summary of elon musk biography

South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.

Who Is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk is a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman who founded X.com in 1999 (which later became PayPal), SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers.

In January 2021, Musk reportedly surpassed Jeff Bezos as the wealthiest man in the world.

Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. As a child, Musk was so lost in his daydreams about inventions that his parents and doctors ordered a test to check his hearing.

At about the time of his parents’ divorce, when he was 10, Musk developed an interest in computers. He taught himself how to program, and when he was 12 he sold his first software: a game he created called Blastar.

In grade school, Musk was short, introverted and bookish. He was bullied until he was 15 and went through a growth spurt and learned how to defend himself with karate and wrestling.

Musk’s mother, Maye Musk , is a Canadian model and the oldest woman to star in a Covergirl campaign. When Musk was growing up, she worked five jobs at one point to support her family.

Musk’s father, Errol Musk, is a wealthy South African engineer.

Musk spent his early childhood with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca in South Africa. His parents divorced when he was 10.

At age 17, in 1989, Musk moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University and avoid mandatory service in the South African military. Musk obtained his Canadian citizenship that year, in part because he felt it would be easier to obtain American citizenship via that path.

In 1992, Musk left Canada to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelor’s degree in physics.

After leaving Penn, Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a PhD in energy physics. However, his move was timed perfectly with the Internet boom, and he dropped out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2 Corporation in 1995. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002.

Zip2 Corporation

Musk launched his first company, Zip2 Corporation, in 1995 with his brother, Kimbal Musk. An online city guide, Zip2 was soon providing content for the new websites of both The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune . In 1999, a division of Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

In 1999, Elon and Kimbal Musk used the money from their sale of Zip2 to found X.com, an online financial services/payments company. An X.com acquisition the following year led to the creation of PayPal as it is known today.

In October 2002, Musk earned his first billion when PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk owned 11 percent of PayPal stock.

Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 with the intention of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX was well established, and NASA awarded the company the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station—with plans for astronaut transport in the future—in a move to replace NASA’s own space shuttle missions.

Falcon 9 Rockets

On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, marking the first time a private company had sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Of the launch, Musk was quoted as saying, "I feel very lucky. ... For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."

In December 2013, a Falcon 9 successfully carried a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, a distance at which the satellite would lock into an orbital path that matched the Earth's rotation. In February 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 fitted with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, aiming to observe the extreme emissions from the sun that affect power grids and communications systems on Earth.

In March 2017, SpaceX saw the successful test flight and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket made from reusable parts, a development that opened the door for more affordable space travel.

A setback came in November 2017, when an explosion occurred during a test of the company's new Block 5 Merlin engine. SpaceX reported that no one was hurt, and that the issue would not hamper its planned rollout of a future generation of Falcon 9 rockets.

The company enjoyed another milestone moment in February 2018 with the successful test launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. Armed with additional Falcon 9 boosters, the Falcon Heavy was designed to carry immense payloads into orbit and potentially serve as a vessel for deep space missions. For the test launch, the Falcon Heavy was given a payload of Musk's cherry-red Tesla Roadster, equipped with cameras to "provide some epic views" for the vehicle's planned orbit around the sun.

In July 2018, Space X enjoyed the successful landing of a new Block 5 Falcon rocket, which touched down on a drone ship less than 9 minutes after liftoff.

BFR Mission to Mars

In September 2017, Musk presented an updated design plan for his BFR (an acronym for either "Big F---ing Rocket" or "Big Falcon Rocket"), a 31-engine behemoth topped by a spaceship capable of carrying at least 100 people. He revealed that SpaceX was aiming to launch the first cargo missions to Mars with the vehicle in 2022, as part of his overarching goal of colonizing the Red Planet.

In March 2018, the entrepreneur told an audience at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, that he hoped to have the BFR ready for short flights early the following year, while delivering a knowing nod at his previous problems with meeting deadlines.

The following month, it was announced that SpaceX would construct a facility at the Port of Los Angeles to build and house the BFR. The port property presented an ideal location for SpaceX, as its mammoth rocket will only be movable by barge or ship when completed.

Starlink Internet Satellites

In late March 2018, SpaceX received permission from the U.S. government to launch a fleet of satellites into low orbit for the purpose of providing Internet service. The satellite network, named Starlink, would ideally make broadband service more accessible in rural areas, while also boosting competition in heavily populated markets that are typically dominated by one or two providers.

SpaceX launched the first batch of 60 satellites in May 2019, and followed with another payload of 60 satellites that November. While this represented significant progress for the Starlink venture, the appearance of these bright orbiters in the night sky, with the potential of thousands more to come, worried astronomers who felt that a proliferation of satellites would increase the difficulty of studying distant objects in space.

Tesla Motors

Musk is the co-founder, CEO and product architect at Tesla Motors, a company formed in 2003 that is dedicated to producing affordable, mass-market electric cars as well as battery products and solar roofs. Musk oversees all product development, engineering and design of the company's products.

Five years after its formation, in March 2008, Tesla unveiled the Roadster, a sports car capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, as well as traveling nearly 250 miles between charges of its lithium ion battery.

With a stake in the company taken by Daimler and a strategic partnership with Toyota, Tesla Motors launched its initial public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million.

In August 2008, Tesla announced plans for its Model S, the company's first electric sedan that was reportedly meant to take on the BMW 5 series. In 2012, the Model S finally entered production at a starting price of $58,570. Capable of covering 265 miles between charges, it was honored as the 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine .

In April 2017, Tesla announced that it surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. car maker. The news was an obvious boon to Tesla, which was looking to ramp up production and release its Model 3 sedan later that year.

In September 2019, using what Musk described as a "Plaid powertrain," a Model S set a speed record for four-door sedan at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey County, California.

The Model 3 was officially launched in early 2019 following extensive production delays. The car was initially priced at $35,000, a much more accessible price point than the $69,500 and up for its Model S and X electric sedans.

After initially aiming to produce 5,000 new Model 3 cars per week by December 2017, Musk pushed that goal back to March 2018, and then to June with the start of the new year. The announced delay didn't surprise industry experts, who were well aware of the company's production problems, though some questioned how long investors would remain patient with the process. It also didn't prevent Musk from garnering a radical new compensation package as CEO, in which he would be paid after reaching milestones of growing valuation based on $50 billion increments.

By April 2018, with Tesla expected to fall short of first-quarter production forecasts, news surfaced that Musk had pushed aside the head of engineering to personally oversee efforts in that division. In a Twitter exchange with a reporter, Musk said it was important to "divide and conquer" to meet production goals and was "back to sleeping at factory."

After signaling that the company would reorganize its management structure, Musk in June announced that Tesla was laying off 9 percent of its workforce, though its production department would remain intact. In an email to employees, Musk explained his decision to eliminate some "duplication of roles" to cut costs, admitting it was time to take serious steps toward turning a profit.

The restructuring appeared to pay dividends, as it was announced that Tesla had met its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June 2018, while churning out another 2,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. "We did it!" Musk wrote in a celebratory email to the company. "What an incredible job by an amazing team."

The following February, Musk announced that the company was finally rolling out its standard Model 3. Musk also said that Tesla was shifting to all-online sales, and offering customers the chance to return their cars within seven days or 1,000 miles for a full refund.

In November 2017, Musk made another splash with the unveiling of the new Tesla Semi and Roadster at the company's design studio. The semi-truck, which was expected to enter into production in 2019 before being delayed, boasts 500 miles of range as well as a battery and motors built to last 1 million miles.

Model Y and Roadster

In March 2019, Musk unveiled Tesla’s long-awaited Model Y. The compact crossover, which began arriving for customers in March 2020, has a driving range of 300 miles and a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds.

The Roadster, also set to be released in 2020, will become the fastest production car ever made, with a 0 to 60 time of 1.9 seconds.

In August 2016, in Musk’s continuing effort to promote and advance sustainable energy and products for a wider consumer base, a $2.6 billion dollar deal was solidified to combine his electric car and solar energy companies. His Tesla Motors Inc. announced an all-stock deal purchase of SolarCity Corp., a company Musk had helped his cousins start in 2006. He is a majority shareholder in each entity.

“Solar and storage are at their best when they're combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed,” read a statement on Tesla’s website about the deal.

The Boring Company

In January 2017, Musk launched The Boring Company, a company devoted to boring and building tunnels in order to reduce street traffic. He began with a test dig on the SpaceX property in Los Angeles.

In late October of that year, Musk posted the first photo of his company's progress to his Instagram page. He said the 500-foot tunnel, which would generally run parallel to Interstate 405, would reach a length of two miles in approximately four months.

In May 2019 the company, now known as TBC, landed a $48.7 million contract from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to build an underground Loop system to shuttle people around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In October 2022, Musk officially bought Twitter and became the social media company's CEO after months of back and forth.

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Musk’s Tweet and SEC Investigation

On August 7, 2018, Musk dropped a bombshell via a tweet: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The announcement opened the door for legal action against the company and its founder, as the SEC began inquiring about whether Musk had indeed secured the funding as claimed. Several investors filed lawsuits on the grounds that Musk was looking to manipulate stock prices and ambush short sellers with his tweet.

Musk’s tweet initially sent Tesla stock spiking, before it closed the day up 11 percent. The CEO followed up with a letter on the company blog, calling the move to go private "the best path forward." He promised to retain his stake in the company, and added that he would create a special fund to help all current investors remain on board.

Six days later, Musk sought to clarify his position with a statement in which he pointed to discussions with the managing director of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund as the source of his "funding secured" declaration. He later tweeted that he was working on a proposal to take Tesla private with Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake as financial advisers.

The saga took a bizarre turn that day when rapper Azealia Banks wrote on Instagram that, as a guest at Musk's home at the time, she learned that he was under the influence of LSD when he fired off his headline-grabbing tweet. Banks said she overheard Musk making phone calls to drum up the funding he promised was already in place.

The news quickly turned serious again when it was reported that Tesla's outside directors had retained two law firms to deal with the SEC inquiry and the CEO's plans to take the company private.

On August 24, one day after meeting with the board, Musk announced that he had reversed course and would not be taking the company private. Among his reasons, he cited the preference of most directors to keep Tesla public, as well as the difficulty of retaining some of the large shareholders who were prohibited from investing in a private company. Others suggested that Musk was also influenced by the poor optics of an electric car company being funded by Saudi Arabia, a country heavily involved in the oil industry.

On September 29, 2018, it was announced that Musk would pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman of Tesla's board for three years as part of an agreement with the SEC.

Inventions and Innovations

In August 2013, Musk released a concept for a new form of transportation called the "Hyperloop," an invention that would foster commuting between major cities while severely cutting travel time. Ideally resistant to weather and powered by renewable energy, the Hyperloop would propel riders in pods through a network of low-pressure tubes at speeds reaching more than 700 mph. Musk noted that the Hyperloop could take from seven to 10 years to be built and ready for use.

Although 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 — Musk's concept has drawn skepticism. Nevertheless, the entrepreneur has sought to encourage the development of this idea.

After he announced a competition for teams to submit their designs for a Hyperloop pod prototype, the first Hyperloop Pod Competition was held at the SpaceX facility in January 2017. A speed record of 284 mph was set by a German student engineering team at competition No. 3 in 2018, with the same team pushing the record to 287 mph the next year.

AI and Neuralink

Musk has pursued an interest in artificial intelligence, becoming co-chair of the nonprofit OpenAI. The research company launched in late 2015 with the stated mission of advancing digital intelligence to benefit humanity.

In 2017, it was also reported that Musk was backing a venture called Neuralink, which intends to create devices to be implanted in the human brain and help people merge with software. He expanded on the company's progress during a July 2019 discussion, revealing that its devices will consist of a microscopic chip that connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone.

High-Speed Train

In late November 2017, after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for proposals to build and operate a high-speed rail line that would transport passengers from O'Hare Airport to downtown Chicago in 20 minutes or less, Musk tweeted that he was all-in on the competition with The Boring Company. He said that the concept of the Chicago loop would be different from his Hyperloop, its relatively short route not requiring the need for drawing a vacuum to eliminate air friction.

In summer 2018 Musk announced he would cover the estimated $1 billion needed to dig the 17-mile tunnel from the airport to downtown Chicago. However, in late 2019 he tweeted that TBC would focus on completing the commercial tunnel in Las Vegas before turning to other projects, suggesting that plans for Chicago would remain in limbo for the immediate future.

Flamethrower

Musk also reportedly found a market for The Boring Company's flamethrowers. After announcing they were going on sale for $500 apiece in late January 2018, he claimed to have sold 10,000 of them within a day.

Relationship with Donald Trump

In December 2016, Musk was named to President Trump’s Strategy and Policy Forum; the following January, he joined Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. Following Trump’s election, Musk found himself on common ground with the new president and his advisers as the president announced plans to pursue massive infrastructure developments.

While sometimes at odds with the president's controversial measures, such as a proposed ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, Musk defended his involvement with the new administration. "My goals," he tweeted in early 2017, "are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creating of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all."

On June 1, following Trump's announcement that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, Musk stepped down from his advisory roles.

Personal Life

Wives and children.

Musk has been married twice. He wed Justine Wilson in 2000, and the couple had six children together. In 2002, their first son died at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Musk and Wilson had five additional sons together: twins Griffin and Xavier (born in 2004) and triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian (born in 2006).

After a contentious divorce from Wilson, Musk met actress Talulah Riley. The couple married in 2010. They split in 2012 but married each other again in 2013. Their relationship ultimately ended in divorce in 2016.

Girlfriends

Musk reportedly began dating actress Amber Heard in 2016 after finalizing his divorce with Riley and Heard finalized her divorce from Johnny Depp . Their busy schedules caused the couple to break up in August 2017; they got back together in January 2018 and split again one month later.

In May 2018, Musk began dating musician Grimes (born Claire Boucher). That month, Grimes announced that she had changed her name to “ c ,” the symbol for the speed of light, reportedly on the encouragement of Musk. Fans criticized the feminist performer for dating a billionaire whose company has been described as a “predator zone” among accusations of sexual harassment.

The couple discussed their love for one another in a March 2019 feature in the Wall Street Journal Magazine , with Grimes saying “Look, I love him, he’s great...I mean, he’s a super-interesting goddamn person.” Musk, for his part, told the Journal, “I love c’s wild fae artistic creativity and hyper-intense work ethic.”

Grimes gave birth to their son on May 4, 2020, with Musk announcing that they had named the boy "X Æ A-12." Later in the month, after it was reported that the State of California wouldn't accept a name with a number, the couple said they were changing their son's name to "X Æ A-Xii."

Musk and Grimes welcomed their second child, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, in December 2021. The child was delivered via a surrogate.

Nonprofit Work

The boundless potential of space exploration and the preservation of the future of the human race have become the cornerstones of Musk's abiding interests, and toward these, he has founded the Musk Foundation, which is dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of renewable and clean energy sources.

In October 2019 Musk pledged to donate $1 million to the #TeamTrees campaign, which aims to plant 20 million trees around the world by 2020. He even changed his Twitter name to Treelon for the occasion.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Elon Musk
• Birth Year: 1971
• Birth date: June 28, 1971
• Birth City: Pretoria
• Birth Country: South Africa
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.
• Space Exploration
• Internet/Computing
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• University of Pennsylania
• Queen's University, Ontario
• Stanford University
• Nacionalities
• South African
• Interesting Facts
• Elon Musk left Stanford after two days to take advantage of the Internet boom.
• In April 2017, Musk's Tesla Motors surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. car maker.

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Elon Musk Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: October 31, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• I'm very pro-environment, but let's figure out how to do it better and not jump through a dozen hoops to achieve what is obvious in the first place.
• Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

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Who Is Elon Musk?

Nathan Laine / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Elon Musk, born in Pretoria, South Africa, is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time. Musk has achieved global fame as the chief executive officer (CEO) of electric automobile maker Tesla ( TSLA ) and the private space company SpaceX. Musk was an early investor in several tech companies, and in October 2022, he completed a deal to take X (formerly Twitter) private.

His success and personal style have given rise to comparisons to other colorful tycoons from U.S. history, including Steve Jobs , Howard Hughes, and Henry Ford . He was named the richest person in the world in 2021, surpassing Amazon ( AMZN ) founder Jeff Bezos. Musk is the richest person in the world as of Feb. 15, 2024.

Let’s look briefly at the life of the man who has scaled the pinnacle of the business world.

Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk is the charismatic CEO of electric car maker Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX.
• Following a contested process, Musk completed a deal to buy the company behind X in October 2022, becoming the owner of the social media company.
• Born and raised in South Africa, Musk spent time in Canada before moving to the United States.
• Educated at the University of Pennsylvania in physics, Musk started getting his feet wet as a serial tech entrepreneur with early successes like Zip2 and X.com, which merged with a company that became PayPal.
• Musk has behaved eccentrically from time to time.

Bailey Mariner / Investopedia

Elon Reeve Musk was born in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, the oldest of three children. His father was a South African engineer, and his mother was a Canadian model and nutritionist. After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived primarily with his father. He would later dub his father “a terrible human being...almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.”

“I had a terrible upbringing. I had a lot of adversity growing up. One thing I worry about with my kids is they don’t face enough adversity,” Musk would later say.

Bullied as a Child

Musk attended the private, English-speaking Waterkloof House Preparatory School—he started a year early—and later graduated from Pretoria Boys High School. A self-described bookworm, he made few friends in those places.

“They got my best (expletive) friend to lure me out of hiding so they could beat me up. And that (expletive) hurt,” Musk said. “For some reason, they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That’s what made growing up difficult. For a number of years, there was no respite. You get chased around by gangs at school who tried to beat the (expletive) out of me, and then I’d come home, and it would just be awful there as well.”

Early Accomplishments

Technology became an escape for Musk. At 10, he became acquainted with programming using a Commodore VIC-20, an early and relatively inexpensive home computer. Before long, Musk had become proficient enough to create Blastar—a video game in the style of Space Invaders. He sold the BASIC code for the game to a PC magazine for $500.

In one telling incident from his childhood, Musk and his brother planned to open a video game arcade near their school. Their parents nixed the plan.

Musk’s College Years

At 17, Musk moved to Canada. He would later obtain Canadian citizenship through his mother.

After emigrating to Canada, Musk enrolled at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. It was there that he met Justine Wilson, an aspiring writer. They would marry and have six sons together, a first son, twins, and then triplets, before divorcing in 2008.

Entering the U.S.

After two years at Queen’s University, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. He took on two majors, but his time there wasn’t all work and no play. With a fellow student, he bought a 10-bedroom fraternity house, which they used as an ad hoc nightclub.

Musk graduated with a bachelor of science degree in physics, in addition to a bachelor of arts in economics from the  Wharton School . The two majors foreshadowed Musk’s career, but it was physics that left the deepest impression.

“(Physics is) a good framework for thinking,” he would say later. “Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.”

Musk was 24 years old when he moved to California to pursue a Ph.D. in applied physics at Stanford University. But, with the Internet exploding and Silicon Valley booming, Musk had entrepreneurial visions dancing in his head. He left the Ph.D. program after just two days.

In 1995, with $15,000 and his younger brother Kimbal at his side, Musk started Zip2, a web software company that would help newspapers develop online city guides.

In 1999, Zip2 was acquired by Compaq Computer Corp. for $341 million. Musk used his Zip2 buyout money to create X.com, a fintech venture before that term was in wide circulation.

X.com merged with a money transfer firm called Confinity, and the resulting company came to be known as PayPal. Peter Thiel ousted Musk as PayPal CEO before eBay ( EBAY ) bought the payments company for $1.5 billion, but Musk still profited from the buyout via his 11.7% PayPal stake.

“My proceeds from PayPal after tax were about $180 million,” Musk said in a 2018 interview. “$100 (million) of that went into SpaceX, $70 (million) into Tesla, and $10 (million) into SolarCity. And I literally had to borrow money for rent.”

In 2017, Musk purchased the X.com domain name back from PayPal, citing its sentimental value.

Musk became involved with the electric cars venture as an early investor in 2004, ultimately contributing about $6.3 million, to begin with, and joined the team, including engineer Martin Eberhard, to help run a company then known as Tesla Motors. Following a series of disagreements, Eberhard was ousted in 2007, and an interim CEO was hired until Musk assumed control as CEO and product architect. Under his watch, Tesla has become the world’s most valuable automaker.

In addition to producing electric vehicles, Tesla maintains a robust presence in the solar energy space, thanks to its acquisition of SolarCity. The company currently produces two rechargeable solar batteries. The smaller Powerwall was developed for home backup power and off-the-grid use, while the larger Powerpack is intended for commercial or electric utility grid use.

Musk used most of the proceeds from his PayPal stake to found Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the rocket's developer commonly known as SpaceX. By his own account, Musk spent $100 million to found SpaceX in 2002 .

Under Musk’s leadership, SpaceX landed several high-profile contracts with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force to design space launch rockets. Musk has publicized plans to send an astronaut to Mars by 2025 in a collaborative effort with NASA.

The company was founded in March 2006 as Twitter by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Originally a private company, it went public in November 2013. It raised $1.8 billion through its initial public offering (IPO) .

Musk joined the site in June 2009. A frequent poster on the messaging network, Musk disclosed a 9.2% stake in X in April 2022. The company responded by offering Musk a seat on the board, which he accepted before declining days later. Musk then sent a bear hug letter to the board proposing to buy the company at $54.20 per share.

The company’s board adopted a poison pill provision to discourage Musk from accumulating an even larger stake, but they ultimately accepted Musk’s offer after he disclosed $46.5 billion in committed financing for the deal in a securities filing.

In July 2022, Musk attempted to cancel the deal , arguing that X had failed to provide certain information regarding fake accounts. The company sued Musk to require him to complete the deal.

After months of legal wrangling, the billionaire’s plan to buy the social media platform came to fruition, and Musk took control of the company on Oct. 28, 2022. The company was renamed X the following year.

During his May 8, 2021, appearance on the TV show Saturday Night Live , Musk revealed that he has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. “I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL . Or at least the first to admit it,” he said. How does the neurodevelopment condition manifest itself? “I don’t always have a lot of intonation or variation in how I speak, which I’m told makes for great comedy,” Musk explained.

On Sept. 7, 2018, Musk smoked cannabis during a filmed interview for a podcast.

Just a month earlier, Musk posted an infamous tweet claiming he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured the needed funding. Musk subsequently settled a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint alleging he knowingly misled investors with the tweet by paying a $20 million fine along with the same penalty for Tesla and agreeing to let Tesla’s lawyers approve tweets with material corporate information before posting.

In March 2022, Musk filed a court motion to overturn the consent decree stemming from that case. In April 2022 during a live TED Talk, Musk called the SEC regulators on the case “bastards.”

Is Elon Musk Married?

Elon Musk has been divorced three times—twice from his second wife, Talulah Riley. From 2018 to 2022, he was in a relationship with Canadian singer/songwriter Claire Elise Boucher, professionally known as Grimes, with whom he had a son in 2020, a daughter in 2022, and a third child revealed in 2023. They remain best friends. He also has six boys from his first marriage to Justine Musk. He also shares twins with Shivon Zilis. Musk has a total of 11 children.

How Rich Is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk’s net worth was estimated at $205 billion as of Feb. 15, 2024, making him the wealthiest person on the planet.

Was Elon Musk Born Rich?

No, Elon Musk was born into a middle-class family. In 1995, when he founded X.com, he reportedly had more than $100,000 in student debt and struggled to pay rent.

What Does Elon Musk Do at Tesla?

Elon Musk is officially listed as the co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla on the company’s website. In a 2021 securities filing, the company disclosed an additional Musk title as “Technoking of Tesla.”

What Companies Does Elon Musk Own?

Elon Musk is a large stakeholder in several companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Co., Neuralink, and X Corp .

Musk’s early interests in philosophy, science fiction, and fantasy novels are reflected in his idealism and concern with human progress—and in his business career. He works in fields he has identified as crucial to humanity’s future, notably the transition to renewable energy sources, space exploration, and the Internet.

Musk has defied critics, disrupted industries, and made the most money anyone ever has from PayPal, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX—game changers all, despite the inevitable missteps.

The New York Times. “ Elon Musk Has Become the World’s Richest Person, as Tesla’s Stock Rallies .”

Bloomberg. “ Bloomberg Billionaires Index .”

Rolling Stone. “ Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow .”

Bloomberg. “ Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Elon Musk .”

The Washington Post. “ The 22 Most Memorable Quotes from the New Elon Musk Book, Ranked .”

Gizmodo. “ Elon Musk: The Tech Maverick Making Tony Stark Look Dull .”

Anna Crowley Redding, via Google Books. “ Elon Musk: A Mission to Save the World .” Feiwel & Friends, 2019.

Esquire. “ Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will .”

Marie Claire. “ ‘I Was a Starter Wife’: Inside America’s Messiest Divorce .”

CNBC. “ Elon Musk Ran a Nightclub Out of His College Frat House to Make Money for Rent .”

Inc. “ Elon Musk Just Said MBAs Are Overrated, and He’s Dead Right .”

TED. “ Elon Musk: The Mind Behind Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity... ,” read transcript, 19:19 (Video).

Fortune. “ Why Elon Musk Dropped Out of Stanford After Only Two Days .”

X. “ Elon Musk, Dec. 28, 2019, 6:22 PM .”

CNBC. “ Elon Musk Tried to Pitch the Head of the Yellow Pages Before the Internet Boom: ‘He Threw the Book at Me’ .”

Compaq Computer, via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Form 10-Q for the Quarterly Period Ended Sept. 30, 1999 ,” Page 6.

PayPal, via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Form S-1 ,” Page 9.

PayPal, via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended Dec. 31, 2001 ,” Pages 75–78.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Exhibit 99.1: eBay to Acquire PayPal .”

YouTube. “ Elon Musk Interview [I Made 180 Million Dollars but Still Had to Borrow Money for Rent] ,” 1:58–2:14 (Video).

X. “ Elon Musk, July 10, 2017, 9:10 PM .”

Wired. “ How Elon Musk Turned Tesla into the Car Company of the Future .”

Tesla. “ Tesla and SolarCity .”

Tesla. “ Powerwall .”

Tesla, via Internet Archive. “ Powerpack .”

SpaceX. “ Updates .”

YouTube. “ People Should Arrive on Mars in 2025 .” (Video)

Britannica. " X ."

X. " Elon Musk ."

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Schedule 13G, March 14, 2022 .”

X. “ Parag Agrawal, April 5, 2022, 8:32 AM .”

X. “ Parag Agrawal, April 10, 2022, 11:13 PM .”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Amendment No. 2 to Schedule 13D/A, April 13, 2022 .”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Form 8-K, April 15, 2022 .”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Amendment No. 3 to Schedule 13D, April 20, 2022 .”

CNBC. “ Elon Musk Now in Charge of Twitter, CEO and CFO Have Left, Sources Say .”

The New York Times. " From Twitter to X: Elon Musk Begins Erasing an Iconic Internet Brand ."

YouTube. “ Elon Musk Monologue—SNL .” (Video)

YouTube. “ Joe Rogan Experience #1169—Elon Musk ,” 2:10–2:11 (Video).

X. “ Elon Musk, Aug. 7, 2018, 12:48 PM .”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges; Tesla Charged with and Resolves Securities Law Charge .”

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. “ Defendant Elon Musk’s Notice of Motion to Quash & to Terminate Consent Decree .”

YouTube. “ Elon Musk Talks Twitter, Tesla and How His Brain Works—Live at TED2022 ,” 27:15–29:11 (Video).

Vanity Fair. “ Elon Musk Splits with Actress Talulah Riley for the Second (or Third?) Time .”

TODAY. " Who Are Elon Musk's Children? "

X. “ Grimes, March 10, 2022, 11:32 AM .”

Vanity Fair. “‘ Infamy Is Kind of Fun’: Grimes on Music, Mars, and Her Secret New Baby with Elon Musk .”

The Economic Times. “ Elon Musk Had Over $100K of Student Debt When He Started 1st Company, Turned His Room into Nightclub to Pay Rent .”

Tesla. “ Elon Musk .”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “ Form 8-K, March 15, 2021 .”

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk: His career, life, and companies he started

• Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla. He's also cofounder other major companies, including SpaceX.
• He was born in South Africa and founded his first startup in the '90s.
• Musk is a polarizing figure who has incited lawsuits and SEC investigations. 

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa.

His mother, Maye Musk , is a professional dietitian and model, appearing on boxes of Special K cereal and the cover of TIME magazine. Last year, at the age of 74, she was on the cover of Sport Illustrated's swimsuit edition.

Maye and Musk's father, Errol, were married for nearly a decade before they divorced. Maye said in her book that she'd wanted to end the marriage earlier, but the Divorce Act, which legalized the termination of a marriage in South Africa, was not enacted until 1979. Musk's parents divorced the same year the law was passed.

After their parents divorced, 9-year-old Musk and his younger brother Kimbal  decided to live with their father. It wasn't until after the move was made that his notoriously troubled relationship with his dad began to emerge. "It was not a good idea," Musk said of the move in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Musk's school days weren't easy — he was once hospitalized after being beaten by bullies. The bullies threw Musk down a set of stairs and beat him until he blacked out, as detailed in Ashlee Vance's book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future." Musk's father told Business Insider the incident took place after Musk made some insensitive comments to a classmate.

The Tesla CEO has said he didn't always feel he was on the same wavelength as his classmates.

"Social clues were not intuitive," Musk said during a TED conference last year. In 2021, the billionaire said during his performance on " Saturday Night Live " that he has Asperger's syndrome.

Musk has said he spent a lot of his childhood reading and coding late into the night — and it paid off. At 17, he took a university-level aptitude test on his computer programming skills. Examiners made him retake the test because they had never seen such a high score, his mother said in a tweet. 

After graduating from high school, Musk moved to Canada with his mother, Maye; his sister, Tosca, and his brother, Kimbal, and spent two years studying at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, according to the school.

He later finished his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees in physics and economics.

While studying at the  University of Pennsylvania , Musk and a classmate rented out a 10-bedroom frat house and turned it into a nightclub. The move, which Musk undertook with Adeo Ressi, was one of his first entrepreneurial experiments, Vogue reported.

After graduation, Musk traveled to Stanford University to study for his Ph.D. — but he barely started the program before leaving it. He deferred his admission after only two days in California, deciding to test his luck in the dot-com boom that was just getting underway. He never returned to finish his studies at Stanford.

Musk's college girlfriend Jennifer Gwynne would later auction a set of photos of Musk from his time studying at the University of Pennsylvania.

Late 1990s - 2000: Early career

With brother Kimbal, Musk launched Zip2. A cluster of Silicon Valley investors helped to fund the company, which provided city travel guides to newspapers like The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, per the Rolling Stone interview with Musk.

While Zip2 got off the ground, Musk lived in the office and showered at a local YMCA, he said in a Stanford University video. The hard work paid off when Compaq bought Zip2 in a deal worth $341 million in cash and stock, earning Musk $22 million.

Musk next started  X.com , an online banking company. He launched the company in 1999 using $10 million of the money he got from the Zip2 sale, Investopedia reported. About a year later, X.com merged with Confinity, a financial startup cofounded by Peter Thiel, to form PayPal.

Musk was named the CEO of the newly minted PayPal — but it wouldn't last long. While Musk was en route to Australia for a much-needed vacation, PayPal's board fired him and made Thiel the new CEO. "That's the problem with vacations," Musk told Fortune years later about his ill-fated trip in late 2000.

2002-2004: Elon Musk starts SpaceX and invests in Tesla

But things worked out for Musk — he made another windfall when eBay bought PayPal in late 2002. As PayPal's single biggest shareholder, he netted $165 million of the $1.5 billion price eBay paid, Money.com reported.

Even before the PayPal sale, Musk was dreaming up his next move, including a wild plan to send mice or plants to Mars. In early 2002, Musk founded the company that would be known as Space Exploration Technologies , or SpaceX, with $100 million of the money received from the PayPal sale. Musk's goal was to make spaceflight cheaper by a factor of 10.

One early SpaceX vehicle was named after the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." The name of the spacecraft, the Dragon, was Musk's jab at skeptics who told him SpaceX launches would never be able to put vehicles into space, Musk later shared on Twitter.

SpaceX's long-term goal is to make colonizing Mars affordable. Musk has said that SpaceX stock won't be available an initial public offering until what Musk calls the "Mars Colonial Transporter" is flying regularly.

Musk had also been keeping plenty busy here on Earth, particularly with Tesla Motors. In 2004, Musk made the first of what would be $70 million of total Tesla investments, an electric car company. Tesla's founders were veteran startup executives Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

Musk has said he took an active product role at the carmaker, helping develop its first car, the Tesla Roadster , the Roadster.

The Roadster was built on the chassis of a Lotus Elise — a tiny British sports car that Tesla remade into an electric car with a lithium-ion battery. The all-electric Roadster debuted in 2006 when Musk was serving as Tesla's chairman. 

2008: Elon Musk becomes Tesla CEO

In 2007, Musk staged a boardroom coup at Tesla, first ousting Eberhard from his CEO seat and then from the company's board and executive suites entirely.

In 2008, with the financial crisis seriously limiting his options, a Tesla bankruptcy was personally halted by Musk. He invested $40 million in Tesla and loaned the company $40 million more. Not coincidentally, he was named CEO the same year.

But between SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, Musk nearly went broke. He described 2008 as "the worst year of my life" in an interview with 60 Minutes. Tesla kept losing money, and SpaceX was having trouble launching its Falcon 1 rocket. By 2009, Musk was living off personal loans just to survive.

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Right around Christmas 2008, Musk got two pieces of good news: SpaceX had landed a $1.5 billion contract with NASA to deliver supplies into space, and Tesla finally found more outside investors.

Musk's career was starting to get noticed in other circles, too, most notably in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Tony Stark in the "Iron Man" movies is at least partially based on Musk, director Jon Favreau said on the "Recode Decode" podcast. Musk even had a cameo in " Iron Man 2 ."

2015: OpenAI

In late 2015, Musk also cofounded OpenAI , a nonprofit dedicated to researching artificial intelligence and ensuring it doesn't destroy humanity.

He later announced that he would step down from the board to avoid any potential conflicts of interest with Tesla , which has made strides into artificial intelligence for its self-driving car technology.

The billionaire has since spoken out against the company on multiple occasions and is even attempting to launch his own competitor, which he jokingly dubbed " Truth GPT " after the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

By the end of 2015, 24 SpaceX launches had been made on assignments like resupplying the International Space Station, setting some records along the way. 

That year, Tesla also released its first version of Autopilot , a driver-assist feature for its EVs. Musk later went on to release an enhanced version of Autopilot called Full Self-Driving beta several years later.

He has since said that Tesla FSD is the difference between being "worth a lot of money or worth basically zero." However, Autopilot has generated its fair share of lawsuits, as well as investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the years.

2016: SolarCity and The Boring Company

In late 2016, Tesla bought SolarCity in a $2.6 billion deal. That same year some Tesla shareholders filed a lawsuit accusing Musk of putting pressure on Tesla's board members to buy SolarCity and bail it out. Musk later won the lawsuit in 2022.

In 2016, he also started The Boring Company , which has a mission to dig a network of tunnels under and around cities for high-speed, no-traffic driving.

Boring's first tunnel network for commercial use, located in Las Vegas, opened in April 2021.

2017: Neuralink

Musk founded another company: Neuralink , in 2017, which is trying to build devices that can be implanted inside the human brain. The billionaire has described the device as a "Fitbit in your skull" and has said it will allow people to perform tasks using only their minds. The company has experimented with putting the device in pigs and monkeys and won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials in 2023.

In 2017, Musk also joined President Trump's business advisory council — a move that caused a huge public backlash. He initially defended the move but then quit after Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Musk said he tried to convince Trump not to withdraw.

2018: Tesla Roadster in space

The Falcon Heavy, the successor to the Falcon 9 and the most powerful rocket SpaceX has built to date, completed a successful maiden launch in February 2018. The Falcon Heavy carried a unique payload: a dummy dubbed "Starman," and Musk's personal cherry red Tesla Roadster, which were launched toward Martian orbit.

"We really wanted to get the public here to wonder, to get excited about the possibility of something new happening in space — of the space frontier getting pushed forward," Musk told an audience at the 2018 South by Southwest conference. "The goal of this was to inspire you and make you believe again, just as people believed in the Apollo era, that anything is possible."

SEC subpoenas Tesla

Musk ran into some trouble in 2018 when he sent a tweet declaring he was considering taking  Tesla private at $420 per share and had already secured funding. Just a few days later, the SEC sent Tesla subpoenas about the company's plans to go private and Musk's comments.

By September, the SEC had formally filed a lawsuit against Musk, accusing him of making "false and misleading statements." Musk settled with the SEC, which resulted in both him and Tesla paying a $20 million fine and Musk stepping down as chairman of Tesla's board. Additionally, Tesla was required to appoint a committee to oversee Musk's communications.

One month later, Musk won a victory in court when a jury ruled he was not guilty of defaming the British diver Vernon Unsworth . Unsworth had filed a defamation lawsuit in 2018 after Musk called him a "pedo guy" on Twitter.

2021: Musk becomes richest person in the world

Musk's net worth has soared in recent years. The Tesla CEO became the richest man in the world in 2021 when his fortune surpassed $200 billion, passing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' net worth.

Musk said he commemorated the occasion by sending Bezos, his longtime rival, a silver medal. Musk's status as the richest man in the world was eclipsed by LVMH owner Bernard Arnault in 2023. Since, he has remained near the top of the list of wealthiest people in the world.

He also won Time's Person of the Year award in 2021.

2022: The 'Technoking' sets his sights on Twitter 

In 2022, Musk started buying up shares of Twitter and later turned down an offer to join the board in favor of buying Twitter outright for $44 billion.

Musk, who has become one of the most-followed accounts on the social media site, attempted to backtrack on his offer to buy Twitter in July.  Twitter sued Musk promptly, in order to force him to go through with the purchase. 

After months of back and forth leading up to a trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Musk agreed to buy the company in October. The same day he took over Twitter, he ousted several key executives including then-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk took over as "Chief Twit" and proceeded to cut the Twitter workforce in half in the chaotic months following the Musk acquisition .

He later brought in a new CEO for Twitter in May 2023 after the billionaire said Twitter was no longer "in the fast lane to bankruptcy."

The platform was also rebranded "X" in July 2023.

The billionaire has also expressed interest in launching his own AI venture. In April 2023, Musk confirmed reports that he's planning to create an AI startup to build a ChatGPT rival .

Katie Canales, Matt Weinberger, and Mary Meisenzahl contributed to an earlier version of this story. 

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Elon Musk: The Complete Biography of an Extraordinary Innovator

• by history tools
• March 26, 2024

Elon Musk is one of the most famous entrepreneurs and business leaders of the 21st century. As the co-founder of PayPal, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and driving force behind many other companies, Musk has had an outsized influence on technology, space exploration, and solving some of humanity‘s biggest challenges.

Let‘s take a closer look at Musk’s remarkable life story, complex persona, monumental successes and occasional setbacks, and what makes him such a polarizing character.

Childhood and Early Life in South Africa

Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, one of South Africa’s wealthiest and most segregated cities during apartheid. His mother Maye was a famous dietitian and model who grew up in Canada, while his father Errol was a wealthy white South African electromechanical engineer.

As a child, Musk was an avid reader and self-taught computer programmer. At age 12 he created and sold a video game called Blastar to a computer magazine for $500. But his relationship with his father was difficult – his parents divorced when he was 9 years old. Musk chose to live mostly with his father, which he would later regret considering they became estranged.

Discovering His Calling

After spending two years in the South African military, Musk moved to Canada at age 19. He studied at Queen‘s University in Ontario for two years, avoiding mandatory service in the South African military, before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.

At Penn, Musk pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Physics as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Most notably, he rekindled an early passion by taking extra classes at the Stanford School of Engineering. It was a harbinger of innovations to come.

Founding Zip2 and PayPal

In 1995 Musk dropped out of Stanford’s PhD program to found his first startup Zip2 Corporation with his brother Kimbal. Zip2 provided online city guides to newspapers like the New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

Compaq bought Zip2 in 1999 for $307 million, earning Musk $22 million. He soon co-founded X.com, one of the first online banks providing services like checking accounts and money transfers.

X.com merged with its rival Confinity in 2000 to become PayPal, with Musk serving as the new CEO. Despite internal struggles at the new company, PayPal went on to revolutionize online payments. In 2002 eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received $175 million.

“If something‘s important enough you should try, even if the probable outcome is failure.”

Making History with SpaceX

Flush with cash from the PayPal sale, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002 with an audacious long-term goal: make humanity multi-planetary by establishing a human colony on Mars.

SpaceX develops rockets, spacecraft and satellites aimed at revolutionizing space transportation to eventually make it affordable for private citizens to travel into orbit and to other planets. It almost went bankrupt in 2008, but Musk kept it afloat with personal funds.

In 2012 SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spaceship to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. And in 2020 SpaceX sent astronauts to the ISS for the first time, effectively resurrecting American manned spaceflight.

Tesla Accelerates Ahead with Musk at the Helm

Also in 2004 Musk made the series A investment round in Tesla Motors and joined Tesla’s board of directors as chairman. Founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, Tesla aimed to prove electric cars could be better than gasoline-powered cars.

The original Roadster sports car impressed critics, but by 2007 Tesla was also on the verge of bankruptcy. Musk invested heavily in Tesla and took over leadership of the company, serving as CEO and product architect.

Under his guidance, Tesla went public in 2010 to raise funds and the Model S sedan was named Motor Trend‘s 2013 Car of the Year. By 2023 Tesla had become the world‘s most valuable automaker, dominating the rapidly growing EV market.

Expanding His Entrepreneurial Portfolio

In addition to SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has founded or co-founded a number of new companies over the last two decades. These include:

• The Boring Company (2016) – Develops tunnels aimed at eliminating street traffic to reduce transportation time
• Neuralink (2016) – Develops implantable brain-machine interfaces to connect human brains with computers
• OpenAI (2015) – Non-profit AI research company working to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits humanity
• Starlink (2019) – SpaceX project to provide global satellite Internet access coverage

Not all of these companies have proven successful so far. But Musk continues to think big while attracting top talent to bring innovative new technologies to reality.

Taking Over Twitter for $44 Billion

In January 2022, Musk started acquiring shares of social media company Twitter. By March he had accumulated a 9.2% stake to become Twitter‘s largest shareholder. This set in motion a tumultuous year that eventually led to his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022.

Shortly after acquiring Twitter, Musk laid off roughly half the company‘s 7,500 employees and radically changed the platform‘s operations. Many users have quit the platform over concerns about misinformation as Musk grants "amnesty" to suspended accounts. The long-term implications of his takeover remain uncertain.

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

Marriages, Relationships and Family

In 2000, Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson. Their first son died unexpectedly from SIDS at 10 weeks old. They share custody of 5 sons – a set of twins and a set of triplets – born through IVF. Musk and Wilson separated in 2008.

From 2010 to 2012, Musk was married to English actress Talulah Riley. After divorcing, they remarried in 2013 before finalizing their divorce again in 2016. Musk also had an on-and-off relationship with musician Grimes which began in 2018. They had 2 children – a son born in 2020 and daughter born in 2021 via surrogate.

In 2022 it was revealed that Musk secretly had twins in 2021 with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at his company Neuralink. He now has 10 children from 3 relationships. But his 18-year-old transgender daughter has disowned him, changing her name in opposition to Musk‘s "public transphobia."

Losing and Regaining Title of World‘s Richest Person

Thanks mostly to his shares in Tesla Motors, Musk experienced an astronomical rise in his personal net worth. He became the richest person in the world for the first time in January 2021 when he surpassed Jeff Bezos.

But his net worth dropped in 2022 and early 2023 as Tesla‘s share price declined. On January 6, 2023 Musk lost the title of world‘s richest person to Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH.

What‘s more, with an estimated $183 billion loss between November 2021 and January 2023, Musk holds the record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history according to Guinness World Records. Despite these setbacks, Musk’s supporters are betting he’ll reclaim the top spot someday.

What Makes Musk Such a Polarizing Figure

Musk has earned both ardent fans and vocal critics. So what makes him such a polarizing public figure?

Reasons supporters are drawn to Musk include:

• Daring vision for future innovations
• Willingness to take risks
• Commitment to tackling climate change with sustainable energy
• Power to make things happen that others consider impossible
• Relatable sense of humor on social media

However some people are strongly critical of Musk for:

• Poor treatment of employees by demanding unrealistic hours and goals
• Controversial public stances on issues like pandemic lockdowns
• Spreading misinformation and making questionable promises on Twitter
• Brash communication style and vindictiveness towards naysayers
• Concerns about concentration of power held by billionaires

But there‘s no questioning the outsized impact Musk already made on multiple industries. Even his detractors admit they‘re curious to see what he’ll achieve next.

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Elon Musk co-founded and leads Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company.

As the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon leads all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of the company's electric vehicles, battery products and solar energy products.

Since the company’s inception in 2003, Tesla’s mission has been to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. The first Tesla product, the Roadster sports car, debuted in 2008, followed by the Model S sedan, which was introduced in 2012, and the Model X SUV, which launched in 2015. Model S received Consumer Reports’ Best Overall Car and has been named the Ultimate Car of the Year by Motor Trend, while Model X was the first SUV ever to earn 5-star safety ratings in every category and sub-category in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s tests. In 2017, Tesla began deliveries of Model 3 , a mass-market electric vehicle with more than 320 miles of range, and unveiled Tesla Semi , which is designed to save owners at least $200,000 over a million miles based on fuel costs alone. In 2019, Tesla unveiled Cybertruck , which will have better utility than a traditional truck and more performance than a sports car, as well as the Model Y compact SUV, which began customer deliveries in early 2020.

Tesla also produces three energy storage products, the Powerwall home battery, the Powerpack commercial-scale battery, and Megapack , which is designed for utility-scale installations. In 2016, Tesla became the world’s first vertically-integrated sustainable energy company with the acquisition of SolarCity, the leading provider of solar power systems in the United States, and in 2017 released Solar Roof – a beautiful and affordable energy generation product.

As lead designer at SpaceX , Elon oversees the development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. In 2008, the SpaceX Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit, and SpaceX made further history in 2017 by re-flying both a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for the first time. Soon after, Falcon Heavy , the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two, completed its first flight in 2018. In 2019, SpaceX’s crew-capable version of the Dragon spacecraft completed its first demonstration mission, and the company will fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time in 2020. Building on these achievements, SpaceX is developing Starship – a fully reusable transportation system that will carry crew and cargo to the Moon, Mars and beyond ­– and Starlink , which will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable. By pioneering reusable rockets, SpaceX is pursuing the long-term goal of making humans a multi-planet species by creating a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Elon is also CEO of Neuralink , which is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers.

He also launched The Boring Company , which combines fast, affordable tunneling technology with an all-electric public transportation system in order to alleviate soul-crushing urban congestion and enable high-speed, long-distance travel. The Boring Company built a 1.15 mile R&D tunnel in Hawthorne, and is currently constructing Vegas Loop, a public transportation system at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Previously, Elon co-founded and sold PayPal, the world's leading Internet payment system, and Zip2, one of the first internet maps and directions services.

Elon Musk biography

Elon Reeve Musk was born on the 28th of June of 1972 in Pretoria, South Africa. He is known for being one of the founders of Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, OpenAl, and Hyperloop, among other companies. The entrepreneur and inventor appears in the list of the richest in the world, occupying the position number 56, in 2017, with 17.4 billion dollars. Forbes magazine, for the December 2016 publication, named him the 21st person with the most power in the world. His greatest goal, according to Musk, is to change humanity drastically; for this purpose, he works in SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla. One of his interests is the abandonment of petroleum fuels in order to reduce global warming. Perhaps Elon’s most ambitious project, so far, is the establishment of a human colony on Mars, with nearly a million people.

He spent his childhood in South Africa with his parents, an engineer from South Africa and a nutritionist from Canada. At age 10, with his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, he began to learn to programme on his own. Two years later he sold his first videogame called Blastar for about $ 200. At that time he went through difficult times; his schoolmates subjected him to bullying because of his uncommon interests for them. Elon spent his money on science fiction books, comics, and video games.

In the period between 12 and 15 years of age, he entered into an existential crisis influenced by the readings of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. The situation went to the extreme of taking him to the hospital because of beatings by his companions. In his home things were not better, the relationship with his father was quite complicated. He suffered the emotional violence of a father unable to understand him. Compulsory military service bothered him. For these reasons, at age 17, after graduating from high school in Pretoria, he decided to leave South Africa and take refuge with his mother in Canada.

What Musk wanted most was to reach the United States. He found in that country a way to make possible everything he imagined. Elon’s father conditioned his support: he would not pay for a university outside of South Africa. In 1989, while in Canada, he found a chance to study thanks to his maternal relatives, who came from North America. By 1992, Elon counted on a scholarship in the University of Pennsylvania. The young entrepreneur began his studies in Business Administration, in parallel he began his career in Physics. He was fortunate to have the support of one of his teachers, who turned out to be the executive director of Los Gatos, a company located in the southern part of San Francisco Bay, California. The experience gained on ultracapacitors in that company, and then in Pinnacle Research, along with the inspiration it had for inventors such as Nikola Tesla, made him define the fields in which he would focus on the future: renewable energy, the Internet and outer space.

The beginning on the Internet began with Zip2, in 1995, along with his brother Kimbal Musk and a friend named Greg Curry. The company was dedicated to the development and maintenance of web pages dedicated to the media. The idea was a success, managing around 200 sites on the Internet in the year of 1999. For that year the company was sold to Compaq for 300 million dollars; money that would help him found X.com. The next plan was to systematize payments and money management through the Internet, offering security and speed. The ease offered by X.com and security made the project a very profitable idea, as well as merging, in 2000, with Confinity; company that provided a similar service, but only between Palm Pilot devices. In 2001 X.com decided to change its name to Paypal.inc a well-known company that provides the service to make online payments internationally.

With the growing success, problems soon appeared. Different companies tried to close Paypal, including eBay, which ended up buying it in October 2002, for 1.5 billion dollars. The sale of Paypal gave way to the creation, by its former members, of companies such as LinkedIn and YouTube. The next Musk project was called Tesla Motors, the company that created the first functional electric car. The main investment in Tesla was solar energy. The idea was born in 2003 in the company AC Propulsion, which had a prototype electric car. Musk wanted to help design a sports car with the same base of AC Propulsion.

In 2004, along with Matt Tappenhig and Martin Eberhard, Tesla Motors was created, with the intention of mass producing the model T-Zero of AC Propulsion. Musk invested nearly 98% of the capital. The start of the company was hard; the budget for the first models exceeded what was expected, but they managed to sell enough to continue developing models. For 2012, 2100 Tesla Roadster was sold in different countries. In 2015 the Tesla Model X was launched, designed to cover all types of terrain.

Another of Musk’s three projects involves SpaceX. Thinking of establishing a colony on Mars, he began, in 2002, to investigate how to send a rocket to Mars. His initial idea was to obtain reusable rockets to carry out the two trips for reconnaissance missions. For that year, Space Exploration Technologies was founded, focused on launching rockets and reducing fuel costs and materials for launch with increases in viability. In 2008, an agreement was made between NASA for twelve rocket flights. Currently, SpaceX is responsible for the development of Falcon rockets, which use liquid fuel.

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Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle Biography

Ermias Asghedom (August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019), better known as Nipsey Hussle, was an American rapper, businessman, and community activist, who rose to fame in 2018 with his debut album Victory Lab . Nipsey began his career towards the mid-2000s releasing several successful mixtapes such as Slauson Boy Volume 1, Bullets Ain’t Got No Name series and The Marathon. His fame came to him, along with his first Grammy nomination, with his debut album in 2018. He had previously created his label All Money In No Money Out (2010).

Following his death, he received two posthumous Grammys for the songs Racks in the Middle and Higher. He was known for his social work on behalf of the Crenshaw community.

Early years

He was born in Los Angeles, United States, on August 15, 1985 . Son of Angelique Smith and Eritrean immigrant Dawit Asghedom, he grew up in Crenshaw, a neighborhood located south of Los Angeles, with his siblings Samiel and Samantha. He attended Hamilton High School but dropped out before graduating. Since he was little he looked for a way to help around the home, so over time, he began to work selling different products on the street.

After leaving school he became involved in the world of gangs, however, he turned away from it when he realized that it was not what he expected for his future. Decided then to dedicate himself to music, he sold everything that linked him to the gangs and worked for a time to buy his own production tools. After finishing his studies, he began to write and produce his own mixtapes, which he sold from a car. After finding inspiration from a trip he took to Eritrea with his father and spending time in prison, Nipsey turned fully to his career and business. He always looked for ways to start and help the community in which he grew up: giving jobs, helping students, renovating public spaces, etc …

Community activist

Nipsey was admired for his work at Crenshaw because instead of moving or investing in hedge funds, he preferred to help the community by boosting the local economy.

In late 2005, Nipsey Hussle released his first mixtape, Slauson Boy Volume 1, independently, to great local success. By then he already had a fan base at the regional level, so it took him a while to sign a contract with the Epic Records and Cinematic Music Group labels. Later, the first volumes of the Bullets Ain’t Got No Name series appeared, with which he expanded his popularity. Burner on My Lap, Ridin Slow, Aint No Black Superman, Hussle in the House and It’s Hard out Here , were some of the songs included in the series.

By 2009, Nipsey would make a name for himself collaborating with Drake on Killer and with Snoop Dog on Upside Down. He also released Bullets Ain’t Got No Name vol.3 and in 2010, he left Epic and opened his own label All Money In No Money Out. Under this label, he would soon release The Marathon, a mixtape in which hits such as Love ?, Mr. Untouchable, Young Rich and Famous and Late Nights and Early Mornings appeared. He also created The Marathon Clothing at that time, a sports and casual clothing brand that was based in his neighborhood. He then released the mixtape The Marathon Continues (2011), participated in the We Are the World 25 for Haiti campaign, and was featured in the popular XXL Magazine Annual Freshman Top Ten.

In 2013 came Crenshaw , a mixtape that would become famous because Jay-Z himself bought 100 copies for $ 100 each.

Victory Lap

After many delays, Nipsey would release his long-awaited debut album Victory Lap , on February 16, 2018, to great success. It was praised by critics and received a Grammy nomination for best rap album of the year. It was such a success that many singles entered the Billboard and Itunes charts. However, Nipsey did not enjoy much fame.

Hussle was assassinated on March 31, 2019, outside his store in South Los Angeles. He was shot multiple times by a man he had previously clashed with, he was arrested and charged with murder on April 2 of the same year. After his death, many personalities expressed the pain caused by the news. It is worth mentioning that the Mayor of Los Angeles himself gave his condolences to the family, recognizing Hussle’s social work in Crenshaw.

He was the partner of actress Lauren London and was the father of two children.

Sales strategies and greatest hits

Hussle was known for his sales strategies, since, he used to upload his singles in free download and then sell some limited editions for a cost of 100 to 1000 dollars . It promoted the sale of his work with campaigns such as Proud2Pay and Mailbox Money, in which he gave special incentives (autographed photos, dedication calls, tickets to his studio, and special events) to buyers. His revolutionary ideas promised him a fruitful career.

Some of his greatest hits

• Rose Clique
• Forever On My Fly Shit
• Thas Wat Hoes Do Proud of That (with Rick Ross)
• Face the world
• Bless, 1 of 1
• Where Yo Money At
• Fuck Donald Trump
• Young Rich and Famous

Jimmy Hoffa

Jimmy Hoffa Biography

James Riddle Hoffa (February 14, 1913 – July 30, 1975), better known as Jimmy Hoffa, was an American union activist. A reference to the working class of the 20th century, Hoffa began his union activity at the age of 18 within the trucker union. With time, he was gaining importance and enemies. He mixed with the mob and was the leader of the most important union organization in the U.S.A ., the International Brotherhood of Truckers. His actions took a toll on him and in 1967 he was arrested for bribery. In 1975, he disappeared after having dinner at a Detroit restaurant. To date, it is unknown what happened or where his body is. His disappearance was portrayed in Scorsese’s The Irishman .

He was born in Brazil, Indiana, on February 14, 1913. James was the son of John Hoffa and Viola Riddle. His father passed away when he was 7 years old, of Irish descent and working as a miner. When the dad died, the family moved to Detroit, where Hoffa lived the rest of his life. He studied until he was 14 years old and began working as a teenager, to help the family. At the age of 18, he began to participate in the union demonstrations of the truck driver’s union, and over time he gained recognition. However, Hoffa had never driven a truck.

Jimmy Hoffa, the truckers, and the mob

Despite his clear inexperience, Hoffa managed to earn the respect of all road workers thanks to his charisma and effective acting. He was thus elected president of the famous International Brotherhood of Truckers or “Teamsters” in 1957. From then on he would be known for his aggressive methods and connections with the Cosa Nostra (Italian mafia). It is known that Jimmy used the mob to gain notoriety and destroy his competitors, while the union served as a front to clean up dirty money from the mob.

As time went by, his relationship with Cosa Nostra became increasingly evident, becoming the target of various investigations (fraud, conspiracy, evasion, extortion, laundering…). Behind them was the prosecutor Robert Kennedy, who later became a solicitor, his sole objective being the capture of Hoffa. Although he managed to leave the courts unscathed on several occasions – thanks to his intimidation and bribery strategies – he was finally locked up in 1967.

Hoffa had faced justice several times, so the confinement did not scare him, he planned to continue running the union and all its businesses from jail, leaving someone manageable in command. But this did not turn out as he expected, his puppet rebelled and the mafia took advantage of his confinement to expand their business with more facilities. It was clear that everyone was better off without Hoffa at the helm.

The disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa

In 1971 his sentence was commuted and Hoffa returned to work, he tried to regain his place and strength, but had little luck, because the mafia was clear that the business was better without him. The day he arrived, on July 30, 1975, he was summoned by Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone, two gangster bosses who were tired of his instance. They summoned him to a restaurant in Detroit, but never showed up, Hoffa waited for more than an hour and then got into a car, disappearing ever since. Nobody saw him again.

Jimmy was powerful, but he had made many enemies and was in the crosshairs of the mob, making his disappearance one of the most famous of the 20th century. His body was never found and in 1982 he was presumed dead. Although over time many took credit for his disappearance (and his death) from him, little is known for sure.

One of the possible culprits is perhaps Frank Sheeran, the Irishman , Hoffa’s henchman, who, pressured by the gangsters, would have killed the union leader. According to Sheeran’s version, that day he would have taken Hoffa to a house, where he shot him three times, and then moved his body to a still uncertain place.

His body and his disappearance became one of the best-known mysteries of the time . To date, the fate of his body is unknown. Many say it is buried, others that it was dismembered and thrown into a river, and others that it was compacted. There were many complaints about the discovery of his body, but all false.

His legacy was continued by his son, the current head of the International Brotherhood of Truckers, James P. Hoffa.

He was married to Josephine Poszywak and was the father of James P. Hoffa and Barbara Ann Crancer.

On July 30, 1982, he was declared legally dead.

Scorsese’s The Irishman

Scorsese’s The Irishman premiered on Netflix in 2019. The film follows Hoffa’s hitman and right-hand man, Frank Sheeran, as he thus narrates his story and participation in the disappearance of Hoffa. In the film, Hoffa is played by Al Pacino , while Sheeran and the prosecutor Kennedy are played by Robert De Niro and Jack Huston.

Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker biography

Peter Drucker (November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) writer, consultant, entrepreneur, and journalist. He was born in Vienna, Austria. He is considered the father of the Management to which he devoted more than 60 years of his professional life. His parents of Jewish origin and then converted to Christianity moved to a small town called Kaasgrabeen. Drucker grew up in an environment in which new ideas and social positions created by intellectuals, senior government officials and scientists were emerging. He studied at the Döbling Gymnasium and in 1927, Drucker moved to the German city of Hamburg, where he worked as an apprentice in a cotton company.

Then he began to train in the world of journalism, writing for the Der Österreichische Volkswirt. Then he got a job in Frankfurt, his job was to write for the Daily Frankfurter General-Anzeiger. Meanwhile, he completed a doctorate in International Law. Drucker began to integrate his two facets and for that, he was a recognized journalist. Drucker worked in this place until the fall of the Weimar Republic. After this period he decided to move to London, where he worked in a bank and was also a student of John Maynard Keynes .

Although he was a disciple of Keynes, he assured, decades later, that Keynesianism failed as an economic thesis where it was applied. Because of the ravages of Nazism and persecution of Jews, he emigrated to the United States, where he served as a professor at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, from 1939 to 1949 and simultaneously was a writer. His first job as a consultant was in 1940. He then returned to teaching at Bennington College in Vermont. Thanks to his popularity he received a position to teach in the faculty of Business Administration of the University of New York.

He was an active contributor for a long period of time to magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and was a columnist for The Wall Street Journal. The quality and recognition of his writings assured him important contracts both as a writer and as a consultant with large companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Quickly and surprisingly his fortune grew. Drucker served as honorary president of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management.

In 1971, he obtained the Clarke Chair of Social Sciences and Administration at the Graduate School of Management at the University of Claremont. Now, at present Drucker is considered the most successful of the exponents in matters of administration, his ideas and terminologies have influenced the corporate world since the 40s. Drucker was the first social scientist to use the expression “post-modernity” something that caught the attention of this man is that he does not like receiving compliments. He was simple, visionary, satirical and vital.

Within his studies, he says that his greatest interest is people. His work as a consultant began in the General Motors Multinational Companies, from that moment begins to raise the theory of Management, Management trends, the knowledge society. Thanks to this theory he has published several books, these are consulted often and are fundamental for the career of business administrator. In his works, he deals with the scientific, human, economic, historical, artistic and philosophical stage.

He was founder and director of a business school that bears his name. For Drucker, it was beneficial that many of his ideas have been reformed because of the innovative way of thinking and analyzing business issues. Although approaches such as the knowledge society are the basis of the current company and the future is still maintained. He has published more than thirty books, which include studies of Management, studies of socio-economic policies and essays. Some are Best Sellers. The first book was The end of economic man (1939), The future of industrial man (1942), The concept of Corporation (1946). Later he published The Effective Executive (1985). He focused on personal effectiveness and changes in the direction of the 21st century. In 2002 the society of the future was published.

His first book caused much controversy because he talked about the reasons why fascism initiated and analyzed the failures of established institutions. He urged the need for a new social and economic order. Although he had finished the book in 1933, he had to wait because no editor wanted to accept such horrible visions. Now, Drucker has dealt with such controversial issues as individual freedom, industrial society, big business, the power of managers, automation, monopoly, and totalitarianism.

We must indicate that his analysis of the Administration, is a valuable guide for the leaders of companies that need to study their own performance, diagnose its failures and improve its productivity, as well as that of your company. Several companies have taken their approaches and put them into practice, such as Sears Roebuck & Co., General Motors, Ford, IBM, Chrysler, and American Telephone & Telegraph.

The consultant assured that there are some differences between the figure of the manager and that of the leader. For him, true leaders recognize their shortcomings as mortal beings, but they systematically concentrate on the essentials and work tirelessly to acquire the decisive competences of management. Actually, the contributions of this character in the world of administration and in the economic and social world have been significant. Drucker died on November 11, 2005, leaving a great legacy.

Jeff Bezos biography

Jeff Bezos (January 12, 1964). His birth name is Jeffrey Preston Bezos. Businessman and founder and CEO of Amazon. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. His mother, Jacklyn Gise, had him as a teenager and his biological father, Ted Jorgensen, left them as soon as he heard the news. Years later his mother married Miguel Bezos a Cuban. Now, Miguel adopted Jeffrey and he received his last name. The family moved to Houston, Texas. Jeffrey Bezos studied at River Oaks Elementary, he was always a very smart and witty little boy.

They moved to Miami, where he studied at Miami Palmetto Senior High School. And upon graduating he entered Princeton University to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, his thesis was cum laude. In 1996, he started working in a fiber optic company, FITEL, where he was responsible for the development of computer systems, his performance was so good that he became vice president. After moving to New York with the idea of ​​entering the world of finance, in Bankers Trust, he also held the position of vice president in 1990. In the following four years, Bezos worked with another Wall Street company: D.E. Shaw and Co.

Bezos realized that the purchase/sale of products and services on the internet or other electronic means would be a great field to explore and exploit. For this reason, he founded the electronic commerce company Amazon in 1995. Its service was something new for the netizens, which produced an increase in the visits quickly. Only in the first month of operation had books been sold in all corners of the United States. Months later it reached 2,000 daily visitors, a figure that would multiply abysmally in the next year. In 1997, the success made Amazon become one of the most important companies online.

Bezos had managed to conquer the internet business. Encouraged by the reception of consumers, he undertook the diversification of products, including CD and DVD media and electronic devices. As demand increased, this ingenious man included new products to his virtual store. The growth and its popularity were such that today it distributes from food to home, clothes and shoes, video games and music, to toilet paper and diapers. Amazon has experimented with the lucrative benefit of advertising since it gives the possibility to companies to advertise their products and mark them as featured products.

Bezos established independent Amazon websites for United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Austria, France, China, Italy, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, India and Mexico, the variety of products can be several in each country. Currently, the services are enjoyed by companies such as Target Corporation, Marks & Spencer, the NBA, Sears Canada, Timex or Bombay Company. The AOL online sales service also supports. In 2007, Bezos shook the world with the creation and launch of Amazon’s alter ego: Amazon Kindle, a device specially designed for the visualization of electronic books. Amazon Kindle was launched for the first time in North America and is currently available in 45 countries.

In 2011, The Economist awarded Bezos and Gregg Zehr an Innovation Award for the Amazon Kindle. The following year, Bezos was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Fortune. It is part of the Bilderberg Group. Bezos has given several conferences in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and participated in the conference in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Council in 2011 and 2012. In 2018, he appeared on the Forbes list, where a net wealth of 106 billion dollars was estimated. He has also received other awards as the best CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review. Jeff Bezos has also been on Fortune’s list of the 50 best leaders in the world. In September 2016, he was awarded the Heinlein Prize for advances in Space Marketing. He donated the prize money to the international student organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space by Bezos.

Since 2017, he has seen an increase in Amazon shares. They went up more than 130%, which made him have a profit of more than 100 billion dollars, after this, he returned to be the richest person in the world. He was named Person of the Year in Time magazine and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree at Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Really, the awards and awards have been impressive. Much of this is because Bezos, started in the field of journalism, looking beyond its commercial horizons; beyond the web. Bezos entered the world of media, acquiring the traditional newspaper The Washington Post for the sum of 250 thousand dollars.

Henry Gantt

Henry Gantt Biography

Henry Laurence Gantt (May 20, 1861 – November 23, 1919) industrial engineer . He was born in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. During his childhood and youth, he and his family lived devastating moments, especially in the economic part. His parents owned crops in Calvert but remained in ruins after the devastation caused during the Civil War. After that political and social event, they did not overlap economically so they had to live various hardships.

In spite of this, his parents did everything possible so that the young Gantt finished his school training at McDonogh School in 1878 and went to Johns Hopkins University to study industrial engineering. His performance was very good, when he graduated he started working as a teacher and draftsman, Gantt had a great skill for drawing since he was a kid. Then he studied mechanical engineering at the same university. In 1887, he was hired in Frederick W. Taylor to carry out an application of the principles of the Scientific Administration with his work in Midvale Steel and Bethlehem Steel, he carried out this work until 1893. In his career as a consultant, he invented the Gantt diagram.

Later, he designed some systems to measure the efficiency and productivity of workers, such as task bonds and the payment system and other methods that facilitate this process. This diagram became very popular for its simplicity, performance, and quality at that time, as well as at this time, pointed out the various tasks to be performed in a horizontal timeline, it has been used as a tool in operations that require strict temporal planning. However, Henry Gantt’s studies focused on the analysis of the performance of work methods, which depends on his judgment of the willingness to use the correct methods and skills.

Gantt was very concerned about leaving his knowledge embodied in paper, therefore, in 1908 presented before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers the text: Training of workers in habits of diligence and collaboration, in which he exposed the need to change the employer’s tactics; it is not a way of acting in the place, in the techniques, in the work, in the information, in the habits, in the possibilities, in the efficiency and in the efficiency of his work. As a complement to this, it is a bonus system that has been added to work and work done in a standardized time standard.

With these measures we tried to raise, not only the quantity, but above all the quality of work, following Taylor’s theory, the so-called common prosperity theory: what he says is that the worker has a kind of personal satisfaction to do the job well, this generates a feeling of pride that will make you try harder. For his part, the employer will notice an increase in productivity and the sum of a reduction in labor disputes. This is exposed with mastery in work, wages, and benefits (1913).

In the field of administration, his most known contribution is the graph of the bars such as the chart or the Gantt chart, which is composed in a diagram in which the horizontal axis represents the units of time, and in the vertical is recorded the different functions, which are represented by horizontal bars. With the help of this engineer, companies and the discipline of business administration is very broad, some of them are: the Gantt diagram, the development of the concept of industrial efficiency, the implementation of the system of Bonds of Tasks, with this adopted the premium to the workers. And he also implemented the Daily Balance Chart.

It was also very emphatic to ensure that companies have a social responsibility, in their opinion, companies have obligations for the welfare of society. His support for the scientific organization of work is also highlighted. When he worked for Frederick W. Taylor, with whom he collaborated in the application of his own doctrine to improve productivity, and in the second stage of the Industrial Revolution .

After 14 years of being at Taylor’s side, he made the decision to separate from this because his interest was the humanization of industrial practices and the dehumanized theories of Frederick Taylor . Unfortunately, in his last years of life, Gantt did not have the opportunity to finish several of his projects because his health was undermined. Finally, Henry Gantt died on November 23, 1919, in the town of Pine Island in New York .

His importance lies in the fact that it is the founder of scientific administration , an activity developed in the United States that later spread throughout the world with the idea of ​​achieving humanization, rationalization, and performance.

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Elon Musk Biography: Success Story of The 21st Century Innovator

In this success story, we will share the biography of Elon Musk, the CEO and CTO of SpaceX CEO, chief product architect of Tesla Motors, and co-founder of PayPal. Musk is also involved in developing a high-speed transportation system known as Hyperloop. Elon Musk invests in projects that can change our world. He is not only an entrepreneur but also an inventor, innovator, and engineer. Musk personally participates in designing electric cars and spaceships.

Elon Musk was the second entrepreneur in Silicon Valley (the first was James H. Clark) who created three companies with a market cap of more than $1 billion – PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors. Elon Musk dedicates himself to space and alternative energy technologies.

He plays by some different rules and does that quite successfully. The distinctive personality traits of Elon Musk are perseverance, critical thinking, accurate self-analysis, and hard work (he works 80-100 hours per week).

Table of Contents

Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971. He was the oldest of three children. His father is a South African-born British engineer, Errol Musk, and his mother is a Canadian-English and dietetics expert, Maye Musk. Musk spent his childhood in South Africa, and at the age of 9, he got his first personal computer, the Commodore VIC-20. Elon immediately got interested in programming and started to learn it by himself. At 12, he earned $500 by selling the computer game Blastar (a shooter similar to Space Invaders) he had created.

Biographies of famous people usually contain key episodes leading them to an overwhelming success. In Elon Musk’s biography, there were at least two such episodes. The first one was Musk’s decision when he was only 17. After graduating from a secondary school in Pretoria, he decided to leave his home and, without the support of his parents, to immigrate to the United States. However, he did not get into the United States right away.

How did Elon Musk become successful?

Elon Musk is the co-founder of PayPal and the founder of SpaceX, two companies that manufacture payment systems and spacecraft, respectively. He was an early investor in Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles and batteries. He became Tesla CEO in 2008. In 2022, he acquired Twitter for $44 billion.

In 1989, Elon Musk moved to Canada to his mother’s relatives. Having obtained Canadian citizenship, Elon went to Montreal. At first, he worked in low-paid jobs and, for almost a year, was teetering on the brink of poverty. At 19, he entered Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. In 2000, he met his future wife, Justine Musk, who gave birth to his five sons: Damian, Griffin, Xavier, Saxon, and Kai. However, he broke up with Justine after eight years and, in 2010, got married a second time to a British actress named Talulah Riley, with whom he has lived for four years. He got divorced in 2014.

Elon Musk had been studying in Ontario for two years, and then, finally, his dream came true – in 1992, he relocated to the United States. He moved to the U.S. after receiving a scholarship from The University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics Bachelor the following year. Still, he continued his studies at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for one more year. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics as well.

Elon Musk graduates from The University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in physics and from The Wharton School with a B.S. in economics.

When Elon Musk struggled with adolescent depression, he began actively absorbing philosophical and religious literature. Yet the most valuable lessons he eventually learned from Douglas Adams’ book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy .

Elon Musk learned that the most challenging thing was to come up with the right questions, and when he began to do that, the rest was obtained very simply. An episode that guided him to this conclusion was when a giant supercomputer, after several million years of thinking about the primary purpose of life, responded with the meaningless number 42.

Musk figured out that humanity had to expand the limits of its consciousness to learn to ask the right questions, and he had found his question: what things would have a significant impact on the future of humanity’s destiny? Elon Musk decided those would be the Internet, the transition to renewable energy sources, and space colonization. He wanted to try to contribute to all three of them. To do that, he needed funds.

Zip2 and PayPal

In the summer of 1995, Elon Musk made the second and the most crucial decision. Having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, he enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University to pursue studies in applied physics and materials science. However, after two days, he left graduate school, and with his brother, Kimbal Musk, he created his first I.T. company, Zip2. He worked from early morning until late evening. He lived in the same warehouse where he rented the office, and when he needed to shower, he had to go to the locker rooms of a local stadium. In return, he accumulated savings and kept the company afloat during the most difficult first two years.

At that moment, the Internet was experiencing a period of rapid growth and development; however, nobody had ever earned a considerable fortune from it. Musk’s company was one of the first ones to do this: he created a platform where newspapers – including credible ones like the New York Times – could offer their customers additional commercial services.

In 1999, the biggest search engine of that time, AltaVista (later acquired by Compaq), bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in securities. This deal set a record for selling a company for cash. Musk spent $20 million on a 1,800-square-foot condominium and completely renovated it. Also, he bought the McLaren F1, which he would wreck in 2000, and a 12-seat Dassault 900 private jet.

In 1999, Musk started to work on electronic payment systems that were gaining popularity. The X.com startup became his new business. In March 2000, X.com merged with a rival company, Confinity; Peter Thiel and Max Levchin ran that. Confinity developed software to allow owners of PalmPilots and other PDAs to store encrypted information on their devices, creating the first digital wallet. In 2001, after the merger, X.com was renamed to PayPal, and Elon Musk became the chairman and chief executive of PayPal.

There were disagreements on strategy and management between new teams, but they have never affected the company’s dynamics and growth. Musk was involved in developing new business models and conducted a successful viral marketing campaign, which led to a rapid increase in customers. In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. Elon Musk received $180 million for his share from PayPal and had enough funds to pursue his other interests: space engineering and alternative energy sources. That was when Elon stopped investing in the Internet business.

Tesla Motors

In 2003, engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors . From the beginning, the company positioned itself as the first serial manufacturer of electric vehicles, and its founders dreamed of freeing the customers from the oil burden. Musk significantly supported such aspirations.

Elon Musk came into the project in 2004, leading an investment round in the startup with a personal contribution of $70 million. He became the chairman of the board of directors and, at first, did not take over the company’s operational management. Musk participated in designing their first electric car, a Tesla Roadster sports car based on the British Lotus Elise. He insisted on using carbon fiber composite materials in the hull to minimize weight, developed the battery module, and even some design elements, like the headlights. By 2006, the project had gotten into newspapers, and Musk received the Global Green 2006 product design award for the Tesla Roadster design. Tesla Motors continued to grow, and now the pool of investors, including the creators of Google, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin , and the total amount of the investments reached over $100 million.

However, when the Tesla Roadster was about to enter production in 2007, a run of bad luck started for Musk. Some management failures led to the fact that the actual selling price of the electric vehicle was almost twice as high as the initially implicit price of $92,000. In addition, Martin Eberhard made a strategic miscalculation: his concept of transmission for Tesla Roadster proved ineffective, and the car’s release had to be postponed for more than a year.

During this crisis, Elon showed incredible critical management skills: he fired everyone who stalled the project’s development, including Eberhard and a few other key players. After the cleanup, he headed the company by himself. Eberhard appealed to the court after being replaced by an interim CEO, Michael Marks. Still, the problem has been solved peacefully and so effectively that no details of the conflict were leaked to the public. In December 2007, Ze’ev Drori was appointed CEO and president of Tesla Motors. Elon Musk was a much better CEO and succeeded Ze’ev Drori. Drori became Vice Chairman and left the company in December 2008.

On the verge of crisis, Elon Musk continued vigorously cutting costs effectively: he reduced staff, demanded lower prices from suppliers, closed some offices, etc. As a result, the Tesla Roadster saw the world in 2008 with a minor – less than $20,000 – price increase.

In his most challenging moment in the late spring of 2008, Elon filed for divorce from his spouse, Justine, for reasons he did not want to make public. To save Tesla Motors, Musk received additional funds for the takeover of a software development company, Everdream, for $120 million by Dell; Elon Musk was the principal shareholder of it. He invested his last $20 million in Tesla Motors, saving the company from bankruptcy. Musk even gave personal guarantees to customers to make a refund in case of a business failure.

Soon, things went smoothly, which was especially impressive against the stagnating traditional auto industry. A German multinational automotive corporation, Daimler, made critical investments of $50 million in Tesla Motors, which helped save the company. Soon, the U.S. Department of Energy authorized the inclusion of Tesla Motors in a pool of innovative transport companies and authorized it to receive a preferential interest-bearing loan. Later, some skeptics criticized the Government for supporting Tesla Motors, whose product was focused exclusively on wealthy buyers.

The expression “electric vehicle” often evokes associations with something slow and clumsy, but in the case of Tesla Motors, it is not so. Tesla’s electric vehicles are fast and similar in appearance to luxury sports cars. However, there are plans to create more straightforward and affordable models. Tesla Motors’ engineers cooperate with Daimler and Toyota.

These companies’ so-called “hybrid” cars, equipped with an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, use Tesla Motors’ technology. In 2007, the Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz, called Tesla the main reason for the decision to begin developing the electric car Chevy Volt. “If some Silicon Valley startup can solve this equation, no one is going to tell me anymore that it’s unfeasible,” Lutz said.

On June 29, 2010, Tesla Motors started its initial public offering (IPO). It was the second (after Ford) car-manufacturing company in U.S. history to enter the IPO market. Despite being unprofitable for ten years, Tesla Motors got listed on NASDAQ at $17 per stock and attracted more than $225 million of investments. It was indeed the best time to enter the IPO market. The oil slick due to the fault of British Petroleum covered a significant part of the Gulf of Mexico and was continuing to grow, and raising the issue of the transition to new fuels seemed more than logical at that time. As of February 05, 2015, one share of Tesla Motors, Inc. stock cost $220.99, and its total market cap reached $27.44 billion. Elon Musk owns 30% of Tesla Motots, Inc. (TSLA).

The main reason for Tesla’s financial success became a premium sedan, the Tesla Model S, with a battery that supplies 265 miles (426 km) of range in the EPA 5-cycle test. The production of Model S started in June 2012 with a price tag starting at $69,900. It was ranked 99 out of 100 points by Consumer Reports and the highest safety rating from the National Highway Safety Administration, a 5.4 out of 5 points.

At the presentation of Model S, Musk categorically stated that in twenty years, more than half of the produced vehicles would be electric ones. He was even ready to bet on that, as were many others. Yet even the most optimistic analysts’ estimates state that Musk’s forecast cannot be realized. However, that does not scare Tesla’s CEO: He changes reality by embellishing it.

Elon Musk believes that the world has become dependent on oil. This dependence leads to climate change and permanent geopolitical tensions. Refusing internal combustion engines in favor of electric motors can make a difference. Therefore, Tesla Motors is not a small business for Musk.

Musk continued to keep publicity interested in the company by starting a media argument with The New York Times columnist John M. Broder about one of the test drives of the Model S. It is worth mentioning that these publicity stunts gave their results. During the first half of 2013, 10,500 Model S were sold.

On October 09, 2014, The Tesla Motors team unveiled Model S 85D and P85D. That is the first electric car with a dual motor. Model S P85D has 691 hp motor power and an ‘insane mode’ acceleration: a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) run of 3.2 seconds. Additionally, the car can be equipped with a revolutionary autopilot system: a forward-looking camera, radar, and 360-degree ultrasonic sensors that actively monitor the surrounding roadway. With an enabled autopilot system, Model S can automatically change lanes, indicate and avoid pedestrians and collisions, and even read speed limit signs, adjusting the car’s speed accordingly. In addition, the new Model S has increased battery capacity. The cost starts at $79,900. Visually, however, the vehicle will be very similar to its counterpart, the Model S 60. In February 2014, the Tesla Model S was rated by Consumer Reports as the best car in the world for the second year.

A released crossover, the Tesla Model X, was delivered for new reservations in the latter half of 2016. On September 29, 2015, the first six deliveries of the Tesla X model started at a market launch event in the Fremont factory. The Tesla Motors team has designed the Model X P90D and 90D. Model X P90D has 259 hp front, 503 hp rear motor power, and a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) run of 3.2 seconds with Ludicrous Speed Upgrade. Additionally, Tesla X has a panoramic windshield with ample seating for seven adults and all their gear. The car is equipped with the first true HEPA filter with a “Bioweapon Defense Mode” button in a vehicle. Musk stated that when the HEPA filter operates at maximum performance, no pollen, bacteria, or viruses could be detected in the cabin—model X equipped with Falcon Wing doors automatically adjusted to the optimal opening arc.

On March 31, 2016, Elon Musk unveiled the five-seater Tesla Model 3. That is the most affordable Tesla car yet, with a price tag starting at $35,000. The base vehicle can run 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) under 6 seconds. The range is at least 215 miles (346 km), and supercharger support is capable. Model 3 includes all the autopilot safety features and will be equipped in rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive versions. Musk said that it would be one of the world’s safest cars. Deliveries of Model 3 began in late 2017.

Elon Musk plans to cover the U.S., Europe, and Asia with a network of Supercharger stations. As of April 04, 2016, there are 613 Supercharger stations with 3,628 Superchargers worldwide.

In November 2017, Musk unveiled the new Tesla Semi Truck and Roadster. Tesla Motors started producing semi-trucks in 2019. The truck can drive 500 miles (804km), and its battery capacity is designed to last 1 million miles (1,60 million km).

Roadster and Model Y

In March 2019, Musk revealed the long-awaited Tesla Model Y to the world. The compact crossover will be available in four powertrains: Standard Range, Long Range, or Long Range with Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive and Performance. It is expected to be released in 2020. The Tesla Model Y’s range is approximately 300 miles (482 km), and it can do a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) run for 3.5 seconds. The Roadster is planned to be available in 2020 with a 0-60 mph (0-97 kmh) time of 1.9 seconds.

On May 01, 2015, within the Tesla Energy project, Tesla Motors introduced a wall-mounted, rechargeable lithium-ion battery with liquid thermal control called Powerwall. There are two models: one goes with 10 kWh with a price tag of $3,500, applicable for backup applications, and another battery goes with 7 kWh – $3,000, which can be used for daily cycle applications. Powerwall batteries can be combined in arrays to increase the total storage capacity. Each battery is provided with a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.

For more demanding energy consumers, Tesla Motors provides a solution called Powerpack. It can be used in offices, industrial facilities, and utilities. In this case, it is possible to store much more energy. Moreover, 100 kWh batteries can be combined into 500 kWh to 10 MWh arrays. According to Elon Musk, 160 million Powerpack units would be enough to provide energy to all consumers in the United States, and 2 billion Powerpack units would be sufficient for the whole world.

SolarCity Corporation was an energy services provider headquartered in San Mateo, California, USA. The co-founders of SolarCity are two cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive. Elon Musk is a shareholder of the company. In 2003, he invested $10 million after selling his 11 percent of PayPal stock.

SolarCity provided solar power systems for homes, businesses, and governments before Tesla acquired them. The company offered several programs for homeowners: the “MyPower” loan program, solar lease, and solar power purchase agreement (PPA).

In May 2008, the company built solar-powered electric systems for British Motors and eBay to power their headquarters and servers.

On January 15, 2015, SolarCity partnered with Credit Suisse Group AG to start a new solar financing facility worth $200 million. This credit facility is targeted at assisting customers in investing in solar energy systems through SolarCity’s “MyPower” loan program. This energy plan enabled customers to own their solar systems and pay less for electricity when compared to leasing them through power purchase agreements (PPAs). For example, it helped to decrease the price per kilowatt-hour, and customers must pay back the loan at 16 cents a kilowatt-hour for the first year.

SolarCity’s concepts were cost-efficient and environmentally friendly, coinciding with Elon Musk’s principles. The company, in particular, provided solar energy systems for Tesla Motors’ supercharger stations.

However, leadership in the industry did not save SolarCity from criticism. Some skeptics stated that solar electric power would never become an efficient business model, and because the competition was too high in this industry, keeping a company in the leading position would be challenging. However, on December 10, 2012, since SolarCity entered the IPO market, the value of its stock shares jumped from $8 to $11.79. As of February 13, 2015, the stock share price was $57.60, and the total market cap was $5.53 billion. Now, Elon Musk used to own 25% of SolarCity (SCTY).

Analysts consider his assurance in the company’s prospects to be the primary reason for the phenomenal success. If the creators of SpaceX and Tesla Motors bet on that technology, it means there is genuinely something to it. The Wall Street Society even devised a term for The Musk Effect .

Tesla reorganized its solar business into Tesla Energy after acquiring SolarCity in 2016 for approximately US$2.6 billion (equivalent to $3.2 billion in 2022).

Elon Musk started thinking of creating a space exploration technologies corporation ( SpaceX ) at the turn of the century. He was inspired by an ambitious idea of reducing space transportation costs to enable people to colonize Mars. SpaceX was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Hawthorne, California, USA.

Elon Musk was fascinated by the opportunity of colonizing Mars and created Mars Oasis. The goal of the project was to create automated greenhouses, which, in the future, could have become a basis for a self-sustaining ecosystem. The main problem was the enormous delivery cost of greenhouses to Mars. Musk even tried to order launch vehicles from the Russian Federation and discussed that with Russian officials, but he decided not to make a deal with them. Later, Musk came up with the idea of designing his reusable launch vehicles and spaceships.

In March 2006, Elon Musk invested more than $100 million in SpaceX. The prices per launch vehicle ranged from $15 million in the Russian Federation to $65 million in the U.S., which seemed too high to the entrepreneur. He calculated that the cost of all the parts required for constructing a launch vehicle was only 2% of the launch vehicle price in the United States. This fact outraged Musk. He saw the root of the problem in the space industry’s bureaucratization, the small competitiveness of large corporations, and their lobbying efforts to prevent the entry of new players.

Musk was assured that the costs of creating and launching launch vehicles and spaceships could be reduced tenfold. First, he needed to redefine the goal of spaceflights. The primary mission of SpaceX is not the delivery of astronauts and cargo into orbit, but the colonization of other planets like Mars, and Musk wants to do that efficiently. In August 2008, one of the first investors who financially supported Elon Musk was Founders Fund, which belonged to his former PayPal partners, Peter Thiel and Dave McClure. In June 2009, on behalf of DFJ Venture, Steve Jurvetson led an undisclosed investment round, including Founders Fund, which executed at least $15 million of the proposed $60 million. On November 09, 2010, DFJ Venture and Founders Fund led another round of investments, and SpaceX raised $50.2 million. Yet, after all the investment rounds, Elon Musk owns 66% of SpaceX shares.

SpaceX started working on the Falcon 1 launch system in 2002. Designing it has taken four years and hundreds of millions of private investments. From 2006 through 2015, companies like DARPA, NASA, ORS, Celestis, ATSB, SpaceDev, Orbcomm, NSPO, and Astrium got interested in SpaceX and ran several test launches of the Falcon 1 rocket.

In 2006-2008, the first three flight attempts failed. On September 28, 2008, during the fourth flight attempt, Falcon 1 finally reached the orbit. If the fourth launch also failed, SpaceX would have never existed. NASA was impressed by these achievements and signed a $1.6 billion contract to fly American astronauts to and from Earth orbit. NASA plans to fly 12 delivery flights using SpaceX robotic Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.

As of October 2012, SpaceX developed several types of rocket engines, Kestrel, Merlin 1, Draco, and Super Draco, without any support from the government. The last was designed for the Falcon family of launch vehicles, Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the Dragon spacecraft.

However, Elon Musk does not want to rush with IPO this time. According to Elon Musk, all the achievements of SpaceX are a background for his biggest dream – an expedition to Mars. SpaceX is in the design process of the Mars Colonial Transporter. Also, Musk’s engineers work on innovative rocket engines (Grasshopper and the Falcon 9 rockets) and the Red Dragon spacecraft that uses Falcon Heavy rockets (a modified version of the Dragon capsule) to transport people from Earth to Mars. He said, “I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact.”

Falcon Heavy rocket flight animation:

Grasshopper and Falcon 9 are experimental launch vehicles that can make vertical landings and vertical takeoffs. On January 10, 2015, the first attempt to land the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Earth after the launch failed – it landed too roughly. Nevertheless, the SpaceX team made a tricky maneuver and landed a rocket on a floating platform off the coast of Florida.

Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015

CEO Elon Musk reported through Twitter about the soft vertical landing of the rocket in the ocean within 10 meters. That gives hope for a successful landing next time at sea in non-stormy weather. According to the entrepreneur, 10-20 years from now, science fiction can become a reality.

Rocket soft landed in the ocean within 10m of target & nicely vertical! High probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2015

On April 08, 2016, after four unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX made history by landing the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship at sea.

Landing from the chase plane pic.twitter.com/2Q5qCaPq9P — SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 8, 2016

Elon Musk demonstrated that SpaceX can reuse rockets in the future, which means cost savings for the company.

The incredible life of Elon Musk is an excellent example of a man who has accomplished his childhood dream: he conquers space. The colonization of Mars will soon become a reality thanks to SpaceX’s innovations in the space industry.

Interplanetary Transport System

On September 27, 2016, at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico, Elon Musk gave a keynote speech called Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species. It announced that SpaceX was working on the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS). ITS will be equipped with at least 42 Raptor rocket engines capable of 128 meganewtons of thrust. Raptor is the first type of cryogenic methane-fueled rocket engine developed by SpaceX that was successfully test-fired at a McGregor, Texas testing facility in September 2016.

The spaceship can carry around 100 passengers in the pressured cabin, cargo, luggage, and materials to construct foundries and factories.

Elon Musk plans to achieve a population of 1 million for a Mars colony; that means 100 people per trip is 10,000 trips. Musk thinks implementing this plan can take from 40 to 100 years.

The initial trip time from Earth to Mars can take 80 days. However, Musk is intended to reduce the journey time to as little as 30 days in the distant future.

The biggest challenge is reducing the cost per flight per passenger beyond $200,000 or even $100,000. Based on the traditional space flight model, the cost per passenger reaches $10 billion.

Elon Musk anticipates that the first crew flight may happen within the next ten years if things go well.

Elon Musk is a demanding perfectionist and innovator in the high-tech industry. His education in physics and economics helped him see the objective truth and separate it from emotional and speculative forecasts. He thinks big. A bright example would be his concept of the fifth mode of transport called Hyperloop.

On August 12, 2013, Musk published a blog post about Hyperloop and a 58-page Alpha Hyperloop presentation , which shed some light on its structure and function. Hyperloop is a solar-power high-speed transportation system driven by linear induction motors and air compressors that should deliver people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes, covering a distance of 381.8 miles (614.44 km). Hyperloop is based on technology similar to magnetic levitation trains. An electromagnetic impulse is used to move the “pods” or “capsules,” and a low air pressure makes it possible to achieve higher speeds than any other ground transportation.

Hyperloop would be two times faster than a plane and would not be limited to any schedule. Elon Musk wanted to share the Hyperloop concept with the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, and U.S. President Barack Obama to build an efficient transportation system. Musk thinks that Hyperloop can be a great alternative to the Government’s plans to construct a high-speed railroad between San Francisco and Los Angeles, which will cost more than $70 billion. In his opinion, spending so much on such a slow type of transportation is wrong.

The transportation system would be composed of steel tubes. These tubes would be mounted on columns 50 to 100 yards apart (45.72 to 91.44 meters), and the capsules inside would speed up to 800 mph (1287 kmh).

Solar panels would power the Hyperloop transportation system mounted along the track. In addition, the heritage of other Musk companies comes in handy here: the motors and electronics of the capsules can be inherited from Tesla Motors, the engineers from SolarCity can help with the solar panels, and SpaceX can share the materials tested in space.

One capsule would accommodate up to 28 people, and if the project budget were increased from $6 to $10 billion, the Hyperloop cargo capsules could carry up to three cars in one cargo capsule. The starting acceleration of the capsule would be similar to that of a plane. There would be 70 capsules on the preliminary route with a minimum delay interval of 30 seconds; the safe distance between the capsules would be 5 miles (8 km). The payback period of investments is 20 years if a one-way ticket price is $20 and the annual number of transported passengers each way reaches 7.4 million.

The first Hyperloop transportation system is planned to be built along the California highway Interstate 5. Musk promises passengers an unprecedented level of security. Project engineers considered the possibility of emergency braking at depressurization of the capsule. They even offered solutions for bridge building anti-seismic design of columns for leveling the risk of destruction by an earthquake.

Hyperloop will be a great way of transportation for large cities located at a distance of not more than 900 miles (1500 km) from each other. For longer distances, aircraft is more suitable, the inventor believes.

Even though Musk is not ready to devote sufficient time to the Hyperloop concept, he is still willing to finance the development of the prototype. He also made the Hyperloop design an open source, allowing everyone to improve the current version of it, guaranteeing all possible support. Elon Musk said he was not afraid of losing something on Hyperloop financially, but it would be great to make a new mode of transport.

On January 15, 2015, Elon Musk, during his speech at the 10th Annual Texas Transportation Forum, announced the creation of a Hyperloop beta test track somewhere in Texas with a total length of 5 miles (8 km). In the future, this track will be used by different companies and a group of talented engineering students to test capsules of their designs. Musk also plans to organize an annual student Hyperloop capsule racer competition, like Formula SAE.

On February 26, 2015, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT or HyperloopTT) signed an agreement to begin construction of the first full-scale test track in 2016 of Hyperloop in the California model town of Quay Valley and complete the construction by 2017. In 2016, HyperloopTT received $100 million in investments to build a test track. On June 25, 2019, HyperloopTT presented its full-scale 1049ft (320m) passenger system to U.S. officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation in Toulouse, France. Also, they highlighted the first certification guidelines for Hyperloop systems to the USDOT in Washington, D.C.

The Boring Company

In January 2017, Musk unveiled The Boring Company , an enterprise dedicated to boring and building tunnels for vehicles to reduce city street traffic. Musk started with a test tunnel on the SpaceX facilities in Los Angeles. In October 2017, he uploaded the first photo of the tunnel on his Instagram account. The test tunnel was supposed to be 2 miles (3.31km), and Musk planned to reach such length in approximately four months.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company is reportedly working on a hyperloop project called “X-Tunnel.” The project is still in the early stages of development, but Musk has said he hopes to build a hyperloop tunnel between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Twitter Acquisition for $44 Billion

Elon Musk took over the social media company Twitter, Inc. in April 2022. By April, he began purchasing shares in January 2022 and had become the company’s largest shareholder, with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, but he declined before making an unsolicited offer to buy the company on April 14; Twitter’s board responded with a “poison pill” strategy designed to resist a hostile takeover by Elon Musk but unanimously accepted his $44 billion buyout offer on April 25, 2022. Musk stated that he intended to introduce new features to the platform, open-source its algorithms so that anyone interested in studying them can do so, combat spambot accounts that impersonate real people by using fake profiles, and promote free speech on Twitter by allowing any user to post whatever they want without censorship.

Twitter was renamed to X on July 23, 2023, following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in October 2022.

Elon Musk Book List

In one of his interviews , Elon Musk said that he liked to read fiction books and biographies of famous people, namely “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” by Walter Isaacson, “Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age” by B. Carlson, “Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down” by J.E. Gordon, etc.

In addition, he loves Dale Carnegie’s books and, of course, a lot of literature on engineering, design, business, and physics. Elon’s favorite book is “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams.

Elon Musk is a 21st-century industrialist who brings the most fantastic ideas to life. Elon Musk’s life story shows that all his success was thanks to his perseverance, hard work, and absolute faith in his projects. We hope you have enjoyed exploring Elon Musk’s biography and success story of Tesla Motors SpaceX, and they have inspired you to make discoveries.

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Prologue-Chapter 11

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Summary and Study Guide

The biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, published in 2023, explores the life and achievements of one of the most enigmatic figures in the tech and business worlds. Isaacson, a biographer with a track record of profiles on iconic individuals such as Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Leonardo da Vinci, brings his expertise to unravel the complex layers of Elon Musk’s persona. Isaacson’s deep dive into Musk’s life aims to give readers a deeper understanding of the man behind Tesla, SpaceX, and numerous other ventures. This work navigates the intersections of Musk’s personal and professional spheres, shedding light on his ambitious pursuits, visionary goals, and the controversies that surround him.

This guide references the Simon & Schuster 2023 Kindle Edition.

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The biography is structured chronologically, providing readers with a detailed account of Elon Musk’s life from his childhood in South Africa to his ventures in the United States, where he would become a key player in revolutionizing the automotive and space industries.

The narrative begins by unraveling Musk’s formative years in Pretoria, South Africa. Isaacson focuses on how Elon’s childhood, which was shaped by violence and verbal abuse, laid the foundation for his behavior as an adult. These chapters also outline Musk’s childhood interests in computers, technology, and science fiction, which inspired his future endeavors. Musk’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and his ambition to make a mark on the world set the stage for his eventual move to the United States.

The book then chronicles Musk’s early entrepreneurial ventures, starting with Zip2, a city guide software for newspapers. The challenges and successes of Zip2 provided Musk with invaluable experiences and lessons. Subsequently, the narrative transitions to the creation of X.com, an online payment company, which eventually merged with Confinity to become PayPal. Isaacson details Musk’s struggles, innovations, and eventual sale of PayPal, emphasizing his extreme work ethic and his desire for control and autonomy.

A significant portion of the biography is dedicated to Musk’s founding and development of SpaceX. It particularly focuses on the challenges faced during the company’s early years. Isaacson elucidates Musk’s vision for interplanetary colonization and his unwavering commitment to reducing space travel costs. Isaacson argues that Musk’s willingness to challenge the conventionally accepted notions of the cost of rockets enabled SpaceX to move more nimbly than NASA and jumpstart the United States’ flagging participation in the space industry.

Another pivotal aspect of Musk’s career is explored in the chapters dedicated to Tesla Motors. The biography describes Musk’s involvement with Tesla, from investing in the company to taking over as CEO and becoming a driving force behind its electric vehicle revolution. Isaacson touches upon Tesla’s challenges, including financial difficulties, and highlights Musk’s leadership style and determination to cut costs and create an efficient means of production, even at the expense of alienating employees and driving them to the point of burnout.

The narrative extends beyond Musk’s automotive and space endeavors to cover his involvement in SolarCity, a solar energy services company, and his ventures into neuroscience with Neuralink. Isaacson also discusses The Boring Company, a venture focused on infrastructure and tunnel construction. These chapters illuminate Musk’s wide-ranging interests and his desire to address global challenges.

Throughout the book, Isaacson provides glimpses into Musk’s personal life, exploring his relationships, marriages, and the toll his professional commitments take on his personal well-being. The narrative doesn’t shy away from portraying Musk’s complex personality, including his struggles with social interactions and the toll his intense work ethic has on his health.

Isaacson draws connections between Musk’s abusive childhood and his behavior in relationships, repeatedly intoning that Musk possesses a predilection for drama, conflict, and crisis, something that he brings to his relationships in both his personal life and his business life. Isaacson observes that when Musk experiences phases of relative stability or success, Musk feels a need to artificially create crises to feel energized. Isaacson contends that this enables Musk to drive his teams to high levels of success, pushing them to reach achievements that they previously thought were impossible, though Isaacson also acknowledges the interpersonal fallout from Musk’s driven and sometimes callous behavior.

The biography concludes with Musk’s foray into social media, particularly his acquisition and transformation of Twitter. The book explores Musk’s unorthodox management style and the consequences of his decisions on the platform. Additionally, the narrative touches upon Musk’s concerns about artificial intelligence and his efforts to ensure ethical development in the field.

Isaacson concludes the biography by reflecting on Musk's lasting impact on various industries and the tensions between his controversial behavior and innovative contributions. The book presents Musk as a complex figure, acknowledging both his successes and the controversies surrounding his leadership style. Isaacson implies that Musk’s behavior, while sometimes callous, cruel, and reckless, may be justified by the grandiosity of his accomplishments.

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Elon Musk Summary (Walter Isaacson)

1-Sentence-Summary: Elon Musk is an intimate account of the life of the man  who might be the 21st century’s most important innovator, engineer, and businessman, based on over two years of shadowing him through the ups and downs of his everyday life running Tesla, SpaceX, and four other world-changing companies.

Favorite quote from the author:

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Elon musk book summary (walter isaacson), elon musk walter isaacson review, who would i recommend our elon musk summary to.

The movie Escape from Pretoria tells the true story of 3 anti-apartheid fighters escaping from a grueling South African prison in 1979. It’s an extremely intense movie, and that same nail-biting, danger-around-every-corner Pretoria is where Elon Musk, born in 1971, grew up.

His father repeatedly sent the young Musk to veldskool , a “toughen-up” camp. The premise? Give kids minimal food and supplies, then let them fight to see who’s “a survivor” — in some cases literally. “Every few years, one of the kids would die,” Elon recalls.

Early on, Elon got beaten up a lot everywhere, but by age 16, he had grown to 6 feet and could defend himself. His specialty? The nose-punch. As it turns out, that one really, really hurts. “If you have never been punched in the nose,” Elon says, “you have no idea how it affects you the rest of your life.”

When I read it, this line made me stop in my tracks. I realized: I have never been punched in the nose. Noticing this difference helped me understand Elon a little better. This, I believe, is the reason we read biographies.

If you want the hard facts of Elon Musk’s life, you can get those on Wikipedia or in our mini-bio of the man . But if you want to understand Elon Musk — why the man does what he does and thinks how he thinks — you must get to know his story. That’s what Elon Musk , Walter Isaacson ‘s 2023 biography, is for.

Here are 3 lessons from the book to better understand one of the most interesting and successful humans of our time:

• Elon Musk suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, and we should remember this fact when judging him.
• Use Elon’s 5-step algorithm to accomplish “impossible” goals.
• It’s important but not guaranteed that life feels inspiring. This is a privilege we must fight for.

Let’s get to know the real Elon Musk!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Lesson 1: Elon Musk has autism — a condition like any other, and one we should consider when judging his actions.

Elon Musk has 10 children with 3 different women. He’s been married and divorced 3 times — twice to and from the same woman. He once smoked a joint live on a podcast, crashed a million-dollar car, and posts more memes on X (formerly Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion) than anyone you know.

It’s easy to look at the drama and conclude “that guy is nuts!” But reality is more complicated.

Elon once admitted that he had Asperger’s on live TV: “Look, I know I say or post strange things, but that’s just how my brain works.” Asperger’s syndrome is a mild version of autism. The brain develops differently, making it hard for a person to normally respond to emotional and social cues from others .

Elon Musk’s autism can’t explain all of his antics, but many of them. When he zones out, fluctuates between highly emotional and stone-cold moods, completely forgets what people told him the day before, or fails to read the room, that’s likely Asperger’s at work.

Musician Grimes, the mother of 3 of his children, once succinctly put it like this: “If someone has depression or anxiety, we sympathize. But if they have Asperger’s we say he’s an asshole.”

When you don’t understand someone’s behavior, look for the invisible forces influencing them you might not see. Or, in Ian MacLaren’s words : “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

Lesson 2: Elon Musk’s 5-step algorithm is what helps him — and you — accomplish impossible goals.

Musk is known for “ thinking from first principles .” In his own words : “Physics is the law, everything else is a recommendation.” In 2014, Tesla only sold 31,000 cars. Elon said they would produce 500,000 per year by 2020. The news called it “absurd.” The last car company to reach mass production like that was Chrysler — in 1980 . But in 2020, Tesla sold 499,550 cars.

One thing that helps Elon achieve such “impossible” goals is what Isaacson calls “the algorithm” in the book. It’s meant for manufacturing hardware products but translates well to almost any area of life:

• Question every requirement . Hold folks accountable to why their requirements exist, and insist on requirements that actually make sense.
• Delete any part or process you can . “If you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them,” Elon says, “then you didn’t delete enough.”
• Simplify and optimize .
• Accelerate cycle time . “Every process can be sped up.”

Importantly, do the steps in order. Never simplify, optimize, accelerate, or automate a process that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Whether it is your job, your home life, or a hobby you hope can become a career: Think for yourself, question the consensus, and focus only on the truly necessary steps you must take.

Try applying Elon’s algorithm to all kinds of things, and watch yourself accomplishing what others think is impossible!

Lesson 3: Life must be about more than just solving problems. Find your inspiration, and fight for it!

So far, we’ve seen Elon’s emotional, vulnerable side, and his rational, calculated side. But there’s also a simply human side: Elon Musk wants to feel excited, have fun, and look forward to the future.

In a 2022 TED interview, he said : “L ife cannot simply be about solving one miserable problem after another.” And in another : “ You want to get up in the morning and be excited about the future. There have got to be things that get you excited. Like, you want to live . These things are very important.”

To Elon, one of the most inspiring things is making humans a multi-planetary, space-faring species. That’s why he started SpaceX, and that’s why he worked like hell to make rockets reusable and to reduce the cost of space travel.

Elon Musk may do seemingly odd things, but often, the intention behind them is an inspiring motive. The play may not work out, but it’s the idea of a better future that counts!

What kind of future makes you feel inspired? Think about it. Work for your right to wake up excited in the morning. A prosperous future is not guaranteed, but if we draw a clear picture of it together and then dedicate ourselves to it, tomorrow will indeed be just as beautiful — perhaps even better than — our dreams.

I love all of Walter Isaacson’s books . Elon Musk is no exception. It’s a long but worthwhile read detailing countless episodes of Elon’s life in chronological order. If nothing else, it will show you that Elon Musk, like every other human being, is a person of many colors. Full recommend!

The 15-year-old Elon fan who wants to be an engineer, the 35-year-old Wall Street analyst who’s skeptic of Musk’s ambitions, and anyone who’s interested in science, space, cars, or the future.

Last Updated on May 6, 2024

Niklas Göke

Niklas Göke is an author and writer whose work has attracted tens of millions of readers to date. He is also the founder and CEO of Four Minute Books, a collection of over 1,000 free book summaries teaching readers 3 valuable lessons in just 4 minutes each. Born and raised in Germany, Nik also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration & Engineering from KIT Karlsruhe and a Master’s Degree in Management & Technology from the Technical University of Munich. He lives in Munich and enjoys a great slice of salami pizza almost as much as reading — or writing — the next book — or book summary, of course!

*Four Minute Books participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. We also participate in other affiliate programs, such as Blinkist, MindValley, Audible, Audiobooks, Reading.FM, and others. Our referral links allow us to earn commissions (at no extra cost to you) and keep the site running. Thank you for your support.

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26 Surprising Elon Musk Facts You Probably Never Knew

Posted: May 22, 2024 | Last updated: May 22, 2024

Musk the maverick

Elon Musk, the sometimes-reckless tech and space pioneer, is no stranger to controversy and drama. He's currently the third richest man in the world with a stunning net worth of around $193 billion, according to  Forbes . But juggernaut bank balance aside, who's the  real  Elon Musk? 

From an early start in coding to his influence over the world's most powerful people,  click or scroll on to  discover 26 surprising facts you might not know about the billionaire.  All dollar amounts are in US dollars.

1. He learnt to code at 10

The young Musk's intelligence was evident early on when he took up computer programming at the tender age of 10.

By the time he was 12, he'd developed a video game called  Blastar (pictured) and sold the game's code to a computer magazine for around $500 (the equivalent of $1.5k in 2024). The game is still available to play online today. 

2. He dropped out of Stanford for his first start-up

Musk took his first big risk when he dropped out of his PhD at the prestigious Stanford University after just a few days of studying. Instead of continuing his education, he decided to devote more time to his first start-up, Zip2 Corporation, which created online city guides for news organizations.

The gamble paid off. When the company was purchased by the Compaq Computer Corporation in 1999, 28-year-old Musk reportedly walked away with a cool $19 million, around $36 million in today's money.

Quick to build on his success, Musk's next venture was an electronic payments start-up called X.com, which he founded using a sizeable chunk of his newly acquired wealth. That investment was spectacularly successful as the company, which rebranded to PayPal in 2001, was acquired by eBay for a reported $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk netted a colossal $180 million from the sale, which works out at over $320 million in today's money.

3. He's built space rockets

By the early 2000s, Musk had become one of the world's most influential business figures. While PayPal's success was undeniable, Musk had his eye on other pursuits, specifically rockets and space exploration.

Having founded SpaceX in 2002, his first challenge in reaching space was sourcing the rockets to get there. After deciding they were too expensive in the US, Musk showed his maverick side when he came close to buying three intercontinental ballistic missiles from Russia, with plans to convert them.

However, he eventually decided to build the rockets himself. In 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately developed vehicle to put a satellite into orbit.

4. He sent his car into orbit

On 6 February 2018, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful operational rocket in the world, blasted off on its maiden voyage.

According to reports, the Falcon Heavy can lift a mass equivalent to five double-decker buses (complete with passengers, luggage, and fuel) into orbit. The mega-rocket has been designed to carry people and is part of Musk’s plans for human space travel.

However, for its experimental debut mission back in 2018, Musk decided on a much lighter load: his old cherry-red Tesla sports car. A space-suited mannequin nicknamed "Starman" was strapped into the driver's seat, and the car's radio was set up to play David Bowie's  Life on Mars on repeat. The rocket overshot its intended orbit of Mars, but the ambitious launch generated headlines across the world.

5. He wants to open pizza joints on Mars

Musk had more success in 2020 when SpaceX worked with NASA to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) (pictured).

Musk's ultimate cosmic ambitions are still far greater than anything he's achieved so far. A paper written by Musk and published in the New Space journal outlined his plans for colonising Mars, including a fleet of spacecraft carrying hundreds of passengers to and from the Red Planet, and homes and "pizza joints" being built before the end of the century.

Musk has previously indicated that he plans to spend half his wealth on helping improve things on Earth and the other half on establishing human life on Mars.

6. He went from Tesla shareholder to CEO

While his space exploration company was still finding its feet, Musk got involved in another huge project: Tesla. It's often assumed that Musk founded Tesla, but the automotive giant was actually launched by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003.

Musk became a significant shareholder shortly afterwards and eventually became the company's CEO in 2008. Tesla's first car, the Tesla Roadster, was launched that same year and sold around 2,400 models in 30 countries, impressive numbers for electric car sales at the time.

Reports suggest that even Donald Trump has a Roadster in his fleet of motor vehicles.

7. He's behind the world's largest building

Tesla's first "gigafactory" officially opened in Nevada in 2016, and construction work on the facility continues to this day.

Once it's completed, the physical footprint of the factory is tipped to make it the largest building in the world, and it's become the driving force behind Tesla's ability to ship its electric car to the mass market.

Gigafactories have also been built in Berlin, Texas, California, Shanghai, and New York.

8. He wants to launch a new mode of transport

You might think that SpaceX and Tesla are more than enough to keep Musk on his toes, but he does have other plans up his sleeve. "We have planes, trains, automobiles, and boats... What if there was a fifth mode?" Musk mused about travel in July 2012 before unveiling plans for his Hyperloop transportation system the following year.

His visionary new approach to getting from A to B would see pods sent hurtling through a vacuumed tube at lightning speeds – for example, the four-hour journey between LA and San Francisco would be slashed to around 30 minutes. Key to the plan is a network of tunnels, so it's no surprise that Musk set up a firm dedicated to boring holes in the ground. The Boring Company (get it?) was founded in 2016 and quickly set to work tunneling under the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

So far, the Hyperloop project has had limited success – perhaps because Musk and his engineers have been entertaining themselves with dangerous gadgets instead. In January 2018, The Boring Company developed its controversial "flamethrower." Comprising a blowtorch shaped like a gun, 20,000 of them were made available for pre-order. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they'd all sold out by the end of the month.

9. He's released his own fragrance

With a name like his, it was only going to be a matter of time before Musk released his own fragrance. Less expected was the billionaire's choice to name his debut scent Burnt Hair – and the decision to give it precisely that scent. 

In typical Musk fashion, he took to Twitter (now called X) to announce the launch of the product in October 2022, describing Burnt Hair as the "finest fragrance on Earth." The fragrance is also summed up as "the essence of repugnant desire" (who could resist?) on The Boring Company's website. 

As well as having a scent that might raise eyebrows, the price tag is somewhat eye-watering, with bottles selling for $100. The first batch of the perfume completely sold out, reportedly making Musk more than $1 million in just a few hours. 

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10. He put a chip in a pig's brain

In August 2020, Musk introduced Gertrude the pig to the world, the main test subject of one of his most controversial projects yet.

Gertrude had a computer chip implanted in her brain, with the wireless device developed to collect data from more than 1,000 of her neurons. While the project has enjoyed success, animal rights groups such as PETA have expressed concerns about the welfare of the animals involved in the experiments.

The research was carried out by Musk's neurotech company, Neuralink, which is developing technology to adjust neural firing patterns. The ultimate goal is to cure disorders stemming from the brain, including Parkinson's disease and dementia.

11. He successfully implanted a brain-chip into a human

In September 2023, Neuralink received approval to start human trials. By early 2024, the company had successfully implanted a brain chip in a human patient. Elon Musk reported that the procedure was successful, with the patient now fully recovered and able to control a computer mouse using their thoughts.

The patient, 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, who is paralyzed below the shoulders, has since demonstrated the remarkable ability to play online chess on his laptop and move the cursor using his mind, all thanks to the Neuralink implant.

It seems the future has arrived!

12. He's planning big changes at X (formerly known as Twitter)

In October 2022, Elon Musk sensationally snapped up Twitter in a $44 billion deal, one of his biggest business moves to date. He rebranded the social media platform to X, but this is far from the only controversial change he plans to make at the company.

In a livestreamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2023, Musk revealed that X is "moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system."

He further claimed that the social media site has 550 million monthly users.

13. He's a controversial tweeter (part 1)

Talking of X, Musk has long been a controversial figure on the social media platform – but March 2020 saw him take things to another level.

He took to what was then Twitter to declare that "the coronavirus panic is dumb," just five days before the World Health Organization declared the global outbreak of the infectious disease to be a pandemic.

A few weeks later, he sparked further fury when he tweeted that "kids are essentially immune" to the virus despite clear evidence to the contrary.

13. He's a controversial tweeter (part 2)

In another controversial post on the social media platform, Musk claimed in May 2020 that Tesla's stock price was too high, causing it to fall immediately and wipe nearly $15 billion off the company's valuation in a single day.

Shares were $760 at the time and fell by about 10%. However, his comment didn't do any lasting damage, with Tesla overtaking Toyota to become the world's most valuable automaker weeks later.

In fact, one year on from Musk's share-slashing tweet, Tesla was worth more than Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, GM, and Ford combined.

14. He confessed to owning X "burner" accounts

Musk's controversial activities on social media once again came under scrutiny earlier this year, during a libel deposition in which he admitted to having two secret X accounts, known as "burner" accounts.

This deposition coincides with Musk being sued over a series of tweets from last June, in which he claimed that a 22-year-old Jewish man named Ben Brody had participated in a neo-Nazi rally as an undercover agent provocateur. Brody is seeking damages for harassment and threats he suffered as a result of Musk's tweets.

Musk confessed to owning one test account that he rarely uses and a "side" account from which he anonymously tweets more regularly. While the court transcript referred to one account as "baby smoke 9,000," it appears to be a misnomer for @babysmurf9000, an account that has shown signs of affiliation with Mr. Musk. The identity of the other suspected account, @ermnmusk, was confirmed by court exhibits reviewed by HuffPost.

15. He's prone to self-sabotage

Musk tweeting that Tesla's stock price was too high wasn't the first time he'd shot himself in the foot. In fact, the eccentric billionaire seems to have a talent for self-sabotage.

In September 2018, he apparently enjoyed a joint on the  Joe Rogan Experience  podcast, resulting in outrage – and another fall in Tesla's stock value.

More recently, Musk has described his Tesla gigafactories as "gigantic money furnaces," claiming they're losing billions of dollars as a result of supply chain issues and EV battery shortages. 

16. He's had a turbulent love life

In 2000, Musk married Justine Wilson, with whom he shares six kids. The pair divorced in 2008.

Musk then married the English actress Talulah Riley (shown together here) in 2010. The couple divorced in 2012, remarried in 2013, and ended things for good in October 2016, with Riley later describing their marriage as "quite hard, quite the crazy ride."

Soon after his divorce, Musk started an on-off relationship with actress Amber Heard, and more recently, his love life has centred around Canadian singer Grimes. But it appears that relationship hasn't worked out either. In September 2021, Musk confirmed that the pair had separated. They soon reunited, but just a few months later it was seemingly over once more, with Grimes announcing their split – where else? – on Twitter.

17. He's doing his part to help the "underpopulation crisis"

In an eyebrow-raising statement posted on X, Musk once said: "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far." The quirky businessman certainly wasn't joking, as he has fathered 11 children that we know of. 

Musk welcomed Nevada, Griffin, Vivian, Kai, Saxon, and Damian between 2000 and 2006 with his first wife, Justine Wilson. Tragically, his firstborn son, Nevada, died from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at just 10 weeks old.

He also shares three children with Grimes. X Æ A-12 was born in 2020, while Exa Dark Sideræl was born via surrogate in 2021. Walter Isaacon's new biography of the billionaire revealed the couple have a third child named Techno Mechanicus.

It's not known when Musk and Grimes welcomed Techno Mechanicus, or if they're romantically involved again. The singer has previously described their relationship as "fluid." However, Grimes recently filed a legal petition over parental rights of the three children she shares with the billionaire.

And in a surprising turn of events, it emerged last year that Musk had secretly fathered twins named Azure and Strider with Neuralink director Shivon Zilis. The twins were born in November 2021, while the nature of Zilis and Musk's relationship is unknown. 

18. His son's name broke the law

On 4 May 2020, Musk and Grimes announced the birth of their first son. As already mentioned, the couple gave the child a rather unusual name: X Æ A-12.

At the time, Grimes shared the meaning of the unorthodox choice, telling her Twitter followers that "X" stands for "the unknown variable," while "Æ" is the elven spelling of AI (signifying both love and artificial intelligence).

The "A-12" element is a nod to the Lockheed A-12 aircraft, an aircraft loved by the couple as it has "no weapons, no defenses, just speed". Finally, the "A" on its own refers to  Archangel , Grimes's favorite song.

Later that month, the child's name was tweaked slightly, with "A-12" replaced by "A-Xii." Using Roman numerals meant the name complied with Californian law, which states you can only use the 26 letters of the alphabet in a baby's name, with Grimes noting via an Instagram post that the new spelling "looks better."

19. He launched a school

Not satisfied with conventional schools, Musk set up his own in 2014. Alongside teacher Joshua Dahn, he co-founded the Ad Astra School in LA, initially starting it in a conference room at SpaceX.

Pupils at the small establishment studied a curriculum that centred around AI, engineering, and ethics. Subjects such as sports, music, and foreign languages weren't taught, and work wasn't graded.

However, the school shut down in 2020 and has since been replaced by the online-only Astra Nova. According to the official website, "Ad Astra was the school we created at SpaceX that served 50 students; Astra Nova is the online school that reaches millions."

20. He inspired the Iron Man movies

Musk has become one of the most infamous mavericks in contemporary culture, as demonstrated when actor Robert Downey Jr. turned to him for inspiration after landing the lead role of superhero Tony Stark in the  Iron Man  movies.

The SpaceX factory was actually used as a filming location for the Hollywood blockbusters, with Musk even making a brief cameo in  Iron Man 2 .

But that's not Musk's only foray in front of the camera. He's appeared as himself in numerous movies and TV shows, including action flick  Machete Kills,  comedy  Why Him? , and sitcoms  The Big Bang Theory  and  Young Sheldon . Meanwhile, he's voiced himself in hit animated shows such as  The Simpsons ,  Rick and Morty , and  South Park.

And in May 2021, the tech billionaire even hosted  Saturday Night Live , becoming the first non-actor or athlete to take on the prestigious presenting gig since Donald Trump in 2015.

21. He plays Dungeons & Dragons

Musk is a fan of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), with his cousin Peter Rive claiming the tabletop role-playing game brings out the best parts of the tycoon's personality.

Rive told Elon Musk's biographer Walter Isaacson that "even as a kid, Elon had a whole bunch of different demeanors and moods" but said his personality changed for the better while playing D&D.

According to Rive, Musk usually played as the Dungeon Master, the lead storyteller and referee of the game. "As Dungeon Master, he was incredibly patient, which is not, in my experience, always his default personality, if you know what I mean," Rive explained. "It happens sometimes, and it's so beautiful when it does."

22. He recently launched an AI company

Last year, Musk launched another new company, artificial intelligence firm xAI, which aims to "understand the true nature of the universe."

After incorporating xAI in Nevada back in March 2023, Musk reportedly wasted little time acquiring 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs). For the uninitiated, GPUs are the hardware devices needed to develop and operate advanced AI systems.

While the funding story behind the company is unclear, the  Financial Times  reported the following month that Musk had discussed getting funding from investors in his other businesses. Recruits at xAI include former staff from leading tech firms such as Tesla, Microsoft, and DeepMind.

Musk previously helped co-found OpenAI, the AI venture that's perhaps best known for developing ChatGPT. He was one of several influential tech giants who helped finance the company back in 2015 and was reportedly on track to donate around $1 billion. However, he pulled out in 2018 and has since openly criticized the firm for shifting from a not-for-profit to a for-profit business model.

23. He believes AI could endanger humans

Musk may have founded an AI company, but he's also famous for his warnings about the potential danger that artificial intelligence poses to humanity. He believes that humans may become reliant on AI over time and has even predicted a future in which humanity could be subordinate to machines.

During an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Musk claimed that "AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production," adding that "it has the potential of civilization destruction."

Musk has advocated for caution in creating AI and even signed an open letter backing a temporary suspension of its development in March 2023. He's also criticised other tech billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, for having a limited understanding of the subject.

24. He has Asperger's syndrome

In recent times, Musk has opened up about having Asperger's syndrome, a neurodevelopmental condition where those diagnosed have difficulties with social interactions and tend to display restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour.

Speaking about his Asperger's at the TED2022 conference, Musk explained that "social cues were not intuitive" when he was growing up, revealing: "I would just tend to take things very literally but then that turned out to be wrong. [People were not] simply saying exactly what they mean, there's all sorts of other things that are meant, and [it] took me a while to figure that out."

When asked if there could be a link between his condition and his business success, he said it was "certainly possible", admitting: "I found it rewarding to spend all night programming computers, just by myself. But I think that is not normal."

Many find it inspiring that Musk has been so honest about his condition, as research has found that most adults with invisible differences such as Asperger's try to hide them in the workplace to avoid discrimination.

25. He has influence with world leaders

As well as being the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is also one of the most influential. In 2023 alone, he met with numerous foreign leaders, including the heads of France, Italy, India, South Korea, Turkey, and Israel.

Some world leaders that have met with Musk are seeking an economic boost from a new Tesla factory or an infrastructure investment from SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet services, while others have met with the tech mogul to discuss the future of AI. French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured), for example, has designs on a new Tesla gigafactory in his country. 

However, Musk's growing influence in the geopolitical sphere has caused alarm in some quarters. According to Walter Isaacson's biography, Musk ordered his Starlink satellite communications network to be turned off near the Crimean coast in 2022 to prevent a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian warships. Russian President Vladimir Putin has since hailed Musk as an “outstanding person”.

Musk also appears to be taking a more active interest in political issues and has recently waded into Germany's migration debate, before visiting the US-Mexico border to get an "unfiltered view" of the situation.

26. He owns a Bond car

Some critics have compared the controversial Musk to a real-life  James Bond  villain, so it's little surprise that he actually owns a car from the spy thriller franchise.

In 2013, he snapped up the Lotus Esprit car (pictured) driven by James Bond in  The Spy Who Loved Me , purchasing it for around $895,000 in today's money. Speaking of his fondness for the car, Musk said: "It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in  The Spy Who Loved Me  drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button, and have it transform into a submarine underwater.

He added: "I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform."

The billionaire joked that he was going to "upgrade [the car] with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real." It's unclear whether or not this idea became a reality – but we wouldn't put anything past him.

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Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B from Valor, a16z and Sequoia

Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has raised $6 billion in a new funding round, it said today, as Musk shores up capital to aggressively compete with rivals including OpenAI, Microsoft and Alphabet.

Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding are among the backers that have invested in xAI’s Series B funding, the startup wrote in a blog post.

The funding confirms TechCrunch ‘s reporting from April that xAI was looking to raise $6 billion at a pre-money valuation of $18 billion. At the time, TechCrunch also reported that Musk has seen to it that X, the social network he now owns and controls, also owns a stake in xAI so will benefit from whatever upside the AI outfit sees.

Pre-money valuation was $18B — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 27, 2024

Musk is one of the earliest and highest-profile entrepreneurs in the AI space. Tesla, a car company he leads, is the top EV carmaker with self-driving technologies. He is also a co-founder of OpenAI, a startup in which he has invested tens of millions of dollars . Musk’s love for OpenAI has waned since: In March, he sued OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman for allegedly betraying its mission statement and becoming a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft. He has also accused Google of coding bias into its AI products.

After forming xAI year, Musk released its chatbot ChatGPT-rival Grok 1.0 model in November. Later, the company made the model available through a chatbot to Premium+ users — who pay $16 a month — on X. In April, the company released the new Grok 1.5 model and also allowed Premium users on X to access the chatbot . Additionally, the Musk-owned company previewed Grok’s multimodal capabilities in April . Earlier this year, the company open sourced the Grok model but without any training code.

xAI plans to deploy the funds from the new financing round to take its first set of products to market, build advanced infrastructure and accelerate the research and development of future technologies, it said in its new blog post . The company is likely to look for partnerships to introduce Grok to users beyond X.

The company — whose new backers also include individuals with whom Musk has close ties, including Ken Howery , a co-founder of PayPal and Founders Fund — claims that it aims to develop “truthful” AI systems. Still, as with other AI chatbots, Grok’s news summary feature on X is reported to hallucinate and generate misleading information.

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South Africa's Ramaphosa badly weakened by ANC election slump

• Medium Text

• ANC on course to lose majority for first time in 30 years
• Ramaphosa likely to face calls to quit over election result
• Top party official backs him to stay at ANC's helm
• Analysts say there is no clear candidate to succeed him

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Alexander reports on and edits breaking news in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previously he was a senior correspondent focused on Southern Africa and correspondent in Russia. Prior to joining Reuters in 2013, he worked at The Moscow Times newspaper.

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Prospect of peaceful 'reunification' with Taiwan being 'eroded', China says

The prospect of peaceful "reunification" with Taiwan is being increasingly "eroded" by Taiwanese separatists and external forces, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun said on Sunday, promising to ensure independence never happens.

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Google Is Using A.I. to Answer Your Health Questions. Should You Trust It?

Experts say the new feature may offer dubious advice in response to personal health queries.

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By Talya Minsberg

Do you have a headache or is it a sinus infection? What does a stress fracture feel like? Should you be worried about the pain in your chest? If you Google those questions now, the answers may be written by artificial intelligence.

This month, Google rolled out a new feature called A.I. Overviews that uses generative A.I., a type of machine-learning technology that is trained on information from across the internet and produces conversational answers to some search questions in a matter of seconds.

In the weeks since the tool launched, users have encountered a wide array of inaccuracies and odd answers on a range of subjects. But when it comes to how it answers health questions, experts said the stakes were particularly high. The technology could point people toward healthier habits or needed medical care, but it also has the potential to give inaccurate information. The A.I. can sometimes fabricate facts. And if its answers are shaped by websites that aren’t grounded in science, it might offer advice that goes against medical guidance or poses a risk to a person’s health.

The system has already been shown to produce bad answers seemingly based on flawed sources. When asked “how many rocks should I eat,” for example, A.I. Overviews told some users to eat at least one rock a day for vitamins and minerals. (The advice was scraped from The Onion , a satirical site.)

“You can’t trust everything you read,” said Dr. Karandeep Singh, chief health A.I. officer at UC San Diego Health. In health, he said, the source of your information is essential.

Hema Budaraju, a Google senior director of product management who helps to lead work on A.I. Overview, said that health searches had “additional guardrails,” but declined to describe those in detail. Searches that are deemed dangerous or explicit, or that indicate that someone is in a vulnerable situation, such as with self-harm, do not trigger A.I. summaries, she said.

Google declined to provide a detailed list of websites that support the information in A.I. Overviews, but said that the tool worked in conjunction with the Google Knowledge Graph , an existing information system that has pulled billions of facts from hundreds of sources.

The new search responses do specify some sources; for health questions, these are often websites like the Mayo Clinic, WebMD, the World Health Organization and the scientific research hub PubMed. But it isn’t an exhaustive list: The tool can also pull from Wikipedia, blog posts, Reddit and e-commerce websites. And it doesn’t tell users which facts came from which sources.

Take the question “Is chocolate healthy?” Google’s answer pulls up information from research on heart health, mental health and more.

Answers to health questions like this often draw from reputable sources.

However, in this case, the response also cites Venchi, an Italian chocolate and gelato company.

A similar search — “Is chocolate healthy for you?” — generated an answer from sources including the website of a company called ZOE, which sells at-home “gut intelligence tests” and a nutritional app.

With a standard search result, many users would be able to distinguish immediately between a reputable medical website and a candy company. But a single block of text that combines information from multiple sources might cause confusion.

“And that’s if people are even looking at the source,” said Dr. Seema Yasmin, the director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, adding, “I don’t know if people are looking, or if we’ve really taught them adequately to look.” She said her own research on misinformation had made her pessimistic about the average user’s interest in looking beyond a quick answer.

As for the accuracy of the chocolate answer, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Tufts University, said that it had some facts mostly correct and that it summarized research into chocolate’s health benefits. But it does not distinguish between strong evidence provided by randomized trials and weaker evidence from observational studies, he said, or provide any caveats on the evidence.

It’s true that chocolate contains antioxidants, Dr. Mozaffarian said. But the claim that chocolate consumption could help prevent memory loss? That hasn’t been clearly proved, and “needs a lot of caveats,” he said. Having such claims listed next to one another gives the impression that some are better established than they really are.

The answers can also change as the A.I. itself evolves, even when the science behind a given answer hasn’t changed.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement that the company worked to show disclaimers on responses where they were needed, including notes that the information that shouldn’t be treated as medical advice.

It’s not clear how, exactly, AI Overviews evaluate the strength of evidence, or whether it takes into account contradictory research findings, like those on whether coffee is good for you . “Science isn’t a bunch of static facts,” Dr. Yasmin said. She and other experts also questioned whether the tool would draw on older scientific findings that have since been disproved or don’t capture the latest understanding of an issue.

“Being able to make a critical decision — to discriminate between quality of sources — that’s what humans do all the time, what clinicians do,” said Dr. Danielle Bitterman, a physician-scientist in artificial intelligence at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “They are parsing the evidence.”

If we want tools like A.I. Overviews to play that role, she said, “we need to better understand how they would navigate across different sources and how they apply a critical lens to arrive at a summary,” she said.

Those unknowns are concerning, experts said, given that the new system elevates the A.I. Overview response over individual links to reputable medical websites such as those for the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. Such sites have historically risen to the top of the results for many health searches.

A Google spokesperson said that A.I. Overviews will match or summarize the information that appears in the top results of searches, but isn’t designed to replace that content. Rather, the spokesperson said, it’s designed to help people get a sense of the information available.

The Mayo Clinic declined to comment on the new responses. A representative from the Cleveland Clinic said that people seeking health information should “directly search known and trusted sources” and reach out to a health care provider if they’re experiencing any symptoms.

A representative from Scripps Health, a California-based health care system cited in some A.I. Overview summaries, said in a statement that “citations in Google’s A.I. generated responses could be helpful in that they establish Scripps Health as a reputable source of health information.”

However, the representative added, “we do have concerns that we cannot vouch for the content produced through A.I. in the same way we can for our own content, which is vetted by our medical professionals.”

For medical questions, it’s not just the accuracy of an answer that matters, but how it’s presented to users, experts said. Take the question “Am I having a heart attack?” The A.I. response had a useful synopsis of symptoms, said Dr. Richard Gumina, the director of cardiovascular medicine at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

But, he added, he had to read past a long list of symptoms before the text advised him to call 911. Dr. Gumina also searched “Am I having a stroke?” to see whether the tool might produce a more urgent response — which it did, telling users in the first line to call 911. He said he would immediately advise patients experiencing symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke to call for help.

Experts encouraged people looking for health information to approach the new responses with caution. Essentially, they said, users should take note of the fine print under some A.I. Overviews answers: “This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional. Generative A.I. is experimental.”

Dani Blum contributed reporting.

Talya Minsberg is a reporter covering fitness and wellness for The Times. More about Talya Minsberg

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