Elon Musk
1971-
Ben Cohen
Synopsis
South African Elon Reeve Musk is the creator of many things and is most well known for co-founding Tesla Motors, a 100% electronic car company, and creating PayPal with Peter Thiel. He is known as "The Real Life Iron Man" because he is the inspiration behind the Iron Man character in the movie. The movie director for Iron Man didn't know how to bring the character to life, so he used Elon Musk. They're both billionaires, inventors and entrepreneurs. Musk even has an appearance in Iron Man 2!
Early Life
Elon Musk was born on June the 28th, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, of Maye Haldeman and Errol Musk. He has a brother (Kimbal Musk) and a sister (Tosca Musk). He received his first computer (the Commodore VIC-20) at the age of 10, and released his first program at age 12, a game he created called "Blaster". He was bullied horribly throughout his school life because of jealousy. Luckily, Musk didn't let it stop there.
Migration
At the age of 17, he migrated to Canada, later followed by his sister, Kimbal, his brother, Tosca, and his mother, Maye. His father, Errol, was encouraged to come live in Canada with them and he did for a while, but South Africa was his home and he couldn't bear to leave it, so he went back to South Africa.
College and University
At the age of 19, Musk was accepted into Queen's University, Ontario for undergraduate studies. Two years later, he transferred to The University Of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and a second bachelor's degree in physics. After leaving Pennsylvania, he moved to Stanford University in California and left with a PhD in energy physics. His leaving from California was at the same time as The Internet Boom, so only two days after he joined Stanford University, he left it and created his first major product: The Zip2 Corporation.
Zip2
Zip2 was being used in many websites and became popular very quickly, and was being used in many places, including New York Times! Then, in 1999, he sold it to Compaq for $300 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.
X.com and PayPal
In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, which later led to the creation of PayPal, which he created with Peter Thiel and EBay bought it for $1.5 billion in stock. Now PayPal is worth much more and X.com is part of PayPal now. Selling PayPal was a big mistake, because now it is worth so much more, Musk could be making much more money.
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Musk wasn't tired of making things, he kept going! Really, the word "stop" isn't in his vocabulary. In 2002, he founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX as it is more commonly known. By 2008, SpaceX was a well founded company and they received a contract to handle and deliver cargo to the I.S.S (International Space Station). Musk later revealed that it was all in a plan to replace NASA, although many people said that it was obvious.
Tesla Motors
In 2003, Tesla Motors was created, with Elon Musk as the co-founder and they released their first model, the Tesla Roadster. Tesla Motors is the first 100% electric car brand. Musk wouldn't stop there. He wanted to become more innovative. He just isn't the type of person you can stop...
The HyperLoop Concept
In August 2013, he released The HyperLoop Concept. This is a concept that imagines a new form of transport. This is like a train, but the entire thing is shot like a bullet through a tunnel at 643.736km/hr. Also, it will not take up land, it will go underground and underwater. Unfortunately, if you're not in the U.S, you won't use it for a while, because HyperLoop is still only a concept and when they finish planning it, they're building it In the U.S, and only after all of that, will he bring it to other places. Although he claims that it will be safer than a train or plane, it will cost about $6 billion, about a tenth of the rail system California has been planning to make. A negative opinion on it is still dominating the positive opinion, even though Musk claims that it is safer than an aeroplane or train.
SolarCity
SolarCity is an American company providing Solar energy, hence the name. SolarCity is probably the least well known of all Musk's creations. It is based in San Mateo, California. Musk is the chairman of the company.
Marriages and Children
Musk first met his wife, the author Justine Musk (nèe Wilson) at Queen's University. They married in 2000. They later had six children through in vitro fertilisation - Nevada Alexander Musk (Died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at the age of 10 weeks), twins Griffin Musk and Xavier Musk and triplets Damian Musk, Saxon Musk and Kai Musk. Elon and Justine then divorced in 2008. Later that year, he started dating Talulah Musk (nèe Riley), marrying in 2010. In 2012, Musk divorced her tweeting to her "It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day," though they remarried in 2013. Later, Musk requested a second divorce from Riley, though he took back the action and they remain married as of 11/08/2015.
Obstacles
Elon Musk is very easily embarrassed when he looks at videos of himself. This could be a weakness because he then looks at how weird he looks or sounds, and not how he could improve. Elon Musk has been doubted for most of his creations before they were successful, and a lot of people believe The HyperLoop Concept is unsafe and expensive, even though Musk claims that it is safer than a train or aeroplane and that it is cheaper than the railway system California has been planning to make. Also, a lot of people are upset that HyperLoop is only going to be in the U.S for starters because they can't build the railways all at once in all the different countries. When Musk was bullied during his childhood, that could have been a major setback, but he just stepped around it and kept going. Another one of his obstacles is that he has to keep creating new email addresses because people discover them and then send him emails such as 'Hi Elon Musk, my name is "Person Number 1" and I have an idea that will create a new power source faster and safer than electricity, but I just need a billion dollars, so would you be so kind as to lend me that amount?"
He says his biggest mistake was probably judging someone (for hiring them) too much on their skill and not enough on their personality. Personality can matter a lot.
Wealth
Musk is now 44 with a net worth of $13.6 billion USD. In 2014, Musk received a $70 thousand salary and returned all of it except for one dollar. Why, you ask? Because he can. On the 17th of August, 2015, Musk's net worth increased by $437,785,131 USD.
Elon Musk is seriously a rich man.
Residence
Elon Musk currently lives in a mansion on a 1.66 acre plot in Bel-Air, California, USA. He bought his neighbour's house for 6.5 million dollars. Why, you ask? Because he can! He lives in the centre of all the places he has to work each day, which is smart of him.
Conclusion
If you had to learn one thing from Musk, it would be to just keep moving forward. Don't let anything stop you from what you want to do. Elon Musk is truly an inspiring man, and his ideal world takes advantage of the modern technology we have today. He is very popular because he is very innovative, as well as the fact that he is very good at public speaking. He is very important for world, because without him, the world wouldn't have a safe way to pay with our credit cards online, a car that doesn't run off petrol, a real life version of Iron Man, and much more. He has truly helped the world in a fantastic way.
Bibliography
Elon Musk Biography: Success of the 21st Century Innovator, http://astrumpeople.com/elon-musk-biography/
Inventor, Engineer, Entrepreneur, http://www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159
Wikipedia - Elon Musk, http://www.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
Glossary
HyperLoop - A concept of a new form of transport, shooting a capsule through a tube at 400mph.
Migration - To move to another place.
PayPal - A trustworthy way to pay money online.
SpaceX - A company that explores space and makes space deliveries.
SolarCity - America's second largest solar power company.
Synopsis - Summary.
Tesla Motors - The first 100% electric car brand.
Zip2 - A company providing business directories and maps.
