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Toronto: Elon Musk, a household name in the technology world, has entered numerous ventures and appears to be capable of achieving anything. Musk was born in South Africa on 28th June 1971 and immigrated to Canada at the age of 17. He finally arrived in the United States as a transfer student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Musk is a well-known technology entrepreneur who is best known as the CEO of Tesla Inc. and Founder and CEO of SpaceX. Tesla’s CEO is currently one of the wealthiest people on the planet, with a net worth of more than $199.9 billion.
The Formative Years
Elon Musk exhibited entrepreneurial characteristics from an early age. His Engineer father and Dietician mother, who recognised and nurtured his son’s interest in technology, embraced him admirably. He received his first computer at the age of ten and taught himself how to programme. And at the tender age of 12, the youngster created a fully functional video game dubbed “Blastar,” which he reportedly sold for $500.
Elon Musk received his high school diploma from Pretoria Boys High School in 1988. He moved to Canada in 1989 and enrolled at Queen’s University in Ontario to avoid South Africa’s compulsory military service. Following that, he spent only five months at the University of Pretoria. Musk later earned a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Additionally, he resigned after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions after being admitted to the University of Stanford’s Physics Graduate Program.
The Tech Buff’s Success Story
Musk co-founded Zip2 with his brother Kimbal in 1995, an information technology company that licenced newspaper software for online city guides. The Company did not attract many customers during its early years, but local and national newspapers eventually began using Zip2 to sell additional services to their respective customers. Zip2 was acquired by Compaq’s AltaVista web search engine for a whopping $340 million in 1999.
Musk then co-founded X.com with Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, an online financial services and email payment company. In 2000, X.com became a subsidiary of the American software company Confinity, which is best known for developing PayPal. Musk was appointed President and CEO of PayPal shortly before eBay acquired the company for $1.5 billion in 2001. Musk eventually raised enough money to exit the Internet business and focus on engineering as an equity investor with nearly 180 million dollars in shares.
Years of Struggle and Ascendancy
Musk was instrumental in the design of Tesla’s first electric vehicle, dubbed “The Tesla Roadster,” in 2004. Tesla rose to prominence as the world’s most popular and desirable car brand under the leadership of such a powerful billionaire. Musk declares 2008 to be the most difficult year of his life. Musk was broke as a result of the financial crisis, and he was also in the process of resolving Tesla’s massive debt. Musk was also going through a divorce.
Tesla revealed in January 2018 that Musk would not receive an annual payment but would instead raise money based on the company’s target market cap growth over the next ten years.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has signed several high-profile contracts with NASA and the United States Air Force to develop rockets and perform military missions. Musk has been forthright about his desire to work with NASA on a joint project to send an astronaut to Mars by 2025.
Elon Musk has always been a proponent of various space-age technologies, but it has not always been a smooth ride for him. The path he took from being ridiculed in school to starting his own firm and becoming the CEO of two successful start-ups is an inspiring example for anyone. However, from that point on, he resolved to rise and never settle for anything less.
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