Elon Musk: Architect of the Future (A Comprehensive Biography)

Full name: Elon Reeve Musk
Date of birth: June 28, 1971
Place of birth: Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
Parents: Maye Musk (Mother), Errol Musk (Father), Kimbal Musk (Brother) Tosca Musk (Sister) Lyndon Rive (Cousin)
Education: University of Pennsylvania (BA, BS)
Partners: Amber Heard (2015–2017), Grimes (2018–2021)
Spouse: Justine Wilson ​(m. 2000; div. 2008),​ Talulah Riley ​(m. 2010; div. 2012), ​(m. 2013; div. 2016)
Children: Nevada Alexander Musk (died), Griffin and Vivian Musk, Kai, Saxon and Damian Musk (Triplet), X AE A-XII Musk, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, Strider and Azure, Techno Mechanicus
Occupation(s): Engineer, Entrepreneur, Businessman

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Who is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk is an engineer, businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He owns companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, Starlink, and Twitter (now X). He is also the co-founder of OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company.

Elon Musk Birthday, Height, and Family Life

Elon Musk was born Elon Reeve Musk on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. His height is 6′ 2″ (1.88 m). Elon Musk’s lineage traces back to British and Pennsylvania Dutch roots. His mother Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a Canadian South African, is a model and dietitian. His father, Errol Musk, was primarily an electromechanical engineer and a pilot. He also worked outside these professions. He has a younger brother and sister, Kimbal and Tosca.

Elon’s family used to be rich. Both Musk and Errol had previous claims that Errol owned an emerald mine in Zambia. Errol Musk announced in 2023 that he had stakes in three small emerald mines. Known for his anti-apartheid stance, Errol served on the Pretoria City Council representing the Progressive Party. He instilled similar values in his children.

His mother Maye Musk and father Errol Musk divorced in 1980. Elon Musk’s father Errol Musk started living together. However, he later regretted this decision and distanced himself from his father. Elon also has four half-siblings on his father’s side.

Elon’s early years were marked by a passion for reading, with influential works including The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. At the age of ten, his interest shifted to computing and video games, leading him to self-teach programming using the VIC-20 user manual. By the time he was 12, he had developed the BASIC-based game Blastar. He later sold it to PC and Office Technology magazine for about $500.

Elon Musk Education

Elon Musk started his high school education at Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School. He later attended various schools, including Pretoria Boys’ High School, where he completed his education. To make the immigration process to the United States smoother, he applied for Canadian citizenship through his Canadian-born mother.

After applying for citizenship, he enrolled at the University of Pretoria for a short period of five months. Finally, he arrived in Canada in June 1989. He moved in with his cousin in Saskatchewan, Canada. Musk worked at various odd jobs, including a farm and a sawmill. He started his education at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1990. He continued his education at this university for two years.

In 1992, he transitioned to the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia. At the university’s Wharton School, he earned two degrees, a bachelor’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in economics. Although Elon Musk is said to have graduated in 1995, he officially graduated in 1997. He organized ticketed house parties to financially support his education.

In 1995, he was accepted into a PhD program in materials science at Stanford University. But Musk decided to enter the Internet industry. Two days after he was accepted, he dropped out of school and applied for a job at Netscape. However, he did not receive any response.

Elon Musk Career

Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, directs his career with the companies he owns. Let’s take a closer look at these companies.

Zip2

Together with his brother Kimbal Musk, he started Zip2, an online content publishing software for startups, in 1995. Zip2 was acquired by Compaq’s AltaVista unit in 1999 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock.

X.com and PayPal

Elon Musk joined the venture in March 1999 as a partner in X.com, an online financial and payment service founded by Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, and Yu Pan. The following year, X.com formed PayPal in a merger deal of equal size with an auction system called Confinity. Musk played a key role in organizing this acquisition because he believes in online transfer or “P2P” technology.

According to Musk, he felt that Confinity was a necessary tool for the creation and development of a people-to-people payment platform within X.com. The merged companies initially preferred the name X.com but changed their name to PayPal Inc. in February 2001. Musk again played a key role in PayPal’s rise in the global payment system and its separation from X.com’s core financial services.

PayPal’s rapid growth was largely the result of Musk’s strategy to grow online. In October 2002, eBay made attempts to buy PayPal and bought it for $1.5 billion. Before the sale, Musk had the largest stake with 11.7%.

SpaceX

Elon Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), in June 2002. Today, he is both CEO and CTO of SpaceX. SpaceX is a company focused on advancing rocket technology and developing launch vehicles. The company’s first two launch vehicles were the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets, and its first spacecraft was the Dragon.

On December 23, 2008, SpaceX signed a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for 12 flights of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle. Initially, it was planned that Falcon 9/Dragon would carry cargo and Soyuz would carry astronauts. However, SpaceX had designed Falcon 9/Dragon to carry astronauts. The Augustine Commission also recommended that commercial companies, notably SpaceX carry out astronaut transportation.

According to Musk, the exploration of space is an important step in expanding humanity’s consciousness. In his view, multi-planetary life could be a kind of countermeasure against factors that threaten the survival of the human race.

Tesla Motors

One of the founders of Tesla Motors, the leader in the electric car industry, Elon Musk is also Tesla’s head of product design. His interest in electric vehicles predates the company’s inception. When Tesla was first founded, its CEO was Martin Eberhard. A large amount of capital was initially set. Musk took over as CEO after Tesla experienced forced layoffs during the economic crisis.

Tesla Motors first produced the Tesla Roadster sports car and put it on sale in many countries. Then it launched the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV/minivan. Tesla also collaborated with other automakers by supplying them with electric motors and powertrains.

Musk adopted a strategy of offering affordable electric vehicles to mass-market customers. He realized his vision by investing the revenue earned with the Tesla Roadster in the R&D of lower-priced vehicles. Musk’s stake in Tesla is reportedly 32% and is highly valued. He is also trying to overcome the long-range constraint in the electric vehicle market by expanding Tesla’s network of charging stations.

SolarCity

Elon Musk is SolarCity’s founding father the company’s largest shareholder and chairman of the board. SolarCity is the largest provider of solar energy systems in the US. The CEO and co-founder of the company is Lyndon Rive, Elon Musk’s cousin. The main purpose of investments in both Tesla and SolarCity is to combat global warming. In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla Motors would collaborate on using electric vehicle batteries to reduce the impact of rooftop solar panels on the electricity grid.

Neuralink

In 2016, Elon Musk founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company that aims to connect the human brain with artificial intelligence. This company aims to support advances in artificial intelligence by enabling the integration of humans with software. Its goal is to develop devices that can be implanted in the human brain, which could increase memory or enable direct communication with computing devices.

In a live demonstration in August 2020, Musk described his devices as “a Fitbit in your skull”. He recently claimed it could cure disabilities such as paralysis, deafness, and blindness. However many neuroscientists and publications have criticized these claims. In September 2023, a six-year study period began, with the company receiving approval to begin trials on humans.

The Boring Company

Elon Musk founded The Boring Company (TBC) in 2016 to build transportation tunnels. After negotiations, work began in January 2017. In February 2017, The Boring Company built a “test pit” 9.1 meters wide, 15 meters long, and 4.6 meters deep at the Space X facilities in Los Angeles. The tunnel was completed in early 2020, as construction required legal permits.

The company sold 2,000 “flamethrowers” for promotion in 2018. The idea was said to be inspired by one of Musk’s favorite movies, the 1987 film Spaceballs, directed by Mel Brooks.

Twitter (X)

Elon Musk, who has a significant presence on Twitter with over 178 million followers, has faced legal challenges for his tweets about Tesla. Despite expressing reservations about Tesla going public, Musk’s tweets about privatizing the company led the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to file a lawsuit for securities fraud.

As a result of the lawsuit, Musk was required to step down as chairman of the board for three years, pre-approve his tweets with Tesla lawyers, and pay a total penalty of $20 million. Musk criticized Twitter’s stance on free speech. He then made an offer to buy the company after buying more than 9 percent of its shares.

Although initially accepted, Musk withdrew his offer in July 2022, citing concerns about bot accounts and allegations that Twitter had breached the purchase agreement. However, facing shareholder pressure and legal battles, Musk went ahead with the acquisition, which was completed in October 2022. After the process, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion.

As Twitter’s new owner, Musk implemented changes such as laying off employees, introducing a paid verification system, and reinstating banned accounts, including Donald Trump’s. These actions led to a drop in advertising revenue, prompting Musk to change the company’s name to X in July 2023.

Elon Musk Net Worth 2024

Elon Musk has a net worth of 190 billion dollars as of March 2024, according to the 2024 Billionaires Index report published by Bloomberg, and 195 billion US dollars according to Forbes. According to this data, he became the third richest businessperson in the world after Bernard Arnault and Jeff Bezos.

The main reason why he is on the list of the richest people in the world is his shares in Tesla and SpaceX. Musk, who was at the top of the list in the past years, has fallen to third place as he has recently lost $ 40 Billion from his fortune.

Is Elon Musk Married?

Elon Musk was first married to Justine Wilson in 2000. But the couple divorced in 2008. He then married Talulah Riley in 2010. Musk has been divorced three times, twice from his second wife Talulah Riley. Between 2018 and 2022, he was in a relationship with singer Grimes (Claire Elise Boucher). They had a son in 2020 and a daughter in 2022. In 2023, it was revealed that they had their third child. The couple broke up after a while. Musk has a total of 11 children. He is currently not married.