Elon (Elon) Reeve Musk(English: Elon Reeve Musk) is a Canadian-American engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, and investor. Elon Musk is the founder of Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, and also a member of the board of directors of SolarCity, founded by his cousins.
early years and Elon Musk's childhood
Mother - May Musk, was a model and a famous nutritionist. Father - Errol Musk, is a pilot, sailor and engineer. He made money by consulting.
The family had three children: Elon, Kimbal and daughter Tosca. May and Errol divorced when the children were young. But they stayed with their father, and Errol Musk was able to raise successful children.
As a child, Elon was an unusual child; he read a lot. As his father recalled, once Elon, when he was three or four years old, asked him: “Where does the world end and begin?”
Pictured left: aged 12 with a fish he caught on a family fishing trip in South Africa. In the photo on the right: with brother and sister (Photo: eastbaytimes.com)
Elon and Kimbal attended Pretoria Boys High School. Elon graduated from school with excellent marks in physics and computer science. At the same time, at school, Musk had a difficult time in relationships with other children; after one of the beatings, he had to repair a broken nose, according to Elon Musk’s biography on Wikipedia.
Since childhood, Elon read a lot, loved science fiction, Jules Verne before Asimov, Heinlein And Tolkien. Novel Douglas Adams“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” helped him cope with an identity crisis at the age of fourteen, and the books “Academy” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” awakened Elon’s interest in space, according to Musk’s biography on the World of Science Fiction website.
When Elon Musk was 10 years old, he received his first Commodore VIC-20 computer as a gift, which he used for programming; at the age of 12, he sold his first program for $500, the game Blastar, in which you could shoot at aliens with a laser gun.
In the photo on the left: Elon Musk with his mother, brother and sister. In the photo on the right: Elon Musk's father (Photo: notjustrich.com)
To avoid conscription into the army in South Africa, the boys went to Canada to live with their mother. It is noted that Musk raised the money for the trip himself by selling shares of a pharmaceutical company.
At age 19, Elon entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1992, Musk moved to the United States and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business. Over time, he transferred to Stanford, but did not complete his studies.
Elon Musk's career
Zip2 is the first company founded jointly by the Musk brothers in 1996. They were engaged in software production. Their project was a digital equivalent of the Yellow Pages, with which you could find the nearest pizzeria in any area of San Francisco. The startup did not develop as quickly as Elon wanted, but his hard work made it possible to bring it to such a level that investors became interested in it. Soon, Compac acquired Zip2 for $307 million, 22 million went to Elon Musk personally, and he became a millionaire at the age of 27.
In March 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com (investing $12 million of his own savings), intending to revolutionize the banking payments industry. Already in 2000, the companies X.com and Confinity merged, thereby merging the X.com and PayPal systems. Musk demanded the X.com brand instead of PayPal for the new formation. This caused disagreements within the organization, and Elon resigned by decision of the Board of Directors. But strategically and economically, Musk again made the right move. In October 2002, PayPal was purchased by eBay for $1.5 billion, and Elon received $175 million for his 11.7% stake.
In the photo (from left to right): Peter Thiel and Elon Musk (Photo: strumpeople.com)
Elon Musk and SpaceX
In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, SpaceX. This company of Elon is associated with space developments; the purpose of its creation was to reduce the costs of space flights, promote its development and, in particular, the future colonization of Mars.
Elon Musk became chief engineer and CEO of SpaceX. On March 24, 2006, the company's first launch of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle took place, but it ended in an accident. However, that same year, SpaceX was one of the winners of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition, receiving $396 million in total funding to develop and demonstrate the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft.
Photo: SpaceX Falcon 1 from the air shortly after launch as it rises over Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands. 2006 (Photo: wikipedia.org)
On September 28, 2008, the first successful launch of the Falcon 1 rocket took place and the payload was launched into orbit. Thanks to the energetic actions of Elon Musk, the company has developed two types of potentially reusable launch vehicles: Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, as well as the reusable Dragon spacecraft.
Photo: Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO, unveils the SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, 2014 (Photo: AP Photo/TASS)
In December 2008, NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract with the company for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 carrier and then the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, as a replacement for the Space Shuttle after the termination of their launch program in 2011.
Further achievements of SpaceX were: the launch of the Dragon spacecraft, which was launched into orbit and returned to Earth on December 8, 2010, the first ever landing of the first stage on the ground, carried out after the payload was launched into low-Earth orbit (December 22, 2015), the first successful landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle onto the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship offshore platform (April 8, 2016) and the first launch and landing of a used Falcon 9 launch vehicle stage (March 31, 2017).
Photo: SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaking at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Musk elaborated on his plans to colonize Mars, 2016 (Photo: AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz/TASS)
One of Musk's fantasies was the exploration of Mars. According to Elon, Mars research will make it possible to set the price for transport flights to the planet at $500 thousand, which is “quite acceptable” for residents of developed countries, and will also mark the beginning of the exploration of other planets.
“I like to be involved in projects that change the world. The Internet did it, and space will probably change the world more than anything else. If humanity can go beyond the Earth, it is obvious that its future will be there,” the entrepreneur asserted.
Elon Musk has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the colonization of Mars, including proposing to drop them at the poles of Mars thermonuclear bombs to heat the surface of the planet and make it suitable for life.
In April 2016, news came out that SpaceX's Red Dragon spacecraft would fly to Mars no later than 2018. There is a version that Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, reacted in this way to the message about the start of the hardware implementation of the promising Russian spacecraft “Federation”.
SpaceX is planning a 2018 mission to Mars (Photo: SpaceX/ZUMAPRESS.com/Global Look Press)
During the expedition to Mars, technologies for delivering large cargo to the surface of the planet will be developed, the company’s Twitter reports. If the mission is successful, SpaceX will be the first private company, which sent the ship to Mars.
In May 2017, the media reported that the American company Elysium Space was selling space on a spaceship for the ashes of the dead. Elysium Space will be launched into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Elon Musk's Space X company.
It is reported that for 2.5 thousand dollars, relatives can send the remains of their loved ones into space, where the “star hearse” will circle the Earth’s orbit for two years, after which it will enter the atmosphere and burn up.
In September 2017, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the possibility of using a multi-purpose rocket to fly to anywhere on Earth in half an hour.
"Get to most places on Earth in under 30 minutes and anywhere in under 60. The ticket should cost about the same as a full-fledged economy class airline ticket," Musk wrote on Instagram.
The new rocket, tentatively called BFR, will use the company's previous achievements, as reported by RIA Novosti. The rocket can replace Falcon 9 and Dragon, and it can also be used for flights to the Moon and Mars. It is noted that the BFR rocket will refuel after entering low-Earth orbit, and then fly to its destination; the technology will allow flying to the Moon and back.
Elon Musk's Tesla
In 2003, Elon founded a company that he named after Nikola Tesla Tesla Motors. The scope of activity of this company is the creation of environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
In 2008, Tesla Motors released the first electric car, the Tesla Roadster. The car was criticized, but Elon Musk and his company worked to improve the car and the Tesla Model S was introduced in 2011.
Tesla Roadster (Photo: CarrrsMag.com)
On September 27, 2012, a revolutionary network of super-refueling stations for long-distance travel was launched. Two Tesla Model S electric cars were tested and traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast from January 28 to February 2, 2014. For recharging, only “superchargers” (electric filling stations) were used. The trip from Los Angeles took 76 and a half hours and cost $0, thereby setting a Guinness record.
Tesla Model S (Photo: tesla.com)
At the end of 2014, Tesla Motors introduced the Tesla Model X, a new electric crossover car. In 2016, a new budget model was introduced - Tesla Model 3. In 2016, the company's share price reaches $231.55, market capitalization is $29 billion. Tesla Model 3 is built on a new chassis. The basic version of the electric car will be able to accelerate from zero to 96 kilometers per hour in less than six seconds, and the top version in 4 seconds. The battery supply is enough for 350-400 kilometers. Model 3 will start at $35,000.
Tesla Model X (Photo: tesla.com)
In 2016, Tesla received at least 373,000 orders for its most affordable model, the Model 3. Musk said that due to the very large number of orders for the car, the company will try to “increase production volumes as quickly as possible.” At the same time, Elon Musk released a long-term plan for the development of Tesla's activities, promising that already in 2017 new transport models that operate on electrical energy: heavy trucks and urban passenger transport.
Elon Musk also said that Tesla Motors is quite capable of creating a flying car just to have it, but it is much more difficult to make it quiet and safe. “It’s unlikely that people will be happy about a car roaring over their heads,” Musk was quoted as saying by the media.
In March 2017, the news reported that Tesla intends to open its representative offices, showrooms and service centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Hyperloop Elon Musk
In 2012, Musk, in addition to announcing his plans to conquer space, announced another project - a high-speed pipeline passenger transport Hyperloop (“hyperloop”). In 2012, Musk said in an interview that the new vehicle would be 2 times faster than an airplane and 3-4 times faster than a high-speed train, would be safe and run on solar energy, and the Hyperloop would be much cheaper than the California High-Speed Rail project*. In January 2015, Elon Musk also announced his desire to build a 5-mile Hyperloop test track in Texas.
Hyperloop high-speed pipeline passenger transport project (Photo: hyperloop.com)
Co-founder of Hyperloop One Shervin Pishevar expressed hope for cooperation with the Russian authorities, in particular, he spoke about the prospect of using such trains to transport Chinese goods to Europe through the territory of the Russian Federation; the news wrote about the possible use of technology on the Moscow-London route.
In the summer of 2017, US authorities gave Elon Musk permission to begin work on the construction of a tunnel between New York and Washington for the implementation of the Hyperloop project. The businessman promises that his project will help residents of these two cities cover the 250 km distance between them in less than half an hour.
Social activities of Elon Musk
Another of Elon Musk’s promising projects is SolarCity . The company produces solar panels for generating electricity. SolarCity is one of the leading suppliers of such panels worldwide.
Solarcity, one of the world's largest installers solar systems(Photo: solarcity.com/TASS)
Billionaire Elon Musk does not forget about charity. Elon became chairman of the board of the Musk Foundation. In January 2015, the foundation donated $10 million to the Future of Humanity Institute for research into the control of artificial intelligence.
Words from Russian President Vladimir Putin about the creation artificial intelligence Elon Musk commented in a very original way:
“I think the race for leadership in artificial intelligence will most likely lead to World War III,”
“Elon Musk heard certain things about her behavior that categorically did not suit him. Amber can be very selfish and often manipulates others,” said a source close to the couple.
Elon Musk's income
In August 2017, Forbes reported that Elon Musk, who nearly went bankrupt after launching Tesla Motors and the rocket company SpaceX, was worth more than $20 billion for the first time on its annual list of the richest tech billionaires. Musk took 12th place with $20.7 billion, ahead of the Microsoft Corporation co-founder Paul Allen($20.5 billion) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alphabet Eric Schmidt($12.4 billion). It is reported that since March 2017, according to Forbes, Elon Musk has become richer by almost $7 billion.
The publication explained these data by the growth of SpaceX's capitalization, the value of which was estimated at $21 billion. Musk owns more than half of SpaceX.
At the same time, Musk's Wikipedia biography states that in July 2017 he was ranked 80th on the list of the world's richest people with $16.1 billion.
In December 2016, Elon Musk was ranked 21st on Forbes' list of the world's most powerful people.
Elon Musk V movie
Elon Musk is very popular in the USA. According to Jon Favreau, director of the film “Iron Man” (2008), Elon Musk served as the inspiration for Tony Stark, whom he played Robert Downey Jr. In 2010, Musk appeared in the film Iron Man 2 as himself (in the story, Elon is Tony Stark's friend).
Elon Musk made a cameo in the 12th episode of the 26th season of the animated series The Simpsons, released on January 25, 2015. In episode 9 of season 9 of The Big Bang Theory, Musk also played a cameo. In 2017, he starred in the comedy “Why Him?” as himself.
Musk can fly a plane. Elon owned an Aero L-39 Albatros aircraft manufactured in Czechoslovakia, by jet plane Dassault Falcon 900. In October 2013, Musk bought the Wet Nellie submarine car from the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” at auction for $997,000.
* High-speed rail - California's high-speed rail system, currently under construction, which will connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. The trains have stated speeds of up to 220 miles (350 km/h) per hour, providing a one-way trip of 2 hours 40 minutes. Construction began in 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2029.
Greetings! Elon Musk's success story is reminiscent of a Hollywood movie script. He participated in the promotion of the popular PayPal payment system, proposed the first electric car for the mass consumer, Tesla, founded the private space company SpaceX and seriously believes that humanity will soon colonize Mars.
The list of achievements of an amazing person can be continued endlessly. He is called the new Steve Jobs and the modern Leonardo da Vinci. It was he who became the prototype of the main character of the film “Iron Man”. In 2016, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $10.7 billion.
Meet! Today's hero of the post is Elon Musk: biography, achievements, secrets of success and... revelations.
Elon Reeve Musk (the billionaire's full name) is an example of a fantastic rise to the top almost from scratch. The future billionaire and “icon of new technologies” was born in the Republic of South Africa.
Her Canadian mother worked as a nutritionist, her British father of South African origin worked as an engineer. At school, Elon Musk was an outcast and a “nerd.”
One day he was even taken to the hospital after teenagers pushed him down the stairs and beat him until he lost consciousness.
Instead of noisy parties, Elon studied computer programming. At age 12, he sold his own code for a video game called Blastar for $500.
After graduating from school in South Africa, 17-year-old Elon decided to emigrate to the United States. It was difficult to do this directly. Therefore, in 1984, Musk moved to his mother’s relatives in Canada, where for almost a year he barely made ends meet, grasping at any job. But in the end, Elon acquires Canadian citizenship.
A few years later, as he wanted, he moved to the United States, winning a scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania. That's where Elon Musk got it higher education: in physics and in business (bachelor's degree).
In his youth, his idols were Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.
After completing his studies at the university, Elon Musk chose three areas of interest to him. Moreover, he decided not to waste his time on trifles. Musk focused on the Internet (then just emerging), space and alternative energy sources.
Achievements of Elon Musk
Reading the biography of Elon Musk, you understand why he is called a modern Leonardo da Vinci. For a couple of decades, he has been involved in (and achieved impressive results!) completely different and, to put it mildly, large-scale projects.
Software
In 1996, along with his brother Kimbal, Musk founded a software company for news companies. The project was called Zip2. The brothers developed and sold an “online guide” to such major publications as the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.
Just three years later, the Compaq brand bought the startup for $308 million. And Elon Musk became $22 million richer.
PayPal and X.com
Immediately after the sale of Zip2, Musk became one of the founders of X.com (online financial services). A year later, X.com merged with Confinity (which operated PayPal). Initially, Musk planned to merge PayPal and X.com. But the merger never happened.
X.com was converted into a subdomain of PayPal and then disappeared as a brand entirely. But Musk’s viral company ensured the explosive growth of today’s popular payment system.
In the fall of 2002, PayPal was sold on eBay for $1.5 billion. Of this, Musk received a fortune ($165 million) (he owned 11.7% of the company's shares).
SpaceX
SpaceX became the third company founded by Elon Musk. Space Exploration Technologies was “born” in 2002. Moreover, Musk acted as both general and technical director.
For those not in the know, SpaceX designs and manufactures space launch vehicles. The company's first "babies" were Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, and the first spacecraft was Dragon.
In 2008 (at the height of the crisis, by the way) new company Elon Musk received a large contract worth $1.6 billion from NASA. Falcon 9 and Dragon were supposed to replace the shuttle, which was “written off” in 2011. By the way, the Falcon 1 rocket became the first liquid-fueled spacecraft to deliver a satellite into Earth orbit. The first to be privately financed.
Elon Musk sets himself a more than ambitious goal: to reduce the cost of space flights by 10 times. A crazy businessman invested $100 million of his personal funds into SpaceX.
He is confident that the zone of human influence must necessarily expand to neighboring planets. This will reduce the threat of human destruction as biological species. Elon Musk is seriously studying the possibility of settling people on Mars within the next 10-20 years.
Tesla Motors
Musk and Straubel met by chance in 2003. During the meeting, Musk learned about the concept of an electric sports car. He immediately tried to convince AC Propulsion management to think about an electric commercial vehicle format. But the proposal was met coolly...
Then Musk, together with JB Straubel, Ian Wright, Mark Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard, decided to create the legendary (in the future, of course) Tesla company. Moreover, it was Musk who provided most of the funding for the project at the initial stage.
In 2008, Elon took over responsibilities general director and chief designer.
The first Tesla Roadster sports car sold 2,500 units in 31 countries around the world. In 2014, Elon Musk's company released the Tesla Model S P85D, the fastest electric car in the world. The car accelerates to 100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds. Without recharging, the Tesla Model S P85D can travel 440 km.
In his interviews, Elon Musk often says that in the next 30 years, most cars in the United States will run on electricity.
In 2016, Musk announced a new secret plan. And in March 2017, Tesla won a tender to create a giant energy storage facility. Elon Musk bet that if he doesn't build a battery station in Australia in 100 days, the state will get it for free.
He eventually won his dispute with the governor of South Australia. The Tesla Powerpack's massive lithium-ion battery is charged by renewable energy and delivers electricity to the state's consumers during peak demand hours.
SolarCity
The initial concept for SolarCity (the largest supplier of solar energy systems in the US) again belongs to the omnipresent Elon Musk. Subsequently, the concept was “fine-tuned” by his cousins: Peter and Lyndon Rive.
What made Elon Musk invest personal funds in another crazy project? The motto is “I will never give up.” And the desire to help humanity solve the problem of global warming.
SolarCity develops and produces photovoltaic systems for installation on the roofs of residential buildings.
The installations fully provide the houses they “roof” with electricity. It is clear that for the environment it is like a “balm for the soul.”
Soon the “eco-friendly” product found its buyer. Photovoltaic installations from SolarCity provide electricity to British Motors, as well as the office and servers of eBay.
What else does the company do besides creating solar panels? For example, it produces “energy-saving” software. The program allows you to use electricity in residential buildings more efficiently. As a result, loads on networks are reduced, and consumers save on electricity bills.
And of course, SolarCity produces a network of charging stations for Tesla Motors electric vehicles.
Hyperloop
“Hyperloop” is another crazy project of Elon Musk. According to his idea, Hyperloop should become the fifth mode of transport after cars, trains, planes and ships.
Elon Musk proposed the idea of high-speed delivery of goods and passengers back in 2012-2013. The idea was positioned as an alternative to the high-speed rail project between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The "hyperloop" was conceived as an overhead pipeline on supports. Reinforced concrete support pylons will be installed at a height of 30, 15 or 6 meters (depending on the terrain).
Single capsules up to 30 meters long with passengers and cargo will move inside the tube at speeds from 480 to 1,200 km/h. According to the developers, capsules should be “sent” at intervals of 30 seconds.
Elon Musk took the principle of operation of a vacuum train as the basis for the project. The developers decided to abandon creating a complete vacuum in the pipe (too expensive and technically difficult). We stopped at the forevacuum (thin air). The capsule will be driven by an electric motor and powered by solar energy.
To implement the project, the company Hyperloop One was created (until 2016 it had a different name). Hyperloop routes are planned to be built between major cities in the US, UK, Canada, Mexico and even India.
The cost of a trip on the Hyperloop super-fast train will be about $1 per 10-12 km.
Will Hyperloop work? Skeptics are sure not. And optimists closely follow the latest photos on Musk’s Instagram, news from the field and... invest in another crazy “iron man” project.
Fraudster and swindler?
Enter the query “Elon Musk is a fraud” into Google and you will be rewarded with hundreds of links to high-profile revelations. The authors of the articles claim that all of Musk’s projects, at best, ended in nothing.
Who is Elon Musk really? According to some, he is just a charismatic swindler with great scope and crazy ambitions.
Take, for example, the creation of PayPal. According to whistleblowers, the payment system is not his invention at all. In fact, in 1999, Elon Musk, a Jew, created online banking X.com with his personal money. A year later, X.com merged with its main competitor, Confinity. Musk immediately began to seriously conflict with the CEOs of Confinity: Peter Thiel and Max Levchin.
Their joint products in the form of payment systems worked through the stump deck. Banks were blackmailed with fines, and the company was threatened with ruin. And only when the board of directors removed Elon Musk from the position of manager, PayPal was able to bring it to fruition.
According to critics, Elon Musk’s only merit is that in negotiations with buyers on eBay, he managed to raise the company’s price to $1.5 billion.
Things were not so clear with the SpaceX project. At the start, Musk actually invested about $100 million in his brainchild.
But the “soul” and developer of the project was not him at all, but engineer Tom Muller. The Falcon 1 rocket was several years behind schedule. Three launches in a row ended with a loud bang. The project was on the verge of bankruptcy.
And suddenly, out of the blue, SpaceX receives a major contract from NASA. The project immediately takes a crazy leap forward. Someone claims that SpaceX is a curtain behind which US military circles are “hiding”. Under the guise of a private project, they are developing certain technologies.
Everything for which Elon Musk is usually praised is being torn to smithereens on the Internet: his electric cars, plans to colonize Mars, the Hyperloop project and... everything else.
I will not comment on posts in the format “Elon Musk is a deceiver and a swindler.” I’d rather quote a snide post on Twitter: “Forger and fraudster Elon Musk has launched Falcon again. Rogozin’s ultra-modern trampoline is still not ready for use.”
Secrets of success from Elon Musk
Journalists like to quote Elon Musk that he worked 100 hours a week for 15 years. How did he manage not to go crazy while working at the limit of human capabilities?
Combine things
Elon Musk prefers to do several things at once (like Julius Caesar). He believes that many operations work well together. Like cheese and wine.
Are you talking on the phone? At the same time, dust off your desk or make some tea. Looking for required file in computer? Delete unnecessary folders and documents along the way. Books can be read on the go or listened to in audio format while jogging.
By the way, Elon Musk himself checks his email when he communicates with his own children!
Consult the experts
"Eulogies" only confuse. Pay primary attention to criticism from experts! Criticism hurts your self-esteem, but it forces you to constantly develop and become better.
Planning
Elon Musk's day is planned almost minute by minute. He advises replacing the habitual morning viewing of your Facebook feed by drawing up a detailed plan for the day.
Musk's senior assistant writes everything into his diary. Up to “five minutes” of free time. Unfortunately, such a crazy pace does not leave time for personal life and other pleasant things. The last novel Elon Musk's relationship with actress Amber Heard ended due to the constant employment of both.
But no one requires you to work 100 hours a week. Just remember to use time management techniques. Without them, achieving success in the 21st century is impossible.
Ability to take risks
On his path to success, Elon Musk took big risks more than once. For example, when his beloved brainchild Tesla was practically doomed, he invested almost all the remaining money in “rehabilitation”. The profits from the release of the Model-S more than paid for these “crazy” investments.
Five recipes for success from Elon Musk
- Constantly improve your product or service. First and foremost, invest in research and improvement rather than advertising.
- Work all the time you need to work. “Time eaters” make only their creators successful and rich.
- Hire only those employees who absolutely love what they do.
- Forget about trends.
- The younger you are, the greater the level of risk you can afford.
How do you feel about Elon Musk?
Elon (also erroneously used as Elon) Reeve Musk is a Canadian-American entrepreneur, innovator, engineer-inventor, business tycoon investing in grandiose innovative projects.
The founder and head of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, co-founder of SolarCity and PayPal, this technomessiah, as he is often called in the press, personally participated in the development of new technologies in alternative energy, the design of environmentally friendly electric vehicles and economical solar power plants.
He was involved in the creation of superhuman-level artificial intelligence OpenAI, a conceptual high-speed (twice as fast as an airplane) Hyperloop transport system, and the design of spaceships designed to realize his main goal - the creation of a human colony on Mars.
The recognized genius of our time is characterized by such personal qualities as perseverance, well-developed critical thinking, accurate analysis of events and one’s own actions, high diligence and efficiency. It is reliably known that Musk devotes up to one hundred hours a week to work.
Forbes placed Musk in 21st place on the list of the most influential people in the world, and he was one of the youngest people in this ranking, behind only Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun and the inventor of the Uber service Travis Kalanick.
As of January 2018, Elon Musk's net worth was estimated at $20.9 billion, making him the 53rd richest person in the world.
Childhood and family
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, one of the three capitals of South Africa. He was the eldest of three children in the family of South African-born English engineer Errol Musk and Canadian-British model and nutrition expert Maye Musk. 
Elon has a younger brother, Kimbel, born in 1972, and a sister, Tosca, born in 1974. Kimbel, although not as successful as his older brother, still made a million-dollar fortune in the restaurant business, and Maya became a film producer.
After his parents' divorce in 1980, Elon and his brother and sister stayed with their father in a suburb of Pretoria. He rarely saw his mother. Errol had several houses, a farm with thoroughbred stallions and a yacht.
The family traveled a lot: the trip could begin in Europe, then they flew to Hong Kong, visiting the States along the way. Since Elon’s father had a pilot’s license, he sometimes rented a plane when he flew somewhere for work and took his children with him. So, as a child, Elon visited the emerald mine - the head of the family helped equip the face. Already in adulthood, Elon also received a pilot’s license, but he simply does not have time for this hobby.
Elon learned to read early and spent most of his free time reading books. At the age of 3, he dumbfounded his father with the question: “Where does the world begin and where does it end?” The boy grew up as an introvert, avoided his peers and did not get along very well with people. At the private boys' school where he attended, he often had to endure bullying from his classmates. Once he was beaten until he lost consciousness and was hospitalized.
At the age of 9, Elon received his first computer as a gift - a Commodore VIC-20. He independently studied the popular programming languages of those years and became interested in creating programs. At the age of 12, he himself wrote the shooter video game Blastar in BASIC, which he sold for $500 to PC & Office Technologies, which published the code in one of the issues.
Game developed by 12-year-old Elon Musk
Education
In 1988, Musk graduated from school and entered the University of Pretoria, but due to political instability in South Africa, he moved to Canada just before his 18th birthday. Since his mother is a native of Canada, Elon also obtained citizenship of this country. Here began the strangest period of his life: Elon entered a bachelor's degree at Queen's University in Kingston (Ontario), while changing many jobs in different parts of Canada, and he had something to tell about each of them. 
He first picked fruit and carried baskets of grain on his relatives' farm in Waldeck, then got a job as a lumberjack in Vancouver. He was paid mere pennies for cutting logs with a chainsaw. After quitting, he went to the labor exchange and asked to find a job with a better salary, and he got a job... as a boiler room cleaner at a sawmill. For $18 an hour (actually good money in 1989), he crawled around the floor in a suit made of heat-resistant but toxic material, scooping up trash in extremely high temperatures.
At this time, his younger brother also moved to Canada. Having united, Elon and Kimbel decided to make useful contacts. By hook or by crook, they found the phone numbers of successful entrepreneurs and called them, inviting them to lunch. One of those who agreed was the head of the Bank of Nova Scotia, Peter Nicholson. Impressed by the persistence of the young people, he met them personally and decided to take Elon, as the more gifted of the Musk brothers, under his wing. Elon worked at his bank for the whole summer, earning, however, less than in the boiler room - $14 an hour.
In 1992, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, located in the American state of Philadelphia. He studied simultaneously at the Faculty of Arts and Science and at the Wharton Business School at the university. Having stayed at the university a year longer than ordinary students, in May 1997 he received two bachelor's degrees at once: in physics and economics.
While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk became friends with the future founder of TheFunded, Adeo Ressi. The friends rented a ten-bedroom house and turned it into an underground nightclub, which was very popular with students. While everyone was getting drunk, Musk remained sober to keep order. But in one night he could earn enough money to cover a month's rent for this gigantic mansion. He spent the rest to pay for college.
In 1995, 24-year-old Elon moved to California, where he became a graduate student at the legendary Stanford University to obtain a doctorate in physics. But just 2 days later he changed his mind and decided to continue working on his developments. He had many ambitious ideas from the fields of IT, renewable energy and space exploration.
First business projects
In 1995, in partnership with his brother Kimbel and business coach Greg Kauri, Elon founded his first company, the Yellow Pages site Zip2, which specialized in developing maps and catalogs for online publications. Start-up capital, $28 thousand, his father offered him, but Elon refused to take it. Musk worked from early morning until late at night and lived in a rented office to save on rent and invest all the money in the company. 
His perseverance and tenacity paid off handsomely. The Internet was then experiencing a boom, and in 1999 the brothers sold their startup for $307 million in cash (and $34 million in securities) to the search engine AltaVista, which was later acquired by Compaq. Elon, who at that time owned only 7% of the company, earned $22 million from the sale.
Musk invested 12 million of this amount in the online bank X.com, believing that electronic payment systems are the future. In 2001, X merged with rival company Confinity. The new venture was named PayPal. As the majority shareholder (and taking advantage of the conflict in the Board of Directors after the merger), Elon Musk took the place of PayPal's CEO.
In 2002, against Musk's advice, the Board of Directors approved the sale of PayPal to trading giant eBay for $1.5 billion. After taxes, Musk received $180 million, giving him enough money to pursue his plans for solar energy and space.
Creation of SpaceX
Back in 2001, Musk developed a project to create an experimental greenhouse on Mars, which would mark the beginning of a closed and independent ecosystem on the regolith, which in the future would help with the colonization of the Red Planet. He hoped to restore public interest in the space industry, which had seriously declined after the collapse of the USSR and the end of the space race between the two superpowers.In October 2001, Musk traveled to Moscow with Adeo Ressi and space equipment engineer Jim Cantrell. The purpose of the trip was to purchase refurbished Dnepr intercontinental ballistic missiles, which he needed for experiments with delivering cargo into space. They met with aircraft designer Semyon Lavochkin and the management of Kosmotrans, the company that developed these Dneprs. However, the purchase fell through - they refused to sell missiles to Elon, considering him insufficiently experienced in this matter. The second attempt also failed - six months later, Musk tried to buy rockets again, and he was allowed to buy one for $8 million.
The history of SpaceX and the Falcon-1 rocket
The price seemed unreasonable to Elon. He refused, and during the flight home the idea came to the inventor: he could found a company that would provide him with the same rockets, or even better. According to calculations, it turned out that the cost of one missile during production would be only 3% of the price asked at Kosmotrans. In addition, he intended to reduce the cost of each launch by 70% by using reusable media.
In May 2002, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX for short, was launched. Musk invested $100 million in the enterprise, then attracted a number of large investments from the US Department of Defense agency DARPA, SpaceDev, Celestis, ATSB and others. The first two models of launch vehicles: lightweight carrier Falcon-1 and medium-heavy carrier Falcon-9 (“Falcon-1” and “Falcon-9”). The name is a reference to the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's ship from " Star Wars" The first aircraft developed by Musk's company was called Dragon.
In 2006, NASA entered into a $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX to send 12 cargo shipments to the ISS. In September 2008, for the first time in history, a launch vehicle, the development and creation of which was financed from private sources, successfully delivered cargo into Earth orbit. It was Falcon-1. Elon put almost everything on the line - if the launch was unsuccessful, the company would most likely cease to exist. On June 4, 2010, Falcon-9 was successfully launched. On May 25, 2012, Dragon, launched into space by a Falcon-9 rocket, docked with the ISS for the first time. In the same year, Musk’s company received its first commercial order: the launch of the Intelsat satellite using the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was still in development at that time.
On December 22, 2015, Falcon-9 made its first vertical landing at the Cape Canaveral Space Center. Before this, the rocket fell into the Atlantic Ocean twice, but the third attempt was successful and opened a new milestone in the history of space exploration - reusing the carrier meant colossal savings.
First successful landing of Falcon 9 (behind the scenes)
In February 2018, SpaceX made another breakthrough: the Falcon Heavy rocket, designed to transport multi-ton cargo (in the case of delivering cargo into Earth orbit, the carrier could withstand more than 60 tons), launched a Tesla Roadster into space with an installed camera recording everything that happens outside cabins
The significance of the launch of Flacon Heavy for humanity
The launch was successful, but during landing the central of the three boosters was unable to slow down and crashed into the ocean. The two side boosters landed exactly at the designated location.
Other projects of Elon Musk
In July 2003, Musk invested in Tesla Motors, which had just been founded by inventors Martin Eberhard and Mark Trapenning and was positioned as a pioneer among manufacturers of mass-produced electric cars. 
Musk personally took part in the development of the Tesla Roadster electric sports car based on the English Lotus Elise. At the initiative of the inventor, the weight of the model was significantly minimized, the battery compartment was improved, and new design elements were introduced into the headlight design. For this work, Elon received the Global Green 2006 environmental award and found investors who invested $100 million in Tesla.
Despite the difficulties in business development and miscalculations that forced Elon to fire some of his employees, the company avoided bankruptcy thanks to a 50 million investment from the German automobile corporation Daimler, as well as the provision of a preferential loan to Tesla at the initiative of the US Department of Energy.
The success of Tesla spurred the “electric segment” of the automobile market: every self-respecting automobile company began developing its own electric car or at least a hybrid. In 2010, Tesla became the first American automobile company in more than 50 years to go public (Ford did so in 1956).
The financial success of the enterprise was facilitated by the release of the premium S sedan. The billionaire provoked public interest in the development by participating in a debate with a New York Times correspondent. He said that in 20 years, more than 50% of cars coming off the assembly line will be equipped with an electric motor. As a result, 10.5 thousand Tesla S were sold in the first half of 2013 alone.
When Henry Ford created cheap and reliable cars, people said, "No, thanks. What's wrong with horses?" Ford risked everything and it worked.
The successful entrepreneur is also involved in the development of electric recharging stations. Vehicle, work on which is carried out under the auspices of the SolarCity project, the founders of which were his cousins. 
The company specializes in the installation of solar power plants for both production and home use. These include platforms for charging Tesla cars and home stations for converting solar energy. By the beginning of 2018, SolarCity's capitalization was estimated at $3 billion.
Elon Musk conference
In August 2013, Musk presented a plan to create a grandiose transport network called Hyperloop (“Hyperloop”). The project represented absolutely the new kind transport that would be 2 times faster than an airplane, powered by solar energy and not tied to a specific schedule, but set off at short intervals, like subway trains.
The Hyperloop was a closed elevated highway made of two tubes parallel to each other, with giant solar panels along the route. It was promised that the route would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles: the distance between the cities is 560 km. Musk promised that his invention would cover this route for 35 minutes, and estimated the cost of the project at $6 billion.
How does Hyperloop work?
However, Musk did not intend to implement the Hyperloop himself (although SpaceX and Tesla subsequently jointly created a capsule that demonstrated a speed of 355 km/h). As a result, further development was undertaken by the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, which operates through volunteer engineers and crowdfunding, as well as Virgin Hyperloop One. The latter tested a model of a vacuum capsule in December 2017, which accelerated to 387 km/h.
The millionaire inventor has repeatedly called on society to control research in the field of artificial intelligence and neural networks. He is convinced that AI poses a threat to humanity, because sooner or later machines will gain too much power over people.
The role of a pet for machines is the future of humanity.
However, in 2016, Elon founded the neurotechnology company Neuralink. It was planned that its employees would treat brain diseases (in the short term) using neural interfaces and “improve people” by creating a connection between the brain and the computer. Musk promised to create by 2027 the so-called “neural lace” - microimplants that improve cognitive abilities.Elon Musk in the movies
Like many famous billionaires (just remember the appearance of Donald Trump in the movie “Home Alone”), Elon Musk sometimes appears in popular television projects. Even in those where they make fun of him. 
Thus, the founder of SpaceX appeared in the animated series “The Simpsons” (the “Musk That Fell to Earth” series) and “South Park” (the “Handicar” series), as well as in the trash action movie “Machete Kills” with Danny Trejo.
He also played a cameo in the second part of Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. (in fact, Elon is often called the prototype of the main character of the film, inventor Tony Stark). He also appeared as himself in the TV series “The Big Bang Theory” and his prequel “Childhood of Sheldon.” In one of the episodes of the latter, the story of the creation of the “reusable” Falcon carrier is amusingly played out.
Elon Musk in The Big Bang Theory
The businessman, who aims to usher in an era of affordable space tourism, owned a Czech-made Aero L-39 jet trainer. He then purchased a Dassault Falcon 900, which was used in 2005 during the filming of No Smoking Here. The millionaire not only produced this film, but also played a cameo role in it as a pilot who opens the door to the captain played by the famous Robert Duvall. Musk was also the owner of the Wet Nellie car-submarine (created on the basis of the Lotus Esprit from the film “The Spy Who Loved Me” about the British agent 007 James Bond).
Sister Ilona, by the way, is involved in cinematography - she owns the film company Musk Entertainment.
Personal life of Elon Musk
The billionaire and philanthropist who donated $10 million to research ways to control artificial intelligence has been married twice. 
He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, while studying at a Canadian university. She is a year older than Musk - maybe that’s why he didn’t make the right impression on her when they met, but was able to earn it later. After graduating from university, their paths diverged for a while, but in 2000 the couple got married.
In 2002, a boy, Nevada Alexander Musk, was born into the family, who died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks. After this, Elon “withdrew into himself” for a while. In 2004, the couple tried to have children using IVF. As a result, twins Griffin and Damian were born. In 2006, Justine became a mother again - again through the IVF procedure. This time, triplets Xavier, Saxona and Kaya were born into Elon’s family.
Over time, family relationships began to deteriorate. The entrepreneur spent a lot of time at work and little time with his family. In 2008, Justine filed for divorce. The former spouses maintain a relationship and raise children together.
The billionaire has repeatedly complained about the lack of time for women: “I can allocate 5-10 hours a week for a woman... Is 10 hours of attention normal? Will this be enough for a woman?”
The businessman got married for the second time in September 2010. His chosen one was the English actress Talulah Riley, with whom he began dating shortly after the divorce. It is this girl that the press attributes to the role of the “insidious beauty” who stole the businessman from the family. But their love story was not smooth sailing. 
A year and a half after the wedding, Musk filed for divorce from Tallulah. They got married again in the summer of 2013, giving the relationship a second chance. In December 2014, Elon divorced his wife again, and six months later he annulled his decision. Finally, in March 2016, the couple finally decided to separate completely “by mutual consent.”
For about a year, Elon dated actress Amber Heard, who had just gone through a difficult divorce from Johnny Depp. In August 2017, they separated.
“Amber constantly lied to Elon. She said that she spent the night at home, although in fact she was partying at a club. When she went to Australia to film, she acted like she didn't have a boyfriend. But while shopping, she did not hesitate to use Elon’s credit card,” a source close to the billionaire claimed to Metro.
In May 2018, Musk appeared in public with his new girlfriend, 30-year-old singer Grimes (real name Claire Boucher). They attended the annual Met Gala together in New York. The couple met on the Internet: Musk wanted to tweet the phrase “Basilisk Rococo,” combining the name of the virtual reality thought experiment “Basilisk Roco” and the Rococo architectural style, but it turned out that Grimes had already used it in one of her videos. They started communicating, then users noticed Musk’s strange comments on Grimes’ Twitter (about the fact that comets are actually made of cocaine).
Work week Elon Musk builds something like this. On Monday, he wakes up in his mansion in Bel Air (an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood) and drives to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne. He spends the night at his workplace, and on Tuesday he flies on a private jet to Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, where Tesla's head office is located. On Thursday, Musk returns to Los Angeles and inspects SpaceX. At the same time, he communicates with his sons at least 4 times a week.
The entrepreneur became the founder of a charitable foundation named after him. He donates part of his fortune to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters (hurricane in Alabama, tsunami in the Japanese city of Soma).
Elon Musk now
Elon Musk's main goal remains the creation of a human colony on Mars. In a 2011 interview, he stated that the first settlers would travel to the Red Planet within the next two decades. By 2040, Musk predicts, 80 thousand people will live on Mars.Work continues on the BFR - Big Falcon Rocket - a launch vehicle and spacecraft with a payload of 150 tons. The BFR is expected to replace previous generations of Falcon and become the primary instrument for transporting cargo and people to Mars.
Elon Reeve Musk (June 28, 1971) is an American and Canadian billionaire. Known as a talented engineer and inventor, founder and owner of SpaceX. Chief designer of Tesla Motors. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of more than $12 billion.
Childhood
Elon was born in South Africa in Pretoria. The boy's mother was Canadian and worked as a nutritionist. His father, a native of South Africa, worked as an engineer. Relationships in the family did not work out, so the parents soon separated. The boy remained to live with his father, which became impossible best choice. The man was distinguished by his temper and tough temper.
Elon did well in school and was an introverted boy. For these or some other reasons, his classmates disliked him. The child was constantly bullied, even to the point of systematic beatings.
However, at home, Elon was a completely different person. At the age of 10, his big dream came true - the boy received a personal computer for his birthday. Unlike most of his peers, who used machines solely for entertainment, he became interested in programming. Having mastered it on his own, Elon decided that the knowledge gained should pay dividends. As a result, the boy created a video game that was a success and sold like hot cakes. And this despite the serious cost of $500.
The earning plan did not end there. In fact, he has just started. With the proceeds, the boy purchased shares in a pharmaceutical company.
He selected it by analyzing information from newspapers. And I was right. Soon he had enough money in his hands to make his dream come true.
Studies
Elon always dreamed of going to the USA. It was this country that he considered the ideal place for all those who have a sharp mind and the desire to apply it. However, he could not simply come to a foreign country. At the same time, the real prospect of soon wearing military uniform. Therefore, he decided to take advantage of his mother’s citizenship and the fact that she had relatives left in Canada.
Despite the protests of his parents, the young man packed his things and went to another continent. In Canada, he entered the University of Kingston. Thanks to his excellent studies, Elon received a scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania and soon crossed the cherished border.
Among university subjects, he preferred physics and business. It goes without saying that he succeeded in his chosen areas. Now it was possible to decide on the future. After analyzing the situation, the young man realized that there were three things that interested him.
In those years, the development of the Internet was just beginning. In him Elon saw an inexhaustible source of opportunity. He was also attracted to alternative energy sources and space.
In 1995, the young man went to Stanford. He intended to continue his education, but soon abandoned this idea.
Career
Instead of studying, Elon teamed up with his brother and created the company Zip2. It was aimed at developing software for news companies. Four years later, the brothers sold it, and as a result, Musk became $22 million richer.
Elon’s next brainchild was the online payment service PayPal, which was acquired by eBay, personally paying Musk 1.5 billion.
He now had enough money to devote time and effort to his own projects. Since Musk had already mastered the Internet, he turned his attention to space and alternative energy sources.
Space
Elon has always been obsessed with the idea of colonizing Mars. He was interested in the project of placing greenhouses there, in which plants could be grown automatically. Since the cost of implementing this plan did not fit into any framework, the businessman decided to start small. From your own rocket.
In 2002, he created the SpaceX company, and already in 2006 the Falcon9 rocket made its first flight. Then the Dragon spacecraft was born, making flights to the World Space Station.
Energy
Elon Musk has not forgotten about alternative energy sources. He invested a large sum of money in SolarSity, a solar panel installation company.
TeslaMotors develops and produces electric vehicles.
Personal life
Elon Musk's personal life became of interest to journalists after his first divorce. Despite the fact that the couple separated peacefully, the press was attracted by the fact that the family had five young sons. Elon met his first wife in Canada when he was a simple student.
The billionaire's second wife was the young actress Talulah Riley. Their relationship did not last long and ended in divorce.
Criticism and scandalous incidents
Rescue operation at Thamluang Nangnon Cave
Elon Musk's attempt to take part in the rescue operation carried out in the Thamluang Nangnon cave and the events that followed caused a great public outcry. The American entrepreneur said that he and cavers are discussing options for saving people. On July 10, 2018, after 8 children were rescued, he brought to the rescue site a mini-submarine he created, using elements of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which was supposed to help children unprepared for diving. However, rescuers considered that it was inappropriate to use it.
Caver Vern Unsworth, who played a key role in the rescue operation, criticized the proposal as a publicity stunt. According to him, this plan had no chance of success: a submarine with a rigid frame would not have passed even the first 50 meters; along the way, he spoke rudely to Musk. In response, Elon published a tweet in which he called the British diver a pedophile. Quite quickly, Musk deleted this tweet, but it had already caused a wave of negative reaction and numerous articles in various media; the situation caused a short-term drop in the value of Tesla shares. A few days later, Elon apologized to Unsworth.
Joe Rogan Podcast
In September 2018, Musk attended the show of American comedian Joe Rogan. During the conversation, the entrepreneur smoked a mixture of marijuana and tobacco, after asking Rogan if it was legal. Elon said that he rarely smokes marijuana, explaining that the drug does not affect him.
Allegations of violating securities laws
In the fall of 2018, a number of Tesla traders and shareholders sued Musk and accused the head of the company of violating securities laws. The investigation into this administrative case was undertaken by the US Federal Securities Commission (SEC). The lawsuit alleged that Musk intentionally posted false information on his Twitter account to influence Tesla's stock price. In his personal account, the head of the company announced the decision to make Tesla a private company and that he had already found finances to buy back shares. In the messages, he also indicated that he plans to buy back securities at the rate of $420 per share, that is, higher than their market value.
Due to criticism from users social network and shareholders, Musk decided to keep Tesla a public company. In September 2018, the US Department of Justice, in parallel with the administrative case, opened a criminal case against Tesla. According to the SEC's lawsuit, Musk faces a ban on holding leadership positions in public companies.
In response to the accusations, Elon Musk stated the following:
I am deeply disappointed by the SEC's baseless allegations. I have always acted in the best interests of investors, and honesty is the most important value in my life. The facts will prove that I never endangered anyone.
On September 29, 2018, Musk and the SEC settled these charges out of court. According to the agreement, Musk will remain the head of Tesla, but will not be able to serve as chairman of the board of directors for three years. In addition, he must pay a fine of $20 million. The same fine was imposed on Tesla.
Philanthropy
Elon became chairman of the board of the Musk Foundation. In January 2015, the foundation donated $10 million to the Future of Humanity Institute for research into the control of artificial intelligence.
In July 2018, an entrepreneur offered his assistance in an operation to rescue children from the flooded Tham Luang cave. Four engineers from Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company were sent to help the rescuers. A mini-submarine developed specifically for this operation was delivered to Thailand, but Thai rescuers refused to use it. Speleologist Vern Unsworth, who played one of the key roles in the rescue operation, criticized Musk's proposal - according to him, a submarine with a rigid frame "could not sail even the first 50 meters from the beginning of the cave."
Policy
In December 2016, he became a member of the Presidential Forum on Strategy and Policy under US President Donald Trump, a group of 16 American entrepreneurs whose task is to advise the 45th US President on issues related to economic growth and job creation and increased productivity, but in 2017 refused further participation in the forum in protest against Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.
Movie
According to Jon Favreau, director of the film Iron Man (2008), Elon Musk served as the inspiration for the film version of Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr.
In 2010, Musk appeared in the film Iron Man 2 as himself (in the story, Elon is Tony Stark's friend). In 2013, he also played himself in an episode of the film Machete Kills. Musk is seen among the audience attending the presentation of artificial intelligence in the sci-fi film Supremacy (2014, at the 00:07:39-41 mark), and his name appears in the credits.
Elon Musk voiced a cameo in season 26, episode 12 of the animated series The Simpsons, released on January 25, 2015.
He makes a cameo appearance in episode 9 of season 9 of The Big Bang Theory.
In 2017, he starred in the comedy “Why Him?” as himself.
Also at the end of episode 6 of season 1 of the series “Sheldon’s Childhood,” Musk sits at the table and reads young Sheldon’s notes.
Condition assessment
In 2015, unofficial data appeared on the Internet, according to which Elon Musk’s fortune was $13.1 billion.
The following year, official information appeared, provided by Forbes. According to information from the American financial and economic magazine, Musk owns an amount equal to $10.7 billion.
Elon Musk now
Elon Musk's main goal remains the creation of a human colony on Mars. In a 2011 interview, he stated that the first settlers would travel to the Red Planet within the next two decades. By 2040, Musk predicts, 80 thousand people will live on Mars.
Work continues on the BFR - Big Falcon Rocket - a launch vehicle and spacecraft with a payload of 150 tons. The BFR is expected to replace previous generations of Falcon and become the primary instrument for transporting cargo and people to Mars.
- Zip2 and PayPal
- Tesla Motors
- SolarCity
- SpaceX
- Hyperloop
The computer industry has given a start in life to dozens of charismatic individuals who managed to create something revolutionary and earn an incredible amount of money from it. If there was a ranking of such people, the first number would belong to Bill Gates, the second to Steve Jobs. But the third place, despite the large number of applicants, is most deserving of the little-known billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in our latitudes. Why? Because he invested the money he earned from computer technology into projects that could change our world more than Microsoft and iPhones combined changed it.
Forbes estimates Musk's net worth at $2.4 billion. Musk is not only a businessman, but also an engineer: he is personally involved in the design of electric vehicles and spaceships. In his spare time, he drives expensive cars, marries sexy British actresses and becomes the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Iron Man. In all respects, Musk is more reminiscent of a comic book character than a real person.
However, behind the media image of a superhero lies one of the most successful serial businessmen in the world. Musk became the second entrepreneur in the history of Silicon Valley who managed to found three companies worth more than $1 billion - PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla (the first was Jim Clark). Moreover, in an era when “the best minds in humanity are figuring out how to get people to click on ads,” Musk has devoted himself to space and alternative energy. He plays by some different rules and does it extremely successfully. How does he do this?
Success Story, Biography of Elon Musk
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in South Africa. His family was mixed. His father, South African, was an engineer. And my mother, Canadian, is a nutritionist. Musk spent his childhood in South Africa. At the age of 10 he got his first computer. Elon immediately showed interest in programming, which he taught himself. At the age of 12, he made $500 by selling Blastar (a shooter game in the vein of Space Invaders) that he programmed himself.
Biographies of prominent people usually contain episodes in which the hero says to himself: “Yes, I will do it,” which later leads him to stunning success. There were at least two such episodes in Elon Musk’s biography. Musk made his first decision at the age of 17. After finishing school in Pretoria, he decided to leave home and, without parental support, emigrate from South Africa to the United States. But Elon didn’t get to the USA right away.
In 1989, he moved to Canada to live with his mother's relatives. Having received citizenship, Elon Musk goes to Montreal, where at first he agrees to any job and teeters on the brink of poverty for almost a year. Soon he enters Queen's University in Ontario, where he meets the future mother of his five sons (twins and triplets), Justine. He studied there for two years, after which his dream came true - in 1992, Musk went to the USA.
He moved to America after receiving a scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year he received a bachelor's degree in business, but decided to stay at the university for another year to obtain a bachelor's degree in physics.
When Elon Musk began to experience teenage depression, he began to actively absorb philosophical and religious literature. But the most valuable lessons, he says, he ultimately learned from Douglas Adams' book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. “She taught me that the hardest thing is to come up with the right questions. Once you have succeeded, everything else is very simple." , Musk tells Businessweek magazine. He was prompted to these thoughts by an episode in which a giant supercomputer, after several million years of thinking, answers “the main question of Life, the Universe and Everything Else” with the meaningless number 42.
“I have come to the conclusion that we must strive to expand the limits of human consciousness in order to learn to ask the right questions.” , says Musk. He came up with his question a long time ago: “When I was in college, I kept thinking about what would have the biggest impact on the destiny of humanity in the future?” Musk decided that it would be the Internet, the transition to renewable energy sources and the relocation of people to other planets. He decided to try to contribute to each of these areas. But first he needed money.
Zip2 and PayPal
Elon Musk made the second, most important and fateful decision in his life in the summer of 1995. He had just completed his studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was entering graduate school at Stanford University to continue his studies in applied physics and materials science. However, just two days later he gave up science and, instead of developing capacitors, together with his brother Kimbal, while in the capital of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, he created his first computer company, Zip2.
“I worked from morning to night. He lived in the same warehouse where he rented an office, and went to the locker rooms of the local stadium to shower. But I saved on renting an apartment, and in the first two most difficult years I kept the company afloat.”
At that time, the Internet was experiencing a period of rapid development, but no one had yet managed to earn serious money here. Musk’s company was one of the first to do this: it created a platform through which newspapers (including such reputable ones as the New York Times) could offer their clients additional commercial services.
Four years later, in 1999, AltaVista, the largest search engine in those years, bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in securities. This transaction set a record for a company being sold for cash. Musk immediately spent part of the proceeds ($20 million) on luxury purchases - a McLaren F1 sports car and a private jet.
Musk begins to master the increasingly popular electronic payments, and the startup X.com becomes his new business at the turn of the century. In March 2000, X.com merged on an equal basis with competitor Confinity of Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, whose office is located on the same street in Palo Alto. This is how one of the leading payment systems of our time - PayPal - was born. Now there is a huge choice for paying on the Internet, but back then it was an alternative to paying with a bank card.
At first, disagreements arise between the teams of the two startups regarding strategy and management, but this does not affect the dynamics of the company’s development in any way. Musk participates in the development of a new business model, conducts a successful viral marketing campaign, the audience of the service is growing rapidly, and in 2002 everything ends with the logical purchase of the system by the online auction eBay for $1.5 billion. This is how Elon Musk acquired enough funds (founder X. com received $180 million for his share) for his other hobbies - astronautics and alternative energy sources. We can say that with this he said goodbye to the Internet!
“I don’t want to be the grandfather who doesn’t know how to check his email. But I’m unlikely to start a new online business in the future. I feel like I should focus my efforts on creating things that can have a positive impact on the future of humanity."
Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors was invented in 2003 by entrepreneurial engineers Martin Eberhard and Mark Tappening. From the very beginning, the company positioned itself as the first serial manufacturer of electric vehicles; its founders dreamed of freeing consumers from being tied to the raw materials market - a mission quite in the spirit of Musk.
The businessman, who became rich from the sale of PayPal, appeared in the project in February 2004, leading a round of investment in the startup with a personal contribution of $70 million. He became chairman of the board of directors and at first did not take on the operational management of the company. Musk participated in the design of the debut model of the Roadster sports car, created on the basis of the British Lotus: he lobbied for the use of composite materials in the body structure, developed the battery module and even design details such as headlights. By 2006, the project received good press, Musk became a laureate of the prestigious Global Green environmental award (the award was presented to him personally by Mikhail Gorbachev), and the pool of Tesla investors included “Google fathers” Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The total amount of funds raised in the project exceeded $100 million.
However, in 2007, when the launch of the Roadster assembly line production was planned, a dark streak began in Musk’s life. Management miscalculations led to the fact that the selling price of the electric car turned out to be almost twice as high as what was originally included in the project - $92,000. In addition, the company's CEO Martin Eberhard made a strategic miscalculation: his transmission concept for the Tesla Roadster turned out to be ineffective, and the car's release had to be postponed for more than a year.
In a crisis situation, Elon Musk showed the necessary managerial qualities at that time: the ability to mercilessly throw overboard everyone who, for some reason, interferes with the project. Musk fired Eberhard and several other “founding fathers” without the slightest sentiment, and some time after this purge he himself became the helm of the company. Eberhard sued him, but the case was settled out of court, so effectively that almost no details of the conflict were leaked to the public.
On the threshold of the crisis, Elon Musk continued to vigorously cut the bones: lay off employees, demand lower prices from suppliers, close offices, etc. As a result, the Roadster was released in 2008 with a slight - less than $20,000 - increase in the price on the receipt.
At the most difficult moment (at the same time, the businessman began a high-profile divorce proceeding with his wife Justine, who did not skimp on criticizing the father of her five sons in media interviews and her personal blog for lack of attention and domestic tyranny), Musk invested his last savings of $20 million in Tesla. (he raised funds from Dell's $120 million takeover of software developer Everdream, of which Musk was a shareholder), sold his beloved McLaren F1 to save the project, and still saved the automaker from bankruptcy. He even gave customers personal guarantees of a refund if the initiative failed.
Soon things started to improve, which was especially impressive against the backdrop of the stagnating traditional automobile industry. The German concern Daimler invested $50 million in Tesla; the US Department of Energy authorized the inclusion of the project in the pool of innovative transport companies - recipients of a preferential interest loan. Tesla received almost half a billion dollars from the state. Subsequently, skeptics criticized the authorities for their decision to support Musk’s company, whose products are still aimed exclusively at wealthy buyers.
The word “electric car” often evokes something slow and clumsy, but in the case of Tesla Motors this is not the case. Its cars are fast and similar in appearance for luxury sports cars. However, there are also plans to create simpler models. Tesla Motors specialists cooperate with Daimler and Toyota. The so-called “hybrids,” vehicles from these companies equipped with both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, use technology from Elon Musk’s company. In 2007, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz cited Tesla as the main reason for the auto giant's decision to begin developing the Chevy Volt electric car: “If some startup from Silicon Valley could solve this equation, then no one else dares to tell me that it is unsolvable.”.
“Tesla Motors is named after Nikola Tesla because we use some of his inventions. This guy definitely deserves more recognition from society. However, to be honest, I always liked Thomas Edison better because, unlike Tesla, he was able to bring his inventions to the mass market and make them accessible to all humanity. Tesla failed at this."
In 2010, Tesla held its first U.S. automobile IPO since Ford went public in 1956. The company, despite a decade of unprofitable operations, is listed on NASDAQ at the top of the range at $17 per share and raises more than $225 million. Indeed, there could not have been a better time for an IPO. The oil slick, which, due to the fault of BP, covers an impressive part of Gulf of Mexico, continues to grow, and at this time raising the issue of switching to new types of fuel seems more than logical. Today, Tesla's stock alone costs $147, and the automaker's capitalization is approaching $18 billion.
The main driver of Tesla's financial success was the luxury sedan Model S with a battery charge of 426 km, a bright design and unique speed characteristics (acceleration to 96 km/h in 3.9 seconds). The model went into mass production last summer with a price starting at $69,900 and received a score of 99 out of 100 points in the Consumer Reports rating.
At the presentation of the Model S, Musk categorically stated that in twenty years more than half of the cars produced will be fully electric: “I'm sure it will happen. I'm ready to bet money on it." . There are enough people willing to make such a bet. Even according to the most optimistic estimates of analysts, Musk’s forecast cannot come true. But this hardly bothers the founder and CEO of Tesla: by embellishing reality, he changes it.
The fact is that, according to Musk, the world has become too dependent on oil. This dependence has led to climate change and permanent geopolitical tensions. Abandoning internal combustion engines in favor of electricity could change the situation. Therefore, Tesla Motors is not just a business for him.
Musk continued to stir up interest in the project by staging a media battle with The New York Times columnist John Brodeur over a critical test drive of the Model S. It must be said that all these publicity stunts bore fruit. Thus, in the first half of 2013, the electric car sold 10,500 units, and supply still does not keep up with demand.
The release of the Model X crossover and the rapid development of a network of Supercharger charging stations are approaching. Tesla plans to cover high-traffic transport arteries with “sockets” throughout the United States, and begin overseas expansion in 2014.
SolarCity
Technology provider SolarCity, by formal criteria, is not exactly Musk’s project. In 2003, he invested $10 million in this startup, proceeds from the sale of PayPal. The founders of the project are businessman cousins Lyndon and Peter Raiva.
SolarCity installs modular private solar power plants with a capacity of several kilowatts - an ideal solution for households and small organizations. At the same time, the company does not sell the product, but gives it to customers on long-term lease with a horizon of 20 years. The buyer does not pay for the station itself, but exclusively for the energy it produces. The deals are financed by third-party lenders (for example, Google), who receive tax breaks for supporting the green economy.
In May-June 2008, photovoltaic installations were created to provide electricity to the servers and office of eBay, as well as for British Motors. Also in 2008, the company began producing software that promotes more rational use of electricity in residential buildings, thanks to which end consumers began to pay less for electricity and loads on networks decreased.
The SolarCity concept is economical, environmentally friendly and absolutely coincides with Musk's principles. The company, in particular, builds batteries for charging stations for Tesla electric cars. The project already consists of several dozen service centers in the United States and is in great demand among energy consumers: people sign up for home solar stations several months in advance.
However, leadership in the industry does not save SolarCity from criticism: solar power will never turn into an effective business model, and there is too much competition in the segment to maintain an acceptable price ceiling, skeptics argue. However, since its IPO in December 2012, SolarCity's share price has jumped from $8 to $38, peaking at $52 in May.
Musk remains the main shareholder of the company, whose capitalization is approaching $3 billion. It is his confidence in the prospects of the project that analysts call the main factor in the phenomenal market success of the company, which is still operating at a loss ($23.9 million in the second quarter of 2013). If the founder of SpaceX and Tesla bets on a technology, then it has a really good chance of taking off - this phenomenon on Wall Street has already been dubbed the “Musk effect.”
SpaceX
Elon Musk started thinking about creating a rocket company at the turn of the century. He was obsessed with the ambitious idea of creating a platform for multiple human journeys to other planets. The closest point should be Mars, the inventor decided.
“I was fascinated by the prospect of colonizing Mars and became the founder of the Mars Oasis project. The goal is to create automated greenhouses on this planet, which in the future could become an incubator for a self-sustaining ecosystem. And everything was fine, if not for the huge cost of delivering greenhouses to Mars. I even tried to buy missiles in Russia and negotiated with Russian officials, but my friends explained: this deal smacks of such a crime that in the eyes of the intelligence services I risk turning into a second bin Laden. And I thought: wait, why don’t I create my own rocket?”
As soon as circumstances allowed (eBay bought PayPal), the businessman founded the Space Exploration Technologies Company, or simply SpaceX, in 2002. He invested more than $100 million in the project. The cost of proposals on the market - from $15 million for a rocket in Russia to $65 million in the USA - was considered by the entrepreneur to be many times too high.
According to his calculations, it turned out that in total all the parts necessary for the construction of a space carrier cost only 2% of the launch price in the States. This angered Musk. He saw the root of the problem in the bureaucratization of the space industry, the low competitiveness of large corporations and their lobbying efforts to prevent new players from entering the market.
Musk was confident that the costs of creating and launching rockets could be reduced tenfold. But first he needed to reformulate his goal space flights. The main mission of SpaceX, Musk assures, is not the delivery of astronauts and cargo into orbit, but the colonization of other planets. If you want to move some of humanity from Earth to some moon of Jupiter, you damn well have to figure out a way to do it economically.
SpaceX begins designing the Falcon 1 rocket. Development takes four years and hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment (Musk's former business partner Peter Thiel was one of the first to support Musk's project, and Musk retained two-thirds of SpaceX's shares). As a result, the rocket and three types of liquid engines - Merlin, Kestrel and Draco - were created from scratch without any government intervention. In 2006, NASA drew attention to SpaceX. The agency initially awarded the company several contracts for Falcon 1 test launches.
“My goal is to create not just a rocket, but a reliable rocket at an affordable price. I was warned many times: if you reduce costs, you also reduce reliability. In my opinion, this is fundamentally wrong. A sports Ferrari is a very expensive car, but most likely the Ferrari will break down on the first dirt road. On the contrary, the cheapest Honda can work reliably for several years, and you can be sure that its wheel will not fall off in the first ditch. The same with rockets. The main thing is not to rush.”
The first three launches in 2006-2008 turned out to be failures (the third ended in an incident - the ashes of James Dewan, who played Scotty in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, were “buried” in the ocean depths instead of outer space). On the fourth attempt, the rocket launches successfully - this costs $7 million. On the fifth, it sends a Malaysian satellite into orbit. Impressed, NASA signs a contract with SpaceX for 12 missions to send cargo to the ISS for $1.6 billion.
“We use technologies that are simply impossible to imagine in our arsenal state institutions. For example, our company needed a theodolite, which is used to level a rocket, and instead of buying a new one, I suggested looking on eBay. That’s what we found – a wonderful working theodolite, saving about 25 thousand dollars.”
The company is updating its flagship product, and the upgraded Falcon 9 first simply launches a SpaceX-developed Dragon truck into orbit, and on May 22, 2012, it is the first in the history of private space to send a ship to the ISS. In October, Dragon successfully delivered half a ton of payload to the station, and in the future should accommodate crews of seven astronauts. The total package of orders from government and commercial structures for 50 SpaceX rocket launches today is about $4 billion; according to a conservative estimate, the company's value is about $2.5 billion.
But Musk is in no hurry to launch an IPO. For him, all the achievements of SpaceX are just preparation for the realization of his main dream - an expedition to Mars. Until the end of his life, the billionaire wants to become a pioneer colonizer of the Red Planet. To this end, SpaceX is developing the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCP) project. Musk's engineers are working on innovative rocket engines and spaceships to deliver people from Earth to Mars (a Falcon-based Grasshoper rocket can be created that can land vertically, and the second generation Dragon is technically already capable of getting to Mars, Musk assures).
According to the 42-year-old businessman, in 10-20 years the fantasy may become reality. “I would like to die on Mars. Just without crashing on the surface of the planet." , jokes the billionaire.
Using the example of Elon Musk, we can trace the path of a man who made childhood dreams come true, because many people in childhood wanted to fly into space, and soon this will be possible, because business has come to astronautics, and many will benefit from this, because space tourism will soon time will become a reality, thanks in part to Elon Musk.
“SpaceX wants to be a company that can help move people to other planets, because I think that's the biggest goal that life can have. And although we should never forget about more mundane things, it is very useful to have such a kind of Holy Grail, the search for which becomes a long-term goal and a main source of inspiration.”
Musk is a demanding perfectionist and pedant in the technical field. His background in physics helps him see objective truths and separate them from emotional assessments and speculative predictions. He just thinks big. For example, he is thinking about a means of public transport called a hyperloop. This electric supersonic vehicle should take people from Los Angeles to San Francisco (350 miles) in 30 minutes.
Hyperloop
Musk first shared his plans for creating the Loop with reporters in September 2012. Then he did not provide the technical specifications of the project, limiting himself to the vague term “fifth mode of transport” (after railway, aviation, motor transport and shipping). “This will be something that will never crash, will be at least twice as fast as an airplane, will be powered solar energy and hit the road not according to a schedule, but exactly at the moment when you need it.”
, the businessman said in an interview with Bloomberg.
With his developments, Musk intended to reach California Governor Jerry Brown and US President Barack Obama directly. Hyperloop, in his opinion, should become an alternative to the authorities’ plans to build a high-speed railway between San Francisco and Los Angeles at a cost of about $70 billion (and taking into account costs, the amount could rise to $100 billion, the businessman is sure). “They offer California the slowest express train with the highest construction cost per mile of track. These are wrong records." , - the entrepreneur was indignant.
On August 12, 2013, Loop received a 57-page concept presentation. We are talking, as it turned out, about a closed overhead highway in the form of a steel pipe (more precisely, two parallel pipes connected at the end points of the route), inside which at almost the speed of sound in conditions low blood pressure(to reduce air resistance) a sealed aluminum capsule moves on an aerodynamic cushion. An electromagnetic pulse “accelerates” the structure. The capsule itself draws air through a cavity in the nose and out through "nozzles" on the bottom panel's gutters, forming an air gap - similar technology to magnetic levitation trains.
The “big pipe” will consist of 100-meter sections, which will be raised on pylons to a height of 20 meters (supports must be built at a distance of 45-90 meters from each other). The project's electricity needs will be 100% met by solar panels located along the entire route. The synergy with Musk’s other projects could not have come at a better time: the engines and electronic “filling” of the capsule can be inherited from Tesla Motors, SolarCity engineers understand solar energy best of all, and SpaceX will share with Loop alloys for the production of transport, tested in space.
Inside the transport shuttle, up to 28 people can be accommodated (if the project budget is increased from $6 billion to $10 billion, the Hyperloop design will allow three cars to be transported in one capsule). The Loop will cover the 600 km distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 35 minutes in comfortable conditions for humans (as Musk puts it, “it will be super comfortable and quiet, no turbulence”). The starting push of the capsule for passengers will be comparable to the acceleration of an airplane along the runway. About 70 shuttles on the line will be able to operate with a minimum interval of 30 seconds (the safe distance between capsules is approximately 8 km). Investments should pay off in 20 years, provided that a ticket for innovative transport costs $20 and transports 7.4 million passengers in each direction during this period.
The first Loop will roughly follow the route of California's Interstate 5.
Musk promises passengers an unprecedented level of safety. "Hyperloop will not fall from the sky and will not go off the rails" , - assured the inventor. Engineers from the project team took into account the possibility of emergency braking in case of depressurization of the capsule and even proposed bridge-building anti-seismic solutions in the design of pylons to level the risk of destruction by an earthquake.
The “Loop” will be a rational solution for large cities located at a distance of no more than 1,500 km from each other. Aviation is more suitable for long distances, the inventor believes.
Musk warned that he himself is not yet ready to devote a sufficient amount of time to Loop (it’s already “damn hard” for him to manage SpaceX, Tesla and SpaceX at the same time), although in any case he remains an investor and agrees to finance the creation of the prototype. The entrepreneur allowed all the engineering research of his team to be completed on an open source basis by any enthusiasts, guaranteeing all possible support. If brave investors are not found in the near future, Tesla will return to the project in a few years. “I’m not afraid of losing something financially on Hyperloop, it would just be cool to create a new type of transport” , - summed up the billionaire.
Technologically, there are no breakthrough solutions in the “Loop”: all components of the invention are already being used in other projects, and this seriously increases the chances of Hyperloop to “materialize”: Musk’s brainchild compares favorably with numerous analogues such as the “vacuum” train of the RAND Corporation, which has been running for several decades in concepts.
“The first thing I always think about is whether what we know about something is true. Maybe there is some other explanation? I did this from the first grades of school. I always challenged everything. This drove parents crazy. I never believed them and always demanded to answer the question “why?” Then I tried to figure out if their answer made sense."
The main obstacle to true innovation, according to Musk, is people's habit of thinking in analogies. As a result, in most cases they simply try to do something better instead of creating something new. Musk thinks fundamentally differently: “In physics there is the concept of fundamental principles. You dissect reality down to its fundamental foundations. And you start building your argument from there. It requires a lot of mental effort.".
“Think about company in your dreams and in reality – seven days a week and without breaks. Always stay laser-focused on creating amazing products for the future. This is exactly what you need to do at the start.”
“You need to be prepared for the fact that the company could collapse at any minute. Founding a startup is like eating glass and staring into the abyss, because the feeling of failure will never leave you.”
Musk is only forty-two years old, and he has no plans to retire. And there are enough tasks in the world that would be worth taking on by a person with a billion dollars in his pocket, who knows how to turn the most fantastic ideas into reality.
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