and hyper-intense work ethic” in an interview with the Journal.
On May 4, 2020, Grimes gave birth to their baby, and Musk announced that they had named their kid “X A-12.” Grimes gave birth to their son on May 4, 2020. Later in the month, after it was reported that the State of California would not recognize a name with a number as part of it, the couple announced that they would be changing their son’s name to “X A-Xii.”
In December of 2021, Musk and Grimes were blessed with the birth of their second child, a daughter whom they called Exa Dark Siderael Musk. The birth of the child was carried out via a surrogate.
Nonprofit Work
The limitless possibilities of space exploration and safeguarding the human race’s future have become the cornerstones of Musk’s enduring interests. Towards these goals, he established the Musk Foundation, which is committed to space exploration and discovering renewable and clean energy sources.
Musk committed in October 2019 to contribute $1 million to the #TeamTrees campaign, which has the objective of planting 20 million trees all around the world by the year 2020. In honour of the event, he even altered his Twitter handle to read as “Treelon.”
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