Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28th, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. His mother Maye Musk is a model and dietitian born in Canada, but raised in South Africa. His father is Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant. Musk has a younger sister, Tosca (born in 1974). The family was very wealthy in Elon`s youth: his father once said “we had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe”. After his parent`s divorced in 1980, Musk mostly lived with his father in Pretoria and elsewhere , a choice he made two years after the divorce and subsequently regretted. At the age of 10 Musk became interested in computing and video games and acquired a Commodore VIC-20. His first company was found when he was 12 and he sold it to Office Technology magazine with a rental price in 500$.
Education.
In 1994 Musk held two internship in silicon valley during the summer: at the energy storage startup which research electrolytic ultracapacitors for energy storage, and at the Palo Alto- based startup Rocket Science Games. In 1995 Musk joined the Stanford university to the doctors program about material science. He dropped out of Stanford after two days, deciding instead to join the internet boom and launch an Internet startup.
Business career.
Zip2.
In 1995 Musk Kimbal and Greg Kouri founded web software company Zip2. They housed the venture at a small rented office in Palo Alto (near Jobs house). The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry. Musk says that before the company become success, he couldn't afford an apartment and instead rented an office and slept on the couch and showered at the YMCA, and shared one computer with his brother. When he and Kimbal couldn`t agree on business decisions, they settled differences through wrestling.
X.com and PayPal.
In 1999, Musk co-founder X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. The startup was one of the first federally insured online banks and in its months of operation, over 200,000 customers joined the service. The company`s investors regarded Elon as inexperienced and had him replaced with new CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year. But at the end of the year Musk was returned to his company as a CEO. In 2002 PayPal was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk- the largest shareholder with 11.72% of shares- received $175.8 million. In 2017, Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount, explaining it has sentimental value.
SpaceX.
In 2001 Musk became involved with nonprofit Mars Society. He was inspired by science-fiction books and films (when he was young he was fascinated by the idea of Mars colonisation). In October 2001 Musk travelled to Moscow with Jim Cantrell and Mike Griffin to buy refurbished Intercontinental ballistic missiles that could send the greenhouse payloads into space. He met with companies such as Lavochnik and Kosmotras; however, Musk was seen as a novice and even spat on by one of the Russian chief designers. The group returned to the United States empty-handed. In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs. They had another meeting with Kosmotras and were offered the rocket for $8 million, which Musk rejected. Elon instead decided to start a company that coul build affordable rockets. With $100 million of his early fortune, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., traded as SpaceX, in May 2002.
SpaceX began deveopment of the Starlink in 2015 to provide satellite Internet access, with the first two prototype satellites in February 2018. The total cost of the decade-long project to design,build and deploy the constellation is estimated by SpaceX to be about $10 billon. At the beginning the company attracted a lot of criticism from astronomers who say that Starlink satellites are blocking the view of the skies. Musk rejected the criticism stating that “space is just extremely enormous, and satellites are very tiny”.
Tesla.
Tesla Motors- was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who financed the company until the Series A round of funding. Both men played active roles in the company's early development prior to Musk`s involvement. Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004: he invested $6.5 million, became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla`s board of directors as chairman. Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations. Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted the firm. Musk assumed leadership of the company as a CEO and product architect in 2008. A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others. As of 2022, Elon Musk was the longest CEO of any automotive manufacture glob.
Neuralink.
In 2016, Musk co-founded a neurotechnology startup company to integrate the human brain with AI (artificial intelligense) by creating devices that can help people get on with health problems such as paralysis and deafness. At a live demonstration in August 2020, Musk introduced one of their early devices as a “chip in your skull” that could soon cure with lots of disabilities such as blindness, paralyse and headache. Many neuroscientists and publications criticised these claims; MIT technology review described them as “neuroscience theatre”.
The Boring Company.
In 2016, Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels. In early 2017 the company began discussion with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a 9,1m wide 15m long, and 4,6m deep test trench which use as a test tunnel for Tesla automobiles.