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Elon Musk's Life - Childhood, Wealth, Personal Life, And Other Rumors

The founder of PayPal, Tesla, Neuralink, and SpaceX sent the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, into space in 2018. Elon Musk's life is dedicated to changing the world for the better.

By Viorel SecareanuPublished 2 years ago 24 min read
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Who is Elon Musk?

Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and businessman of South African descent who founded X.com in 1999 (which later became PayPal), SpaceX in 2002, and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk became a multimillionaire in the late 1920s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers. Musk made headlines in May 2012 when SpaceX launched a rocket that would send the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. Elon Musk Net Worth bolstered his portfolio by acquiring SolarCity in 2016 and cemented his position as an industry leader by taking on an advisory role in the early days of President Donald Trump's administration.

Elon Musk founded his first company when he was only 23 years old. He then sold it for $307 million, becoming a millionaire at the age of 28. His curiosity, determination, and desire to solve certain areas have taken him where no man has gone before. Musk boasts of five companies so far that have changed the world. Let's not forget that the founder of PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX sent into space in 2018 the most powerful rocket in the world, the Falcon Heavy, inside which was his first electric car, the Tesla sport. Without any special training in the field of aeronautical engineering, Musk took his company to the level of NASA. The businessman has big dreams and is not going to stop there. Elon Musk's life is dedicated to changing the world for the better.

Elon Musk IQ

Elon Musk's IQ is estimated to be 155 - although an exact number is not known, at least not publicly. Based on a previous aptitude test he took and his various abilities, it is generally accepted that his IQ is around 155.

The life of Elon Musk: the victim of bullying in school

Born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971, Elon Musk has always been fascinated by science, but especially all things science fiction. He daydreamed, and sometimes it seemed that the world of fantasy took him completely out of reality. He had reached a point where he no longer answered even his parents, who thought he had hearing problems. Thus, on the recommendation of a doctor, they removed his polyps. The nerdy type, always with the book in hand, Elon Musk was not looked upon very well by his schoolmates, always being the target of bullying. Hit in the head, pushed down the stairs, and brutally beaten until he lost consciousness, Elon spent a week in the hospital before returning to school again. Later, he had to have an operation on his nose, because he was left with a deviated septum and could no longer breathe well. These acts of bullying continued for years.

Elon Musk Education

At 17 he moved to Canada to study to avoid compulsory military service in South Africa. In 1992, he transferred to the USA to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in Economics and then studied Physics. He then enrolled at Stanford University, California, to further his studies in Physics, but dropped out after only two days to take care of his first company - Zip2 Corporation.

The life of Elon Musk - the man behind the best-selling electric car in the world, Tesla.

How did Elon Musk make his money?

Next came PayPal, a company that allowed people to make payments over the Internet or by email. Pay Pal revolutionized online commerce, being later bought by eBay for $1.5 billion. With the money obtained, Musk invested in a new company - Tesla Motors (2003), aimed at creating affordable electric cars. Elon Musk funded the company with $7.5 million of his own money and closely supervised its production process.

The Tesla Roadster was the company's first car, this one using batteries with Li-Ion cells, having an autonomy greater than 320 km.

In 2018, the company announced that the Tesla Model 3, in the AWD variant, with the largest battery, achieved a maximum range of 534 kilometers, thus becoming the electric car with the longest range available in Europe. In addition, it is also the best-selling electric car in the world.

The revolutionary businessman also invested 2.6 billion dollars in the company SolarCity, which specialized in solar energy services. Solar City has become the second largest supplier of solar systems in the United States.

Elon Musk - Net Worth

As of December 2017, Elon Musk's net worth is $263.6 billion, according to Forbes. He made his first billion by selling PayPal in 2002; his company SpaceX is valued at over $125 billion.

Elon Musk - PayPal

In 1999, Musk co-founded 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, and in October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk owned 11 percent of PayPal.

Elon Musk - SpaceX

Musk founded a third company, Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 to build spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX was well established and NASA awarded the company the contract to manage cargo for the International Space Station - with plans to carry astronauts in the future - in a move to replace NASA's own space shuttle missions.

Elon Musk - SpaceX, Falcon 9 Rockets

On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched the Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 kilograms of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, marking the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station. In the release, 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 matches Earth's rotation. In February 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 equipped with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, with the goal of observing extreme emissions from the sun that affect Earth's power grids and communications systems.

In March 2017, SpaceX saw the successful test flight and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket made of reusable parts, a development that opened the door to more affordable space travel. A recall occurred in November 2017 when an explosion occurred during testing of the company's new Block 5 Merlin engine. SpaceX reported that no one was injured and that the problem will not prevent the planned launch of a future generation of Falcon 9 rockets.

The company enjoyed another milestone in February 2018 with the successful launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. Armed with additional Falcon 9 boosters, the Falcon Heavy was designed to carry huge payloads into orbit and serve as a vessel for deep space missions. For the test launch, Falcon Heavy received 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, Space X enjoyed the successful landing of a new Falcon Block 5 rocket, which touched down with a drone ship less than 9 minutes after liftoff.

BFR mission to Mars

In September 2017, Musk presented an updated design plan for the BFR (an acronym for "Big F - ing Rocket" or "Big Falcon Rocket"), a 31-engine behemoth capped by a spacecraft capable of carrying at least 100 people. He revealed that SpaceX was aiming to launch the first payload missions to Mars with the vehicle in 2022 as part of its overall 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 next year while giving a knowing nod to his past problems with meeting deadlines.

The life of Elon Musk - the man who also wants to conquer space

In 2002, Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in Hawthorne, California. His goal was to create space rockets at more affordable prices. In 2002, Dragon became the world's first commercial shuttle to send supplies to the International Space Station. The next step is for this shuttle to send people into space.

In 2018, the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, was sent into space with a special payload: a red Tesla car with a dummy on board, nicknamed Starman.

The following month, it was announced that SpaceX would build 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 able to be moved by barge or ship once completed.

Elon Musk -Starlink, Internet satellites

In late March 2018, SpaceX received permission from the US government to launch a fleet of low-orbit satellites for the purpose of providing internet service. Ideally, the system would make broadband service more accessible to people in rural areas, while boosting competition in heavily populated markets that are typically dominated by one or two providers. Critics have contested that such a system would pose a safety hazard with the skies above us cluttered with debris.

Elon Musk - Tesla Motors

Elon Musk is the co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Motors, a company dedicated to manufacturing affordable electric cars, battery products, and solar roofs. Musk oversees all of the company's products, engineering, and product design.

Five years after its founding, in 2008, the company 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.

Additional successes include the Model S, the company's first electric sedan. Capable of covering 265 miles between charges, the Model S was honored as the 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.

In April 2017, Tesla announced that it had surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable American automaker. The news was an obvious boon for Tesla, which was looking to ramp up production and launch the Model 3 sedan later that year.

In November, Musk made another coup with the presentation of the new Tesla Semi and Roadster at the company's design studio. The semi-trailer, which goes into production in 2019, has a range of 500 miles, as well as a battery and motors built to last 1 million miles. The roadster, due in 2020, will become the fastest production car ever with a 0-to-60 time of 1.9 seconds.

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 at the start of the new year. The announced delay did not surprise industry experts, who were keenly aware of the company's production problems, although some questioned how long investors would remain patient with the process. It also didn't stop Musk from getting a radical new compensation package as CEO, in which he would be paid after hitting incremental valuation milestones based on $50 billion in growth.

By April 2018, with Tesla expected to fall short of first-quarter production forecasts, news broke that Musk had removed 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 targets and that he was "back to sleeping at the factory".

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

The restructuring appeared to be paying dividends, as it was announced that Tesla met its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June, while producing another 2,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs." I succeeded!" Musk wrote in a celebratory email to the company. "What incredible work by an amazing team."

The following February, Musk announced that the company was finally releasing its standard Model 3 at a starting price of $35,000. Musk also said Tesla is moving to online sales and offering customers the chance to return their cars within seven days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. A few days later, he announced that the much-anticipated Model Y would be unveiled on March 14.

Revolt because of the private

On August 7, 2018, Musk dropped a bombshell about his career with a tweet: "Thinking about taking Tesla private at $420. Financing secured. "

The announcement sent Tesla stock soaring, before closing the day up 11 percent. Meanwhile, the CEO followed up with a letter on the company's blog, calling the move to go private "the best way forward." He promised to keep his stake in the company and added that he would create a special fund to help all current investors stay on board.

However, the announcement also opened the door to legal action against the company and its founder, as the SEC began to question whether Musk had indeed secured the funding as claimed. In addition, several investors filed lawsuits on the grounds that Musk was seeking to manipulate stock prices and ambush short sellers with his tweet.

Musk sought to clarify his position on August 13 in a statement in which he pointed to discussions with the managing director of the Arab sovereign wealth fund as the source of his "secured funding" statement. He later tweeted that he was working on a proposal to take Tesla private with Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake as financial advisors.

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 he was under the influence of LSD when he posted his tweet that captured him and heard him making the phone calls to support the funding he promised are already in place. However, the news quickly turned serious again when it was reported that Tesla's outside executives had retained two law firms to handle the SEC investigation and the CEO's plans to take the company private.

On August 24, a day after the board meeting, Musk announced that he had reversed course and would not be taking the company private. Among his reasons, he cited the preference of most executives 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 funded by Saudi Arabia, a country heavily involved in the oil industry.

On September 29, Musk agreed to step down as Tesla's chairman of the board for three years as part of a settlement with the SEC. He also has to pay a fine of 20 million dollars.

SolarCity acquisition

In August 2016, in Musk's career-long effort to promote and promote sustainable energy and products to a broader consumer base, a $2.6 billion deal to combine his electric car and solar energy companies was solidified. Tesla Motors Inc. announced a stake in SolarCity Corp., a company Musk helped his cousins ​​start in 2006. He is a majority shareholder in each entity.

"Solar and storage are at their best when combined. As a single company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way energy is generated, stored and consumed," said a statement on the website Tesla about the deal.

The life of Elon Musk - from the class nerd to the lover of famous actresses

If in school he was the target of beatings, today Elon Musk is one of the most envied men: genius, successful businessman, billionaire, successful with women. The founder of Tesla was married twice and has five sons obtained through in vitro fertilization. Musk and his wife's first child, Justine Wilson, died at just 10 weeks of sudden infant death syndrome. In 2010 the gorgeous actress Talulah Riley became his wife, but they broke up in 2012. A relationship followed with actress Amber Heard, ex-wife of Johnny Depp.

Elon Musk's - Amber Heard, Wives and Childs

Elon Musk was married twice and has five sons obtained through in vitro fertilization. He married Justine Wilson in 2000. Musk and his spouse first child died at just 10 weeks of sudden infant death syndrome. After a contentious divorce, Musk met actress Talulah Riley and the couple married in 2010. They separated in 2012 but remarried in 2013. Their relationship ultimately ended in divorce in 2016. Elon Musk has also been romantically involved with actress Amber Heard, ex-wife of Johnny Depp, and singer Grimes.

Elon Musk and Grimes

Elon Musk and Grimes, parents for the second time with the help of a surrogate mother. What unique name did they choose for their daughter?

Elon Musk and his girlfriend, Grimes, became parents for the second time. The two have a 1-year-old and 10-month-old son together, who was named X Æ A-12.

Elon Musk's child's name

Grimes has another child with Elon Musk, and their son is almost 2 years old and has been named X Æ A-12. The artist revealed that she now has another baby girl with the founder of Tesla, Y, who was born in December of last year. For their daughter, the two chose the name Exa Dark Sideræl, and this time they turned to a surrogate mother. 

What does Exa Dark Sideræl mean, Elon Musk's daughter's name Grimes explained the meaning of his daughter's name, which is unique. Exa refers to a supercomputing term, exaFLOPS, while "Dark" stands for "the unknown".

"People are afraid of that, but really it's the absence of photons. Dark matter is the beautiful mystery of our universe," Grimes told Vanity Fair. Sideræl, the third part of Y's full name, is pronounced "sigh-deer-ee-el," according to Vanity Fair. Grimes called the word "a more Elvish spelling" of sidereal, which she defined as "true universe time, star time, deep space-time, not our relative earthly time." Sideræl also has a double meaning, as a reference to Grimes' favorite Lord of the Rings character, Galadriel. 

In the interview, she confessed that she wanted her daughter to be called Odysseus because a little girl with that name was her dream. In the end, Grimes and Elon Musk decided to name their daughter Exa Dark Sideræl. Elon Musk and Grimes reconciled Although they had separated in September 2021, after three years of relationship, the two decided to reconcile and give the relationship another chance.

 "We live in separate houses. We are best friends. We see each other all the time… We have our things going on and I don't expect other people to understand," Grimes said. She added that she and Musk are happy together: "This is the best thing ever… We just need to be free." Grimes announced that they plan to have more children: "We've always wanted at least three or four."

Elon Musk's birthday and nationality

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained his Canadian citizenship in 1989, in part because he felt it would be easier to obtain American citizenship that way. In 2002, he achieved his goal of becoming a US citizen. 

How old is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk is 51 years old

Elon Musk houses

Where does Elon Musk live?

Elon Musk has sold his 7 houses in California and is staying on rent. His ex-wife says he sometimes lives "below the poverty line"

The world's richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has kept his promise to own "no house" by selling all seven of his California residences for a total of $128 million and getting an estimated profit of 25 million dollars.

Musk claims that the promise came from his desire to fully focus on his mission to send humans to Mars. While many are skeptical of Musk - who has a penchant for saying inappropriate things - his ex-wife, singer Grimes, says he is sincere about his goals.

Grimes stated that Musk "can say a lot of crap, but he does the right thing." "The Mars project is hard. There is no income for him. There's no way to make money," Grimes said. "It's for the benefit of humanity, it's dangerous and expensive, and people say: "(Musk) is raising money!". No, in fact, he spends everything on research and development", explained the star. According to the singer, Musk does not "live like a billionaire", but is sometimes "below the poverty line". She recalled living with him in a "very unsafe $40,000 house," where the neighbors would film them and where he ate "peanut butter for eight days straight." With the sale of his last home, Musk now lives in a small $50,000 rental near SpaceX's headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. 

One of the homes sold by Musk is the former residence of actor Gene Wilder, star of "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" and "Blazing Saddles." He stipulated that he would sell the house only on the condition that it is not demolished and does not "lose any of its spirits". Musk agreed to sell the house to the actor's grandson, Jordan Walker-Pearlman so that it would remain in the Wilder family's possession. 

Musk paid $6.75 million for the home and asked for $7 million for the sale, giving Walker-Pearlman a $6.7 million loan to afford the residence.

Young Elon Musk

The son of a Canadian mother and a South African father, Musk spent his early childhood with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca in South Africa. At age 10, around the time his parents divorced, the introverted Elon developed an interest in computers. He taught himself how to program, and when he was 12, he made his first software sale of a game he created called Blastar.

Other inventions and innovations

Outside of his roles at SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has continually tried to make his innovative ideas a reality.

Hyperloop

In August 2013, Elon Musk released a concept for a new form of transportation called the "Hyperloop," an invention that would facilitate commuting between major cities while severely reducing travel time. Ideally weatherproof and powered by renewable energy, the Hyperloop would propel riders on bridges through a network of low-pressure tubes at speeds in excess of 700 mph. Musk mentioned that the Hyperloop could take 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, at an estimated cost of $6 billion - about a tenth of the cost of the rail system planned by the state of California - Musk's concept drew skepticism. However, the entrepreneur tried to encourage the development of this idea. After announcing a competition for teams to present their designs for a prototype Hyperloop pod, the first Hyperloop Pod competition was held at the SpaceX facility in January 2017.

Elon Musk -  Neuralink and AI

Elon Musk's career: He pursued an interest in artificial intelligence, becoming co-chairman of the non-profit organization OpenAI. The research company launched in late 2015 with the stated mission of advancing digital intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

In 2017, it was also revealed that Musk is backing a venture called Neuralink, which plans to create devices that can be implanted in the human brain and help humans merge with software.

The drilling company

In another innovation, in January 2017, Elon Musk suddenly decided that he would find a way to reduce traffic by allocating boring resources and building tunnels. He launched his project, called "The Boring Company," with a test probe on SpaceX's property in Los Angeles. In late October, Musk posted the first photo of his company's progress on his Instagram page. He said the 500-foot tunnel, which will run generally parallel to Interstate 405, will reach a length of two miles in about four months.

Flame thrower

The entrepreneur also found a market for the Boring Company's flamethrowers; after announcing they would go on sale for $500 a piece in late January 2018, he claimed to have sold 10,000 of them in one day.

High-speed train

In late November 2017, after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called 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 is all in on the competition with his Boring Company. He said the Chicago loop concept would be different from the Hyperloop in that its relatively short route does not require the need to draw a vacuum to eliminate air friction.

The story between Elon Musk and Twitter

Elon Musk buys Twitter

The story began in March when Musk bought 9.2% of Twitter, and a few weeks later he made a $44 billion offer for the entire company. Meanwhile, the billionaire refused a seat on the management committee, which would have forced him to hold a maximum of 15% of the company. 

Then… the problems came. Elon and his team began to accuse Twitter of hosting too many fake accounts and bots, well above the 5% of total users that the platform had recognized. In May, the news appeared that Elon Musk is freezing the acquisition of Twitter, on the grounds that it was not transparent enough to his requirements. 

Throughout this period, the company's shares kept falling, far below the value they were at when the eccentric billionaire made the offer. A share was worth 54.2 dollars at the beginning and now it is 36.81 dollars. There have also been accusations of price manipulation and now there is also a trial. 

The current situation

Friday afternoon, Musk's legal team sent a letter to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) announcing the termination of the Twitter acquisition due to "a material breach of the agreement". 

They were also accused of "false statements" during the negotiations. One of Twitter's executives, Bret Taylor, has already posted online that he is now pursuing a lawsuit to force the takeover. Twitter has already given Musk access to its user base to see how many are real and how many are bots. On Thursday, Twitter announced that it blocks 1 million spam accounts a day, and lately it has fired two top executives, closed its talent scouting segment, and frozen hiring. It also fired 100 employees in an attempt to reduce costs.

 The problem is that a long-term legal dispute is not something the giant wants and can afford, causing panic among employees already worried about the future of the platform. In these moments Elon Musk is destroying his image, proving to be a destroyer instead of the creator we thought he was. He started taking over Twitter with the promise of restoring freedom of speech, but got lost in legalese and changed his mind, which at this level… not really possible. What about changing the world?

Elon Musk and Donald Trump

With Donald Trump announcing plans to continue massive infrastructure development after his successful election to the US presidency in 2016, Musk found himself on common ground with the new president and his advisers. That December, he was named to President Trump's strategy and policy forum, and the following January he joined the Trump Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.

While sometimes at odds with the president's controversial moves, such as his proposed ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, Musk has defended his involvement in the new administration. "My goals," he tweeted in early 2017, "are to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy and help transform humanity into a multi-planet civilization that will result in the creation 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 US from the Paris climate accord, Musk stepped down from his advisory roles.

Elon Musk's nonprofit

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

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About the Creator

Viorel Secareanu

I share thoughts on photography and life, mostly lessons learned around things I’ve been dealing with the last few years, managing time, finding focus, and being happy.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something inspiring here!

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