Coming from an African country and being the second richest man in the world is a great achievement especially coming from a man who fell in love with computers at an early age.
Elon Musk: Biography
He was born in Pretoria, South Africa on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk’s interest in computers at a very young age was unimaginable. His parents once took him to the doctor to check on his hearing.
At age 10 when his parents were about to divorce, his interest in computers ignited. Through self-education, he learned how to program software, and at age 12, he sold a game he made called ‘Blastar’.
During his period at school, Elon Musk was a bookworm and introvert, and short in height. Being smallish, he was bullied until age 15, where he learned how to defend himself by learning karate and wrestling. He was once left in the hospital after bullies threw him down the stairs until he passed out.
Elon Musk: Family
Elon’s dad is a wealthy engineer in South Africa. His mom is a Canadian model. She had to work five different jobs to support the family.
At a young age, Elon Musk spent his childhood moments in South Africa alongside his brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca.
Elon Musk: Education
Before obtaining his documentation to move to Canada, Elon Musk was at the University of Pretoria. He studied there for five months.
After he got to live in Canada, he attended Queen’s University College in the year 1989 and his migration was on purpose. He moved away from South Africa to avoid mandatory service in the military.
He then proceeded to study Economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1997, he graduated. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Physics from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Elon Musk: Companies
Being an engineer and an entrepreneur, Elon Musk has founded several companies that have dominated major industries in the world.
Musk became a millionaire when he sold his first company, Zip2 to Compaq in 1999 for $340 million.
Below are some of the companies he founded and some details:
Tesla
Elon Musk founded Tesla in 2003. Tesla is popular for producing electric and self-driving vehicles. The price of Tesla vehicles is competitive as compared to other conventional cars. 17 years from the day Tesla was founded, it has grown massively to an extent where today, it produces 81% of the battery of electric vehicles in the United States.
Space X
Space X was founded just a few months before Elon Musk sold an online payment platform, PayPal to eBay at a whooping price of $1.5 billion.
Space X is an Aerospace manufacturer and a space transportation company. Currently, they have partnered with NASA, and sometimes, NASA uses Space X innovations to assist in its space missions.
The Boring Company
The Boring Company was once a subsidiary of Space X. Its objective is to deal with traffic conditions through ‘boring’ tunnels and underground transportation infrastructures for passengers. The inspiration for this company according to Elon Musk is the ‘traffic experiences’ in Los Angeles.
Elon Musk: Marriage
For twice, Elon Musk has been married. In the year 2000, he married Justine Wilson and they had six children together. Their first son died at age, 10 weeks old in the year 2002 from a disease called sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
His additional children are five in number. They are twins Griffin and Xavier (born in 2004) and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian (born in 2006).
Later on, Elon Musk met actress Talulah Riley after he divorced Wilson. Elon and Talulah got married in 2010 and they split in 2012 and remarried in 2013. Finally, in 2016, the marriage came to an abrupt end.
His Girlfriends
Amber Heard
Elon Musk started dating actress Amber Heard in 2016 after he divorced his wife, Wilson. Heard also divorced her husband, Johhny Depp.
Since both of them were busy, they broke up in August 2017 but they got back together in January 2018 but eventually, they split again a month later after getting back.
Claire Boucher
In May 2018, Musk dated musician Grimes (Claire Boucher). That month when they started dating, Grimes made an announcement that she had changed her name to ‘C’, which symbolizes “The Speed of Light”. She did that after Musk encouraged her to do that.
She was criticized by her fans for dating a billionaire whom they claimed has been accused of sexual harassment.
On May 4, 2020, they gave birth to a son and named him “X Æ A-12” but the state of California rejected the name saying they won’t accept a child to be named with a number. So the couples changed their son’s name to “X Æ A-Xii.”
Elon Musk Net Worth
Elon Musk’s net worth is now at $128 billion. In November 2020, he beat bill gates to become the second richest man on the planet. The outcome of his current status as the world’s second-richest man was as a result of his company’s stock price of Tesla skyrocketing.
Before reaching the second spot as the world’s second-richest man, Elon Musk was at the 35th position.
The majority of his wealth is tied up in Tesla’s stock.
Amazing Facts About Elon Musk
- Elon Musk used to survive on $1 a day
- He started building rockets and explosives whilst he was a kid
- Elon Musk turned his room into a nightclub whilst at University in order to pay for his rent
- Musk is a fan of X- Men
- He owns a ‘Submarine car’ from the James Bond movie, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me
- Elon Musk dropped out of Stanford University just after two days
- He taught himself how to program software at the age of 9
- In November 2020, Elon Musk overtook Bill Gates to become the second richest man