Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He is a prominent American entrepreneur renowned for his role in co-founding the electronic payment company PayPal. Musk is also the visionary behind SpaceX, a pioneering company responsible for crafting launch vehicles and spacecraft. Notably, he played a pivotal role as an early major investor and held the position of CEO at Tesla, a groundbreaking electric car manufacturer. Moreover, in the year 2022, Musk made headlines by acquiring Twitter, adding another significant achievement to his impressive portfolio.
Elon Musk Early Life
Musk’s beginnings can be traced to his South African father and Canadian mother. His early proficiency with computers and entrepreneurial acumen were apparent from his youth. Remarkably, at the age of 12, he designed a video game, which he then effectively marketed to a computer magazine. Fast forward to 1988, Musk, now in possession of a Canadian passport, resolved to leave South Africa behind. This decision was primarily driven by his principled stand against participating in apartheid-mandated military service, as well as his eagerness to seek out greater economic opportunities in the United States.
Elon Musk Qualification
At the age of 17, Elon Musk embarked on a journey to Canada with the intention of attending Queen’s University and avoiding compulsory military service in South Africa. During the same year, Musk acquired Canadian citizenship, partly motivated by the belief that this would facilitate his pursuit of American citizenship in the future. Subsequently, he relocated to the United States in 1992, enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania to pursue studies in both business and physics. His academic journey led him to attain a bachelor’s degree in economics, which was followed by a second bachelor’s degree in physics.
Musk’s academic pursuits then took him to Stanford University in California, where he aimed to further his education by pursuing a Ph.D. in energy physics after leaving the University of Pennsylvania. However, his path diverged significantly from the traditional academic trajectory as he chose to leave Stanford after just two days. This decision marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey as he ventured into establishing his first company. As a result, the Ph.D. from Stanford was never realized, but this pivot laid the foundation for Musk’s remarkable career and numerous accomplishments.
Elon Musk Works
In the summer of 1995, Musk relocated to Silicon Valley. He enrolled at Stanford University’s PhD programme in applied physics, but dropped out after only two days. Kimball Musk, Elon’s 15-month younger brother, had recently graduated from Queen’s University with a business degree and had travelled to California to join him. As the early Internet grew in popularity, the brothers decided to develop a company called Zip2, an internet business directory with maps. That’s how Elon Musk started entering into the business world.
Zip2 eventually recruited angel investors and grew into a profitable firm thanks to the brothers’ efforts. Zip2 was sold to Compaq for ＄307 million in 1999 by the brothers. Elon subsequently went on to create his own online financial services company, X.com. Confinity, a company formed by Peter Thiel and two others mere months after X.com and with headquarters in the same building, was its main competitor. In March 2000, the two firms joined and adopted the name of their major product, PayPal, an online money transfer service for individuals. In October 2002, Ebay, the online auction site, purchased PayPal for ＄1.5 billion in Ebay stock. Elon Musk, who had been the largest shareholder in PayPal with 11.7% of the company’s equity shares, found himself with ＄165 million in Ebay stock at the age of 31.
Since leaving PayPal, he has founded, co-founded, and/or led companies focused on addressing three distinct existential risks to humanity’s long-term survival: climate risk, single-planet dependency risk, and human species obsolescence risk. Two of these companies, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, he risked his entire early fortune to build.
PayPal and SpaceX
Elon Musk pursued his higher education at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1992, he made a switch to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Here, he successfully earned bachelor’s degrees in both physics and economics in 1997. He initially entered Stanford University in California for a physics graduate program; however, he decided to depart just two days into the program. His conviction was rooted in his belief that the Internet held far more transformative potential for society than the field of physics.
Musk’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1995 with the founding of Zip2. This venture provided digital maps and business directories to online newspapers. Subsequently, Compaq, a computer manufacturing company, acquired Zip2 in 1999 for an impressive $307 million. Musk then directed his efforts toward establishing X.com, an online financial services company. This venture later evolved into PayPal, specializing in online money transfers. In 2002, eBay, an online auction platform, acquired PayPal for a staggering $1.5 billion.
Musk’s overarching vision centered on the survival of humanity as a multiplanetary species. He recognized the astronomical costs associated with rocket launches and, in response, initiated Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002. The primary aim of SpaceX was to develop more affordable rockets. The first notable outcomes were the Falcon 1, first launched in 2006, and the larger Falcon 9, which took its inaugural flight in 2010. These rockets were designed to be significantly more cost-effective compared to their competitors. In 2018, the Falcon Heavy was introduced. With a payload capacity of 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg), it outperformed its primary rival, Boeing Company’s Delta IV Heavy, while costing only a third of the price.
SpaceX’s trajectory also included plans for the Super Heavy–Starship system, which aims to carry substantial payloads into low Earth orbit. The Super Heavy stage has a capacity of lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds), while the Starship, the accompanying spacecraft, envisions swift intercity transportation on Earth, as well as the construction of bases on the Moon and Mars. Musk’s active involvement extended to being the chief designer for Falcon rockets, Dragon spacecraft, and Starship, in addition to serving as SpaceX’s CEO.
Notably, SpaceX holds a contract with NASA to develop a lander for the agency’s Artemis space program, aiming to facilitate astronaut return missions to the Moon by 2025. This dynamic journey has solidified Elon Musk’s position as a visionary entrepreneur at the forefront of space exploration.
Tesla
Musk had held a prolonged fascination with the potential of electric vehicles. In 2004, he emerged as a prominent financial supporter of Tesla Motors (later rebranded as Tesla), an enterprise established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, dedicated to electric cars. In 2006, Tesla unveiled its inaugural vehicle, the Roadster, boasting an impressive range of 245 miles (394 km) on a single charge. Diverging from the conventional perception of electric cars, which Musk regarded as mundane and uninspiring, the Roadster defied this notion by being a sports car that could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles (97 km) per hour in under four seconds.
The company’s initial public offering in 2010 generated around $226 million in capital. A mere couple of years later, Tesla introduced the Model S sedan, a creation lauded by automotive experts for its exceptional performance and innovative design. Following this triumph, the introduction of the Model X luxury SUV in 2015 garnered further acclaim. Subsequently, the Model 3, positioned as a more affordable option, entered production in 2017 and proceeded to establish itself as the highest-selling electric car in history.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the anticipated $68 billion expenditure on a high-speed rail system in California, Musk put forth an alternative concept in 2013 – the Hyperloop. This visionary proposal involved a pneumatic tube system wherein a pod accommodating 28 passengers would traverse the 350-mile (560 km) distance connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 35 minutes, reaching a remarkable top speed of 760 miles (1,220 km) per hour, nearly approaching the speed of sound. Musk asserted that the implementation of the Hyperloop would demand a mere $6 billion and could cater to the annual traffic of six million individuals traveling along that corridor. Despite his enthusiasm for the project, he regretfully noted that due to his commitments to SpaceX and Tesla, he was unable to dedicate sufficient attention to the Hyperloop’s advancement.
In 2009, Elon Musk joined the social media platform Twitter under the handle @elonmusk. Over the years, he gained immense popularity, amassing more than 85 million followers by 2022. However, his Twitter activity wasn’t limited to casual posts. He expressed concerns about Tesla’s public trading status and, in August 2018, he used a series of tweets to suggest that he was considering taking the company private at a share value of $420. This amount was humorously associated with April 20, a date recognized by cannabis enthusiasts.
This sequence of events led to legal repercussions. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Musk of securities fraud, asserting that his tweets were misleading. Although Tesla’s board initially resisted the SEC’s proposed settlement due to Musk’s threat of resignation, the incident caused Tesla’s stock to plummet. Eventually, a tougher agreement was reached. It mandated Musk to step down as chairman for three years, though he could remain CEO. Furthermore, his tweets were to be reviewed by Tesla’s legal team, and substantial fines were imposed on both Tesla and Musk, totaling $20 million.
Musk also voiced criticism regarding Twitter’s stance on free speech and its approach to content moderation. In April 2022, he made headlines by acquiring over 9 percent of Twitter’s shares. Subsequently, he contemplated joining Twitter’s board and even made a bid to acquire the entire company for $54.20 per share, amounting to $44 billion. While his initial bid was accepted by Twitter’s board, Musk eventually withdrew it in July 2022. He cited inadequate disclosure about bot accounts and claimed that Twitter had violated multiple terms of the purchase agreement.
The situation escalated into a legal dispute. Twitter’s board chairman, Bret Taylor, affirmed the company’s commitment to the original deal. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk, seeking to compel him to fulfill his purchase commitment. In September 2022, Twitter’s shareholders voted in favor of Musk’s offer, leading to a pivotal decision. Despite the legal entanglements, Musk decided to proceed with the acquisition, and the deal concluded in October.
In the end, this series of events exemplifies Elon Musk’s influence, not only in the realm of technology and innovation but also in the dynamics of corporate negotiations and social media’s evolving landscape.
Facts about Elon Musk
- Elon Musk was born in the year 1971 in South Africa.
- He is best known for co-founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, but he first got his wealth as a PayPal co-founder.
- Tony Stark, the fictional character created, was heavily influenced by Musk (a.k.a. Iron Man). Indeed, elements of Iron Man 2 were shot both inside and outside of SpaceX. Even Elon   Musk makes an appearance in the film!
- Musk’s official annual pay for Tesla Motors is＄1, similar to that of Steve Jobs and other well-known entrepreneurs.
- Musk taught himself computer programming at the age of 12 and produced the video game Blastar, which he sold for $500.
- Elon Musk did not become an American citizen until he was 31 years old, in 2002.
- Elon Musk immigrated to Canada from South Africa when he was 17 years old. He eventually went to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States for college.
- Musk moved to California after graduation to pursue physics graduate school at Stanford University. He dropped out of Stanford after only two days, opting to take advantage of the booming Internet industry.
- Musk swiftly founded his first startup, Zip2, which supplied online newspapers with maps and business directories, after dropping out of graduate school. In 1999, he sold the company for＄307 million.
- Musk co-founded X.com in 1999, an online payment startup that later became PayPal before being purchased by eBay for＄1.5 billion in equity (of which Musk received ＄165 million).
- Tesla Motors, a firm that designs and manufactures electric sports automobiles, was co-founded by Musk. Tesla was able to flourish where other significant manufacturers failed in the electric vehicle sector. He is presently Tesla’s CEO and chief product architect.
- The National Highway Safety Administration gave the Tesla Model S a 5.4/5 safety rating, the highest ever given to a car
- Musk is one of the driving drivers behind SolarCity, which he and his cousins created. He is also the company’s main shareholder.
- Elon Musk also created SpaceX (formerly known as Space Exploration Technologies), a corporation that designs and manufactures space launch vehicles, with a concentration on rocket technology. His goal is to lower the cost of space travel in order to expand human life beyond the Earth.
- Musk originally struggled to raise funds for SpaceX, which investors dismissed as a pipe fantasy. Musk put all of his personal funds into SpaceX in order to make it a reality (going against every piece of business advice ever written).
Conclusion
Elon Musk has shown entrepreneurial inclinations since he was a child. His Engineer father and Dietician mother, who recognised and encouraged his son’s passion in technology, accepted him warmly. He got his first computer when he was ten years old and taught himself how to programme. At the age of 12, the young boy built a fully playable video game called “Blastar,” which he allegedly sold for ＄500. Elon Musk attended Pretoria Boys High School and graduated in 1988. To avoid South Africa’s obligatory military duty, he went to Canada in 1989 and enrolled at Queen’s University in Ontario. He only stayed at the University of Pretoria for five months after that. Musk went on to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics. He also left after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions after being accepted into the University of Stanford’s Physics Graduate Program. As we learn about Elon Musk biography, we understand that he has pursued goals that have motivated not only himself, but also the team of people he has engaged to work with him. Whether it’s interplanetary space flight or electric vehicles, these objectives are all geared toward the future and dramatically improving existing conditions.
