Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk has become one of the world’s wealthiest people by driving innovation in tech, renewable energy, and space exploration.
- The controversial CEO of multiple companies eschews the billionaire lifestyle by living in a modest prefab home in Texas.
- Musk’s dedication to free speech sometimes places him against public and media opinions.
- Originally from South Africa, Musk studied in Canada before becoming a U.S. citizen.
Businessman, genius, risk-taker, boundary-pusher. These are just a few of the titles bestowed upon one of the world’s most famous and wealthiest personalities, Elon Musk.
In 1997, this enigmatic and far-sighted entrepreneur quit graduate school after just two days because he felt he could better change society via the internet. Since then, Elon Musk has enjoyed a meteoric rise, becoming a global superstar.
Recent years have brought some turbulence to Elon Musk’s upward trajectory, but nothing seems to deter his futuristic plans. Let’s look at Elon Musk’s achievements in shaping the modern world and his plans for the future.
Elon Musk: Why Is He Famous?
Most people associate Elon Musk with electric cars and the Tesla company as well as his famous takeover of Twitter, which he renamed X. He’s been outspoken on many topics, based on his belief that his businesses focus on solving human issues.
Some of these issues include Tesla’s electric vehicles to help battle climate change, artificial intelligence that may threaten humankind, and space exploration for human survival.
His fiery social media posts on X have helped make his account one of the most followed worldwide. Elon Musk’s 181+ million followers mean his opinions have reach. Musk’s net worth also makes him one of the world’s wealthiest people and a regular on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
As for Elon’s house? Well, he sold most of his mansions in 2021 and now lives in a modest prefab house in Boca Chica, Texas, close to his SpaceX company’s test center.
What Is a Brief Timeline of Elon Musk’s Life and Career?
June 28, 1971: Elon Musk was born to Canadian model Maye Musk and South African engineer Errol Musk in Pretoria, South Africa. He has a sister and a brother.
1981: Musk’s parents divorce. Young Elon reportedly struggles socially due to his Asperger’s syndrome.
1983: Writes and sells his first computer program, called Blastar.
1989: Musk moves to Canada to attend Queen’s University.
1992: Next, Elon heads to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
1995: Launches his first company, Zip2 Corporation, an online city guide providing media content.
1997: Graduates with bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics. Moves to Stanford University in California to study for a PhD in energy physics but drops out after two days.
1999: Sells Zip2 to Compaq Computer Corporation for $300+ million. Founds X.com, an online payment platform that eventually becomes PayPal.
2000: Marries first wife Justine Wilson. The couple has six children, although their first son died after 10 weeks from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
2002: Sells PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion. Musk sets up Space Exploration Technologies Corporation or SpaceX. The idea is commercial space travel. Musk becomes a U.S. citizen.
2003: Elon Musk is a co-founder, CEO, and product architect at Tesla with the aim to mass produce affordable electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, and other renewable energy technologies.
2010: Marries actress Talulah Riley, splitting in 2012 but remarrying in 2013 before they ended the relationship again in 2016.
2013: The renewable energy-powered public transport company Hyperloop came into existence, claiming to one day be able to transport people at 700 mph in pods between cities.
2015: Musk creates the OpenAI research company to investigate artificial technology capabilities.
2017: The Boring Company starts, whose goal is to reduce congestion, primarily by boring tunnels under cities. Neuralink is founded to develop brain chips that connect a human brain with microscopic chips.
2020: Musk and musician partner Grimes welcome their first son, X Æ A-Xii. They have a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, in December 2021, but their relationship ends.
2022: Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion after a public battle over its value.
2023: Starts x.AI to explore the potential role of artificial intelligence.
Musk, the multi-billionaire, has lived quite the life thus far. Indeed, in a TED interview, he said: “If you list my sins, I sound like the worst person on Earth. But if you put those against the things I’ve done right, it makes much more sense.”
What Are Elon Musk’s Major Contributions to the Tech and Business Industries?
Elon Musk’s impressive CV and career facts only tell half the story. This self-confessed workaholic’s global influence on innovation and investment cannot be underestimated.
PayPal has developed into one of the world’s most widely used online payment platforms. Let’s see how Elon Musk’s eye for the future has pushed technology’s boundaries throughout the 21st century.
Enter your ZIP Code and compare electricity rates
How Has Elon Musk Influenced the Electric Vehicle Industry Through Tesla?
Much of Elon Musk’s wealth — he’s been the wealthiest person in the world and is currently third — stems from his involvement with Tesla, of which he owns 13% of its stock.
He co-founded the carmaker in 2003, became a Tesla board member in 2004, and has been chief executive officer since 2008. His mission was to transform EVs from an expensive niche market into affordable automobiles for all. By 2030, some experts estimate 86% of all global car sales will be for EVs.
The Roadster, with its Lotus Elise chassis and lithium-ion battery pack, was the first Tesla EV in 2008. Four years later, the Model S sedan followed, and in 2015, the world saw the Model X SUV. Each EV added range, culminating in the mass-market Model 3 with its 320-mile range. The latest releases are the Cybertruck and the Model Y compact SUV.
Musk’s genius was in developing a supportive network around the car. There are more than 50,000 Tesla supercharger points worldwide. He foresaw the circular green economy, linking Tesla EVs to Tesla-made solar panels, home and utility battery storage with the Powerwall, and solar rooftops.
Tesla investors flocked to support the venture. Nowadays, by market cap, Tesla stock is a New York Wall Street favorite and the largest carmaker in the world. Spotting top-quality Chinese EVs as a threat to market dominance, Tesla has plans to release a mass-market EV in 2025.
Musk has also fought battles on American soil. A Delaware judge recently voided his $56 billion CEO pay package from Tesla, awarded in 2018 as the largest compensation plan in public corporate history.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X: “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware” and promptly moved two companies from the state and is looking to move SpaceX to Texas.
What Is Elon Musk’s Role in Companies Like SpaceX, X.AI, and Neuralink?
Elon Musk has a habit of founding and funding futuristic sci-fi-style projects that make global headlines. They eventually come close to realization but are often behind schedule.
For example, he has blasted his way into the public consciousness with his enthusiasm for space projects. Musk believes that humans need to develop bases on the moon and spread outwards into the galaxy and that his companies can help.
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, was launched to develop commercial space travel, with Musk as its founder, chairman, CEO, and CTO. To date, around 50 people have made it beyond the Earth’s orbit with SpaceX.
Its success has been repeatedly sending astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The Dragon spacecraft can also return with cargo and reuse parts. The final dream includes space stations on nearby planets and moons.
A recent venture is the American startup x.AI, funded by Elon Musk and based in Austin, Texas. Musk hopes the company can use artificial intelligence to supercharge scientific discoveries and better understand the universe.
This year, Elon Musk founded Neuralink, which became the first to successfully implant a brain chip into a human. The aim is to allow human brains to control a computer keyboard, cursor, or mobile device using only thoughts.
The Elon Musk Podcast is well worth listening to. It takes an in-depth look into Musk’s visions for society, from colonizing Mars to traveling at over 600 mph in vacuums.
What Are Some of Elon Musk’s Views on Artificial Intelligence and Its Future?
Elon Musk’s most forthright view about artificial intelligence is that “superhuman” artificial intelligence could improve humanity’s collective mind capacity by 2025, four years earlier than his previous prediction. He also foresees a world where no human will work thanks to AI’s development.
He has previously warned about AI’s capabilities: “It’s actually important for us to worry about a Terminator future in order to avoid a Terminator future.” Other worries include AI replacing the human race completely and overseeing our extinction.
How Has Elon Musk Been Involved in Developing High-Speed Transportation Systems Like Hyperloop?
It hasn’t all been a glorious success.
Superfast public transport is part of Elon Musk’s commitment to reducing emissions and city congestion. His Boring Company wants to send people in pods at superfast speeds, claiming it could cut commute times between San Francisco and Los Angeles from six hours to 30 minutes.
The idea was similar to pneumatic tube systems used by department stores and supermarkets to whizz documents and money around buildings but scaled up to move humans between cities. The Boring Company is still exploring options, but the reality of humans traveling at near supersonic speeds in pods overland seems remote.
How Has Elon Musk Contributed to the Development of Solar Energy Solutions?
Mr. Musk has been a powerful advocate for solar energy, particularly integrated renewable, green energy. In addition to the Tesla EVs, Musk has backed solar generation and storage ideas. These include SolarCity, a California company that was bought by Tesla in 2016.
Tesla was now involved in solar power generation via the innovative solar panels made at SolarCity. This energy could be captured and stored in its Powerwall and Powerpack batteries or to charge Tesla EVs. The energy in these storage units could then be used to power homes and reduce people’s dependence on the power grid. These innovations have helped drive change in how we generate and consume electricity.
What Controversies or Challenges Has Elon Musk Faced in His Career?
It’s true to say that Elon Musk is not averse to courting front-page drama with frequent and often eye-raising statements or public spats on X, formerly Twitter. Indeed, Twitter has been a sticking point for Musk since his takeover in October 2022.
The on/off deal saw public wrangling over the $44 billion price tag, which he tried to reduce before finally signing off. The change came thick and fast, with Musk promising greater freedom of speech and then laying off half the company’s employees.
Just a month after the takeover, Elon Musk accused Apple of sabotaging Twitter by reducing its advertising. By July 2023, Musk had changed Twitter’s name to X, now part of the X Corp company. Tweets became posts. Former U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the platform in August of that year as Musk continued his drive to return to free speech, which opponents claimed actually spread misinformation and hate speech.
More controversies followed. Musk is backing the Mandalorian actor Gina Carano’s decision to sue Disney. Disney fired Carano after posting right-wing, homophobic, and antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media, resulting in many advertisers pulling from X.
Elon Musk’s private life has also come under scrutiny. He has fathered 11 children with three different women and believes people should have more children. Musk has also criticized the Wall Street Journal after the publication ran stories about his private life and alleged drug taking. Musk said, “WSJ is trash,” while a Wall Street Journal spokeswoman countered, “We stand by our reporting.”
There have been lighter moments, with Elon Musk and Meta-owner Mark Zuckerberg sparring verbally about a real-life martial arts fight between them. A date has still to be set for this showdown between these tech giants.
What Does the Future Hold for Elon Musk?
Expect the unexpected: that’s the best way to view Elon Musk’s future. Claims include that humans will colonize Mars within a decade, and there’s a 70% chance he’ll make it there himself. Our brains and computers will soon work as one another, and another challenge is how we’ll find meaning in life when AI takes over our working roles.
For now, his various companies will continue to push the boundaries of technological innovation and thinking, including renewable energy, electric vehicles, and space travel. He has championed some cryptocurrencies, like Dogecoin, highlighting it as a possible future payment method. It seems Elon Musk will be pushing at the forefront of global politics and culture for a while to come.
Brought to you by energysavings.com
All images licensed from Adobe Stock.