Elon Musk is one of the most influential and visionary entrepreneurs of our time. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, co-founder of Neuralink and The Boring Company, and co-chairman of OpenAI. He has a net worth of over $200 billion, making him the richest person in the world as of 2021.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971. He developed an interest in computing and programming at an early age, and taught himself how to code. He sold his first software, a video game called Blastar, when he was 12 years old. He moved to Canada at 17 to attend college, and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned degrees in physics and economics. He then moved to California to pursue a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University, but dropped out after two days to start his first company, Zip2, a web software company that provided online city guides for newspapers. He sold Zip2 to Compaq for $307 million in 1999.
Musk then co-founded X.com, an online financial services and payments company that merged with Confinity, the creator of PayPal. He became the CEO and largest shareholder of PayPal, which was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk then founded SpaceX in 2002, with the goal of revolutionizing space transportation and enabling the colonization of Mars. He also joined Tesla as an investor and board member in 2004, and became its CEO in 2008. He led Tesla to become the world's leading electric vehicle manufacturer and innovator. He also co-founded SolarCity, a solar energy services company that was acquired by Tesla in 2016.
Musk has also pursued other ambitious projects that aim to improve humanity's future. He co-founded Neuralink in 2016, a neurotechnology company that develops brain-computer interfaces. He also founded The Boring Company in 2016, a tunnel construction company that seeks to solve urban traffic problems by creating underground transportation systems. He also co-founded OpenAI in 2015, a research organization that promotes and creates artificial intelligence that can benefit humanity without causing harm or being influenced by external factors.
Musk is widely regarded as a visionary leader who has inspired millions of people with his bold ideas and relentless drive. He has faced many challenges and setbacks in his entrepreneurial journey, but he has always overcome them with perseverance and innovation. He has said that his motivation is not money or fame, but rather to make a positive impact on the world and humanity.
Read this book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future" to learn more about him: