The Hustler's Digest StaffElon Musk is a South African born American business mogul and entrepreneur who established X.com in 1999, which later became known as PayPal. Moreover, he established SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk turned into a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his new business, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers.
Musk stood out in every headline in May 2012, when SpaceX dispatched a rocket that would send the first ever commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. He reinforced his portfolio with the acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, and established his remaining as a head of industry by taking on an advisory position in the beginning of President Donald Trump’s administration. How did Elon Musk get rich?
During the global coronavirus pandemic, Elon Musk has made more money than any other billionaire, which has increased his net worth more than three times in the past five months. This has currently made him the fourth richest person in the United States.
Elon Musk Biography
Early Life
Elon Musk, born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, immersed himself in technology from a young age. His parents and doctors once doubted his hearing due to his intense focus on inventions. Musk’s interest in computers sparked around age 10, and he sold his first software at just 12.
Bullied until 15, Musk learned karate and wrestling to defend himself. His mother, Maye Musk, a Canadian model, juggled five jobs to support the family, while his father, Errol Musk, was a successful engineer in South Africa. Musk grew up with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca.
At 17, Musk moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University, later obtaining Canadian citizenship. In 1992, he pursued degrees in economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Following that, he briefly attended Stanford University for a PhD in energy physics but dropped out after two days to venture into the internet boom.
In 1995, Musk founded Zip2 Corporation, marking his entry into the business world. He obtained US citizenship in 2002, which facilitated his entrepreneurial pursuits.
Elon Musk’s Remarkable Journey in Entrepreneurship
Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial journey began with Zip2, where he lived in the office during its inception. Musk’s hard work paid off when Compaq bought Zip2 for $341 million.
Using $10 million from the Zip2 sale, Musk founded X.com, which later merged with Confinity to form PayPal. Musk became its CEO but was later ousted in a board dispute.
eBay’s acquisition of PayPal in late 2002 made Musk $165 million richer, enabling him to establish SpaceX with a $100 million investment.
SpaceX aimed to revolutionize spaceflight, with Musk’s ambitious goal to make it ten times cheaper.
Musk ventured into electric vehicles, investing $70 million in Tesla, and actively contributed to developing its first vehicle, the Roadster.
In 2006, Musk initiated SolarCity, providing funding for its launch, which Tesla later acquired in a $2.6 billion deal.
During Tesla’s financial crisis in 2008, Musk invested $80 million, preventing bankruptcy, and became its CEO.
Despite setbacks in 2008, SpaceX secured a $1.5 billion contract with NASA and Tesla had a successful IPO in 2010, raising $226 million.
Musk’s influence extended to Hollywood, inspiring the character Tony Stark in “Iron Man,” and making a cameo in “Iron Man 2.”
SpaceX achieved numerous milestones, including the first successful ocean landing of Falcon 9 in 2016.
In 2018, Falcon Heavy’s launch carried Musk’s cherry red Tesla Roadster with “Starman” into Martian orbit.
Musk’s innovative ideas continued with projects like Hyperloop and The Boring Company, aiming to revolutionize transportation.
In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, focusing on safe artificial intelligence development, and in 2017, established Neuralink for brain-computer interface technology.
Despite some controversies, including his brief involvement with Trump’s advisory council, Musk’s ventures like Tesla remained successful.
In 2018, Musk’s tweet about taking Tesla private led to a legal battle with the SEC, resulting in a settlement and fine.
With Tesla’s stock surge in 2020, Musk became the seventh richest person globally, with a net worth of $82.2 billion.
Personal Life
During the time when Musk was in a crisis with Tesla and SpaceX, his own personal life was in a state of chaos as well: him and his wife Justine, a Canadian writer, got separated in 2008. The couple got hitched in 2000 and their first child, Nevada, died because of SIDS at 10 weeks old. They later proceeded to have twin and triplet boys).
Musk began dating actress Talulah Riley soon thereafter. They proceeded to get hitched in 2010, but then separated in 2012. In July 2013, they remarried. In December 2014, Musk petitioned for a separation however pulled back the paperwork. Moreover, in March 2016, Riley petitioned for legal separation which was then settled in October.
Musk began dating the “Aquaman” actress Amber Heard. However, the two broke up in 2017 after they had been dating for a year. In an interview with Rolling Stone Musk stated that the separation was exceptionally hard on him.
Musk’s personal life saw another advancement in the spring of 2018 when he and the musician Grimes started their relationship. They apparently hit it off after the two of them poked a similar geeky joke at artificial intelligence. Grimes dropped a massive headline in January 2020 when she posted a photograph of herself where she seemed pregnant. The artist later affirmed that she was anticipating a child with Musk.
Grimes gave birth to a baby boy on the 4th of May and the couple apparently named him ‘X Æ A-Xii Musk’, or “X Ash A-12 Musk.”
In spite of having a considerable real estate portfolio, Musk as of late said that he “will own no house” and would sell practically the entirety of his physical belongings. He has since recorded two of his Bel Air homes and five additional properties worth over $100 million.
Elon Musk Education
For five months, while anticipating Canadian documentation for residence, Musk went to the University of Pretoria. Once in Canada, he got admission in Queen’s University in 1989. He did this in order to avoid compulsory service in the South African military. He left the university after three years in 1992 to pursue economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania from where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School and a degree in Bachelor of Arts in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences.
In 1994, Musk held two summer internships in Silicon Valley. One of them was at a startup based on energy storing which was called Pinnacle Research Institute. The institute explored electrolytic ultracapacitors for storing energy. The second was at the Palo Alto-based startup known as Rocket Science Games. Bruce Leak, the previous head engineer behind Apple’s QuickTime who had recruited Musk, noted that Musk “had boundless energy. Kids these days have no idea about hardware or how stuff works, but he had a PC hacker background and was not afraid to just go figure things out.”
In 1995, Musk got admitted to a Ph.D. program in energy physics/materials science at Stanford University in California. While he was in California, Musk endeavored to find a new line of work at Netscape, yet never got a response to his job requests. He was eager to look for various opportunities when the Internet fired up. Musk dropped out of Stanford, choosing to launch an internet startup.
Elon Musk Children
He had his first son with his then wife Justine in 2002 and they named him Nevada Alexander Musk. Unfortunately, Nevada died when he was 10 weeks old, also in 2002. Elon and his partner Justine the hand twin boys, Griffin Musk and Xavier Musk, conceived in 2004, by means of IVF. Their triplets Kai Musk, Saxon Musk and Damian Musk, were conceived in 2006, also by means of IVF.
In May 2020 Elon declared the birth of his son on Twitter, who he had with his girlfriend, musician Grimes on the 4th of May. As per Musk and Grimes, his name was “X Æ A-12 Musk” articulated EKS-ash-AY-twelve, and is inspired by the name of Grimes’ album 4ÆM.
However, the name was regarded illegal under California law, since it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet, it was then changed to “X Æ A-Xii”. This drew in more confusion, as Æ isn’t a letter in the modern English alphabet. At the end, the child was named “X AE A-XII”, with “X” as a first name and “AE A-XII” as a middle name.
Elon Musk Net Worth
How much money does elon musk have, As of now, Elon Musk’s net worth is 93.7 billion United States dollars, making him the seventh richest man in the world. Most people wonder how did Elon Musk make his money. Well, he became a multimillionaire after striking that deal where he sold Zip2 for $22 million. Other than that, his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, along with his other ventures like The Boring Company, SolarCity, OpenAl and Neuralink have also reached exceptional heights, making him one of the richest men on the planet.
How Does Elon Musk Get Paid?
A May 2019 report from The New York Times showed that in 2018, the Tesla CEO got investment opportunities worth almost $2.3 billion. However, the electric-car company questioned that claim, saying Musk “actually earned $0 in total compensation from Tesla in 2018.” The error originates from the compensation being determined as per Securities and Exchange Commission rules on CEO pay announcing, instead of the real worth acknowledged by executives in any year.
According to Tesla, in contrast to other different CEOs, Elon gets no pay, no money related bonuses, and no value that essentially vests by the progression of time. His lone remuneration is a totally at-risk performance award that was explicitly planned with aspiring achievements, for example, multiplying Tesla’s present market capitalization from roughly $40 billion to $100 billion. Subsequently, Elon’s whole pay is directly attached to the drawn out achievement of Tesla and its investors, and none of the value from his 2018 presentation bundle has vested. After reading this article i hope you can estimate, how rich is elon musk.
How much of tesla does elon musk own
What does elon musk own, Elon Musk is the founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, co-founder of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity. He is also the founder of The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. As of March 2017, he has an estimated net worth of $13.9 billion.
FAQ’s
How Elon Musk Became The Richest Man On Earth
How Elon Musk became the richest person in the world, Elon Reeve Musk FRS ( born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate, industrial designer, and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. A centibillionaire, Musk is one of the richest people in the world.
Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father and raised in Pretoria, South Africa. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada aged 17 to attend Queen’s University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later, where he received dual bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics. Moreover, he moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but decided instead to pursue a business career, co-founding web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal.
How Elon Musk Made His Fortune
How did elon musk become rich? Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and business magnate who co-founded PayPal and Tesla Motors. He also founded SpaceX, and is now working on developing the Hyperloop.
Who is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and Space Exploration company, and he’s also the largest third party shareholder of Tesla. He has a net worth of $17 billion. On the internet, he’s one of the most searched for names, and it’s not uncommon to see people with a Tesla founder logo on their shirts. He’s also a professional inventor, and he’s a successful entrepreneur that has been involved in many different fields.
Conclusion
Upon reading this article, you’ve learned that despite hailing from a privileged background with affluent parents, Elon Musk encountered various setbacks both academically and professionally. Nonetheless, his unwavering determination propelled him to his current stature. As for how Elon Musk amassed his wealth, it’s primarily through his multi-million-dollar enterprises like Tesla and SpaceX, alongside his other ventures.
