Elon Musk - Vision Becomes Reality!

Elon Musk. Source: DeviantArt.com by Klamek97 (Creative Commons license).

When you hear of Elon Musk, you are likely to think of Tesla cars. However, the man, who has had multiple stints as the richest man on Earth, is a man of many parts. He is a man pursuing multiple dreams at the same time. He dreams of revolutionizing transportation globally, by making electric vehicles affordable to more people, thereby helping to curb environmental pollution. Musk wants to establish a colony of people on Mars, to serve as a backup for humanity in case of a catastrophic event wiping out humans on earth.

The industrialist also wants to make artificial intelligence (AI) benefit all mankind and be prevented from becoming the monster the technology has the potential to be.
In the pursuit of these ambitions, Musk has acquired great wealth.

Early Life

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa on June 28, 1971, into the family of a well-to-do engineer and model. He developed an interest in computers early in life and dreamed of inventing things. He quickly taught himself how to program and achieved one of his earliest achievements by selling his first software at the age of 12. 

In 1989, at age 17, Musk moved to Canada, the country of his mother, and became a Canadian citizen. By 1992, Musk was studying business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a second degree in physics in the same university before proceeding to Stanford for a Ph.D. in energy physics, but he quickly dropped out to pursue opportunities during the internet boom. 

Associated Companies

The first company launched by Musk was Zip2 Corporation, in 1995 with his brother Kimbal Musk. The company provided online content. It was later sold to a division of Compaq Computer Corporation for over 300 million dollars.

Musk started PayPal next, known initially as X.com for online financial services and payments. It was later acquired by eBay for stocks worth 1.5 billion dollars, making Musk a billionaire for the first time.

In 2002, Musk founded yet another company, SpaceX to further his space travel ambitions. It quickly rose in expertise to handle major projects for NASA’s missions, overtaking many established players. SpaceX is also putting satellites in orbit to provide internet access to underserved communities all over the world.

By far more popular is Tesla Inc, of which he is the majority shareholder and CEO. Like most of his ventures, Tesla quickly became successful and became the poster boy for the electric revolution in the automobile industry. After putting out successful electric models, the company and the CEO have what amounts to a cult following. Its Model 3 is the best-selling electric vehicle in history, edging out other traditional automakers that treated electric vehicles as an after-thought.

Tesla has become the most valuable automaker, by a large margin, with shares of the company making up a large part of Musk’s fortune.

Other companies associated with Musk are The Boring Company, which focuses on creating underground tunnels to solve road traffic problems; Neuralink, for creating a human-machine interface and producing devices that could treat health conditions such as paralysis; and OpenAI, the company he wants to use to spread the benefits of AI to all humanity. 

Personal Life

Musk has been married and divorced, with children. He maintains rivalries that cut across business and personality with fellow billionaires like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Richard Branson of the Virgin empire. 

He maintains rivalries that cut across business and personality with fellow billionaires like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Richard Branson of the Virgin empire.

Musk is an avid user of social media, where he often shares company and product updates to his large fan base on Twitter. He also never shies away from showdowns with regulators that affect his businesses.