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Business News›Magazines›Panache›Panache People 101›Elon Musk
    Elon Musk

    Elon Musk

    Co-founder and CEO, Tesla
    Birth DetailsJune 28, 1971 | Pretoria, South Africa
    NationalityAmerican
    LeagueEntrepreneur
    EducationBachelor’s degrees in physics and economics, University of Pennsylvania
    Net Worth$36.3 billion (as of May 28, 2020)
    Elon Musk's Assets:
    • SpaceX
    • Tesla
    • Neuralink
    • The Boring Company
    • SolarCity

    Elon Musk's Journey so far ...
    • After being introduced to computers at the age of 10, Elon Musk soon learned the programming language BASIC. At 12, he developed a game called Blastar which he later sold for $500
    • He moved to Canada in 1988 for college but transferred to UPenn, a few years later, from where he eventually graduated
    • In 1995, he got into Stanford University for a PhD program but left just after two days. It was the time of the internet boom and Musk wanted to explore
    • The same year, he partnered with his brother Kimbal Musk to start Zip2 -- an online maps and guides service -- which was sold to Compaq for $307 million in 1999, earning Elon $22 million
    • He used some of the money from the sale to start his next internet venture, X.com, which provided online banking and payment services. In due course, X.com became PayPal and was eventually absorbed by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, of which Musk took $165 million home
    • Earlier in 2002, Musk founded a spacecraft company called Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX to make space travel cheap and better accessible
    • In 2004, he became one of the early and primary investors in Tesla -- an electric car company aimed at making the future of transportation more sustainable -- and joined the company’s board as chairman
    • In 2008, SpaceX’s Falcon 1 became the first liquid-fuel rocket developed by a private firm to reach the orbit
    • The same year, he became the CEO and product architect of Tesla and the company introduced an electric sports car called the Tesla Roadster
    • In 2010, Tesla went public raising $226 million
    • Tesla acquired SolarCity -- a clean energy company which Musk helped his cousins start -- in 2016
    • Later that year, he launched The Boring Company to make transportation faster in cities
    • In 2017, he started Neuralink which aims at developing a man-machine interface that could connect the human brain with computers
    • Promoting the concept of reusable rockets, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft took their second flight in 2017
    • The Falcon Heavy, which was the world’s most powerful operational rocket of the time, completed its first flight in 2018. The rocket carried a mannequin called ‘Starman’ and Musk’s personal cherry-red Tesla Roadster along, which were launched into space
    • Having invested in several other futuristic technology ventures, Elon Musk is one of the richest tech leaders in the world today

    Before you go ...
    • He was often bullied as a child and once, he was beaten up so bad that he had to be hospitalised
    • He is said to have inspired the persona of the character ‘Tony Stark’ played by Robert Downey Jr. and is often referred to as the ‘real-life Iron Man’
    • Elon Musk has made guest appearances in many notable Hollywood movies including Iron Man 2 and TV series such as The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon

    Last Updated: 15/02/2021

    Elon Musk News

    • Elon Musk- owned The Boring Company planned the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, or LVCC Loop, which could be a system of tunnels where people could travel on pods. But there are no pods in the neon-colored well-constructed tunnel, there are driver-manned Tesla cars instead.
    • President Biden's debate performance satisfaction contrasts with Democrats' doubts about his competitiveness against Trump, reflecting uncertainties in the upcoming election.
    • National Aeronautics and Space Agency has asked Elon Musk-owned company SpaceX to develop the ‘US Deorbit Vehicle’ that will lead the US sections of the ISS to its death when its time is over. But why? It could leave it to burn up while making re-entry to the Earth.
    • Tesla claims that Elon Musk won his legal battle over his $56 billion pay package because shareholders voted for the compensation, according to a court filing made public on Thursday. This comes despite a judge rescinding it earlier this year.
    • Elon Musk criticized Boeing CEO David Calhoun and said that Boeing had lost sight of its engineering core. Boeing is struggling with leadership transitions, safety concerns, and legal issues.
    • The idea of a global tax on the richest is already supported at the G20 by Brazil, France, Spain and South Africa -- although the United States has opposed it. Tuesday's report by economist Gabriel Zucman calls for a coordinated minimum tax standard for ultra-high net worth individuals, arguing "the very wealthy benefit from a gigantic tax privilege".
    • Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has criticized the Lucasfilm head, Kathleen Kennedy for the "Star Wars" franchise “The Acolyte” direction. Elon Musk also attacked Disney CEO Bob Iger last year after the company pulled its advertisements from Musk's X platform.
    • Recent reports have suggested that Elon Musk has a third 'secret child' with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis this year itself. As the details around this reports went viral, Elon Musk confirmed these rumors saying that this was no secret and that his friends and family already knew. It was surprising for the Tesla CEO that the issue was purported to be a secret, according to reports.
    • Linda Yaccarino, CEO of social media platform X, makes changes to her team under pressure from owner Elon Musk to improve sales and reduce costs.
    • Elon Musk clarified his controversial comments on free speech at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, addressing advertiser concerns about content moderation on X. He emphasized the platform's commitment to free speech over censorship, even at the cost of losing advertisers. X CEO Linda Yaccarino supported Musk's stance, highlighting the platform's role in enabling information independence. Musk reiterated the importance of authenticity and free speech, despite occasional personal missteps.
    • Elon Musk's net worth stands at $208.4 billion, as per reports, with main sources of revenue coming from Tesla and SpaceX, one of which is currently in the gray area around employee layoffs. Tesla's internal reports reportedly show a significant slash in employee count within a matter of a few months, shortly after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced back in April that the company was planning to reduce its workforce by 10%.
    • It is not yet known officially how many children Elon Musk has. But it is believed that the billionaire has 11 children- five with his first wife, the author Justine Wilson, three with the musician Grimes, and three with Neuralink executive Zilis.
    • Tesla's annual shareholder meeting on June 13 was marked by shareholder approval of Elon Musk's $56 billion performance-based pay package, despite previous legal challenges. Additionally, shareholders agreed to relocate Tesla from Delaware to Texas. Elon Musk, in his characteristic style, outlined ambitious technological advancements at the meeting: he projected rapid progress in self-driving car technology, including the potential for Tesla owners to connect with a future "Robotaxi" fleet for passive income.
    • Tesla urges Delaware judge to recognize shareholders' vote supporting Elon Musk's $56B pay package, reverse voiding ruling, and reject $6B legal fee request by lawyers in lawsuit against Richard Tornetta.
    • Both companies have yet to get permits to provide satcom services in India — their applications are pending before the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) — but Goenka said this would not delay the grant of landing rights to them by the space sector regulator.
    • Elon Musk envisions a future driven by self-driving cars and humanoid robots, potentially transforming Tesla into a trillion-dollar enterprise. However, uncertainties loom over Tesla's ability to deliver on these promises to both consumers and shareholders. Despite Musk's ambitious projections of unlocking ten times Tesla's current value through autonomous vehicles, Chinese competitors are advancing in key technologies like lane-navigation and battery economics.
    • Nvidia cemented its status as the world's most valuable company after the semiconductor bellwether's shares gained 2.5% to hit another record on Thursday, as partners Dell and Super Micro Computer received server orders for Elon Musk's AI startup.
    • Dell is assembling half of the racks for xAI's supercomputer, Musk said on X. In a reply to another post enquiring about the second partner, the billionaire said "SMC" - referring to server maker Super Micro.
    • The ozone can be depleted by the internet satellite like Elon Musk’s Starlink. There are more than 8,000 internet satellites in low-Earth orbit.
    • Lindsay Short is a former employee of Elon Musk's company Neuralink. She has filed a lawsuit against the company accusing it of failing to provide proper protective equipment and sacking her for being pregnant.
    • Nvidia's recent surge to become the top company by market capitalization raises several critical questions. Firstly, while Nvidia excels with its graphics chips powering generative AI, questions linger on whether its clients like Microsoft and Alphabet (Google) have clear plans to monetize this technology. Secondly, Nvidia has surpassed Intel in earnings and valuation, prompting speculation about the sustainability of its computing dominance and drawing comparisons to Cisco's rise during the dotcom era.
    • ​Musk Black not only visually matches Meskla’s self-positioning as a Blade Runner-style aristotechnocrat to a T, but also performs another important function: it situates him away from the nerd herd. Even Thursday’s AGM backdrop underlined this distancing from Valley aesthetics. The ‘cyber rodeo’ neon-lit backdrop was a far cry from Google-Meta-Microsoft’s pristine, antiseptic whiteboard venues that are more Ikea than gritty Big Tech.
    • Elon Musk's recent comments on EVMs have reignited concerns about their reliability, with Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders urging the Election Commission to ensure transparency or eliminate the machines. BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar countered that Indian EVMs, unlike those in the US, are tamper-proof and not internet-connected. Many IIT professors who helped design the machine say that the voting machine is an electronic island like a basic calculator.
    • Dubai's high-end car culture includes supercars used by the police, with the recent addition of Tesla's Cybertruck to their fleet. The Dubai Police General Command announced the new electric vehicle addition, featuring a futuristic design and luxury patrol fleet status. The vehicle, adorned with the Dubai police logo, escorted Dubai's crown prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
    • With 6,000 of the 8,100 objects currently in low Earth orbit belonging to Starlink, the environmental impact of these satellites is raising concerns among scientists. The findings reveal that the reentry of satellites in 2022 resulted in a 29.5% increase in atmospheric aluminum above natural levels, injecting approximately 17 metric tons of aluminum oxides into the mesosphere.
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    DisclaimerThe content of this page has been aggregated from multiple websites. Some information can change over the passage of time.
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