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Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO , and chief engineer of SpaceX ; angel investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc. ; founder of the Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI ; president of the Musk Foundation ; and owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc. As of November 11, 2022, Musk had a net worth of about $174 billion. He is the wealthiest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes 's real-time billionaires list.

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Philanthropy, existential threats, media appearances, awards and honors, elon musk quotes, interesting facts about elon musk.

Musk was born and grew up in Pretoria , South Africa . Musk has British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His mother is Maye Musk ( née  Haldeman), a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan , Canada , and raised in South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot , sailor , consultant , and property developer, who was a half-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika . Musk has a younger brother, Kimbal , and a younger sister, Tosca . After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk chose to live primarily with his father. Musk later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father.

Musk had been described as an awkward and introverted child. He was an enthusiastic reader of books, later attributing his success in part to having read Benjamin Franklin: An American Life , The Lord of the Rings , the Foundation series , and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .When he was ten, he became interested in computers and video games. He taught himself how to program Commodore VIC-20 user manual and created a game. When he was twelve, he sold his BASIC -based game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.

Musk graduated from Pretoria Boys High School. When he was 17, he became a Canadian citizen and moved to Canada. Two years later, in 1990, he attended Queen's University, then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania , where he received bachelor's degrees in economics and physics .

Business career

In 1995, Musk moved to California to attend Stanford University but decided to instead pursue a business career. He partnered with his brother Kimbal and Greg Kouri to begin Zip2. Errol Musk provided them with $28,000 to start the company, which developed an Internet city guide with maps, directions, and yellow pages . Compaq purchased Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999, and Musk received $22 million for his 7 % share.

In 1999, Musk co-founded the online bank X.com, which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal . eBay bought PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

In early 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society. He wanted to help pay for placing a growth-chamber for plants on Mars . Because of his inexperience, companies did not want to pattern with him, so he began his own company, SpaceX , in 2002. Musk wants to make rockets that are reusable so they can make many trips to space. The first rocket, Falcon 1, failed to reach earth's orbit three times, but it succeeded in 2006. Another rocket, the Falcon 9 , has been launched over 100 times. In 2008, SpaceX signed a contract with NASA to fly 12 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station to resupply it. Since 2019, SpaceX has been developing Starship , a fully-reusable, super-heavy-lift launch vehicle. In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2 . It became the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a spacecraft with its crew at the International Space System. SpaceX has also developed a group of satellites called Starlink . They provide satellite Internet access to customers on earth. SpaceX also designs and launches custom military satellites for the Space Development Agency as part of a new missile defense system in low Earth orbit.

In 2004, Musk invested in the electric vehicle company Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc. ). He became its chairman and was active in creating several vehicles for the company. In 2008, he became Tesla's CEO. In 2022, Musk unveiled a robot developed by Tesla, Optimus.

In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy company that was later purchased by Tesla and became Tesla Energy. By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.

In 2013, Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain—a vacuum tube train. The purpose of the train was to travel quickly between major cities. He called it the hyperloop . In 2015, he began a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods that would run on a mile-long track owned by SpaceX.

In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink , a neurotechnology startup company. Neuralink believes it is able to merge the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are implanted in the brain to help it merge with the machines. This kind of technology could improve memory or allow the devices to communicate with software. The company also hopes to create devices with which to treat neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease , dementia , and spinal cord injuries.

In 2017, Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels. He revealed plans for specialized, underground, high-occupancy vehicles that could travel up to 150 miles per hour. His goal is to reduce above-ground traffic in large cities. Two tunnel projects announced in 2018, in Chicago and West Los Angeles , have been canceled. However, a tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021. Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system. In 2021, tunnel construction was approved for Fort Lauderdale , Florida.

Elon Musk Twitter @elonmusk I made an offer April 14, 2022

Since joining Twitter in 2009, Musk has been an active user and has over 100 million followers as of June 2022 [update] . Musk expressed interest in buying Twitter as early as 2017. In January 2022, Musk started purchasing Twitter shares. He quickly became the company's largest shareholder. On April 13, Musk made a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter. On October 27, 2022, the deal was final, and Musk became the owner of Twitter. He immediately fired many of the company's top executives .

Musk is often described as a micromanager and has called himself a "nano-manager." He expects his employees to work hard. Musk's leadership has been praised by some, who credit it with the success of Tesla and his other businesses. It has been criticized by others who see him as insensitive and too harsh.

Musk is the president of the Musk Foundation. The foundation has many goals.

• It helps provide solar-power energy systems in areas that have been hit by disasters.
• It supports research and development for human space exploration, pediatrics , renewable energy , and safe artificial intelligence .
• It supports education in science and engineering.

In 2015, Musk founded OpenAI , a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company, whose goal is to make artificial general intelligence that is meant to be safe and helpful to humanity. He left OpenAI in 2018 so that someone else could run it and still use Tesla products and ideas.

In July 2018, Musk arranged for his employees to build a mini-submarine to help rescue the children trapped in a flooded cavern in Thailand. Engineers worked hard on this project. However, by the time it was ready to use, eight of the 12 children had already been rescued using full face masks, oxygen, and anesthesia . Rescuers helped the other children in this way, too, so the submarine was never used.

Musk made $175.8 million when PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002. He was first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, with a net worth of $2 billion. In January 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world. He says he is gathering resources for humanity's outward expansion to space .

Personal views

Musk has stated that AI could be a great existential threat to humanity. In order to prevent AI taking over humanity, as is seen in several movies, he believes the government should be careful to limit how AI is used.

After AI, Musk sees climate change as the greatest threat to humanity. He believes there should be a carbon tax so people are more careful about preventing global warming.

Musk said fewer people being born each year is one of the biggest risks to human civilization. He believes that humans have the ability to live on Mars , and we will need many from earth to move there.

Musk has called himself "politically moderate" and was a registered independent voter when he lived in California. Musk voted for the Democratic party candidate for President in the 2016 and 2020 elections. However, he has since stated that he could "no longer support" the Democrats because they are the "party of division & hate." He encouraged "independent-minded voters" to vote Republican in the 2022 U.S. elections.

Musk criticized COVID-19 lockdowns, but closed the Tesla Fremont Factory because of the shelter-in-place order. In May 2020, he reopened the Tesla factory, even though the shelter-in-place order was still in effect.

Musk bought and donated BiPAP and CPAP machines, which are non-invasive ventilators. These machines helped many people who had to be treated for COVID-19.

In September 2020, Musk stated that he would not get the COVID-19 vaccine ; however, he did receive the vaccine because he had to travel to visit Tesla Giga Berlin and felt that he was given no choice. He said on Twitter, "I had major side effects from my second booster shot. And my cousin, who is young & in peak health, had a serious case of myocarditis ."

Musk has stated that he does not believe the U.S. government should provide subsidies to companies; instead they should impose a carbon tax to discourage poor behavior. He says that the free market would achieve the best solution.

Musk has promoted cryptocurrencies and supports them over traditional government-issued fiat currencies . However, when Musk was shown that cryptocurrency mining took more energy than it was worth from the environment, he announced on Twitter that Tesla would not use Bitcoin until the energy consumption issues are solved.

Musk has been known to criticize public transportation and encourage the use of private vehicles. Urban planners have pointed out that public transportation in dense urban areas is more economical, more energy efficient, and requires much less space than private cars.

Personal life

From the early 2000s until late 2020, Musk resided in California, where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded. In 2020, he moved to Texas, stating that California had become "complacent" about its economic success. While hosting Saturday Night Live in May 2021, Musk stated that he has Asperger syndrome .

Musk has 10 surviving children. He met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, while attending Queen's University in Ontario, Canada; they married in 2000. In 2002, their first child died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks. After his death, the couple had twins in 2004 followed by triplets in 2006. The couple divorced in 2008 and shared custody. In 2022, the eldest twin officially changed her name to reflect her gender identity as a trans woman and to use Wilson as her last name because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk. Musk blamed the estrangement of his daughter on what the Financial Times characterized as "the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists."

In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley . They married two years later at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland. In 2012, the couple divorced, before remarrying the following year. After briefly filing for divorce in 2014, Musk finalized a second divorce from Riley in 2016. Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017; he had reportedly been pursuing her since 2012.

In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes said that they were dating. Grimes gave birth to their son in May 2020. According to Musk and Grimes, his name was "X Æ A-12" ; however, the name would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet, and was then changed to "X Æ A-Xii" . This drew more confusion, as Æ is not a letter in the modern English alphabet. The child was eventually named X AE A-XII Musk, with "X" as a first name, "AE A-XII" as a middle name , and "Musk" as surname.

In December 2021, Grimes and Musk had a second child, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk (nicknamed "Y"), born via surrogacy . Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed reports that the couple were "semi-separated" in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single. In March 2022, Grimes said of her relationship with Musk: "I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid." Later that month, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up again. In September 2023 it was reported that the pair had a third child, a son named Techno Mechanicus "Tau" Musk. In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights and custody of their eldest son.

In July 2022, Insider published court documents revealing that Musk had had twins with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, in November 2021. They were born weeks before Musk and Grimes had their second child via surrogate in December. The news "raise[d] questions about workplace ethics", given that Zilis directly reported to Musk.

Musk was one of the three men who were an inspiration for the character of Tony Stark in the Marvel film Iron Man . The other two men were Steve Jobs and Donald Trump . He has made guest and cameo appearances in several movies, TV shows, and documentaries.

• Received an honorary doctorate in engineering and technology from Yale University (2015)
• Awarded an IEEE Honorary Membership (2015)
• Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (2018)
• Won the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award (2008)
• Won the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal (2010)
• Won the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal (2012)
• Listed among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021)
• Selected as Time ' s " Person of the Year " (2021)
• Elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2022)
• "I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary."
• "I'm nauseatingly pro-American. I would have come here from any country. The U.S. is where great things are possible."
• "If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic."
• "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
• When Musk was 12 years old, he created the video game Blastar. He ended up selling it to a computer magazine in 1984 for $500.
• Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla in 2003. Musk and his money joined a year later.
• He almost sold Tesla to Google for $6 billion in 2013.
• His first cameo was in the 2010 movie Iron Man 2 and he played himself on TV’s The Big Bang Theory .
• Musk was able to start SpaceX with the $100 million he earned when eBay bought PayPal .
• He has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome , a milder form of autism .
• Musk’s wealth is based on stocks and his ownership of companies. He takes no salary .
• Musk’s son Xavier has a special inspiration for his name: Comic book character Professor Xavier of Marvel ’s X-Men .
• Musk purchased James Bond ’s classic submarine car at a London auction in 2013 for close to $1 million.
• Maye Musk , Elon's mother, is currently a model .
• This page was last modified on 28 February 2024, at 12:12. Suggest an edit .

South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.

Who Is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk is a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman who founded X.com in 1999 (which later became PayPal), SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers.

In January 2021, Musk reportedly surpassed Jeff Bezos as the wealthiest man in the world.

Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. As a child, Musk was so lost in his daydreams about inventions that his parents and doctors ordered a test to check his hearing.

At about the time of his parents’ divorce, when he was 10, Musk developed an interest in computers. He taught himself how to program, and when he was 12 he sold his first software: a game he created called Blastar.

In grade school, Musk was short, introverted and bookish. He was bullied until he was 15 and went through a growth spurt and learned how to defend himself with karate and wrestling.

Musk’s mother, Maye Musk , is a Canadian model and the oldest woman to star in a Covergirl campaign. When Musk was growing up, she worked five jobs at one point to support her family.

Musk’s father, Errol Musk, is a wealthy South African engineer.

Musk spent his early childhood with his brother Kimbal and sister Tosca in South Africa. His parents divorced when he was 10.

At age 17, in 1989, Musk moved to Canada to attend Queen’s University and avoid mandatory service in the South African military. Musk obtained his Canadian citizenship that year, in part because he felt it would be easier to obtain American citizenship via that path.

In 1992, Musk left Canada to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelor’s degree in physics.

After leaving Penn, Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a PhD in energy physics. However, his move was timed perfectly with the Internet boom, and he dropped out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2 Corporation in 1995. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002.

Zip2 Corporation

Musk launched his first company, Zip2 Corporation, in 1995 with his brother, Kimbal Musk. An online city guide, Zip2 was soon providing content for the new websites of both The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune . In 1999, a division of Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

In 1999, Elon and Kimbal Musk used the money from their sale of Zip2 to found X.com, an online financial services/payments company. An X.com acquisition the following year led to the creation of PayPal as it is known today.

In October 2002, Musk earned his first billion when PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk owned 11 percent of PayPal stock.

Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 with the intention of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX was well established, and NASA awarded the company the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station—with plans for astronaut transport in the future—in a move to replace NASA’s own space shuttle missions.

Falcon 9 Rockets

On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, marking the first time a private company had sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Of the launch, Musk was quoted as saying, "I feel very lucky. ... For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."

In December 2013, a Falcon 9 successfully carried a satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, a distance at which the satellite would lock into an orbital path that matched the Earth's rotation. In February 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 fitted with the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, aiming to observe the extreme emissions from the sun that affect power grids and communications systems on Earth.

In March 2017, SpaceX saw the successful test flight and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket made from reusable parts, a development that opened the door for more affordable space travel.

A setback came in November 2017, when an explosion occurred during a test of the company's new Block 5 Merlin engine. SpaceX reported that no one was hurt, and that the issue would not hamper its planned rollout of a future generation of Falcon 9 rockets.

The company enjoyed another milestone moment in February 2018 with the successful test launch of the powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. Armed with additional Falcon 9 boosters, the Falcon Heavy was designed to carry immense payloads into orbit and potentially serve as a vessel for deep space missions. For the test launch, the Falcon Heavy was given a payload of Musk's cherry-red Tesla Roadster, equipped with cameras to "provide some epic views" for the vehicle's planned orbit around the sun.

In July 2018, Space X enjoyed the successful landing of a new Block 5 Falcon rocket, which touched down on a drone ship less than 9 minutes after liftoff.

BFR Mission to Mars

In September 2017, Musk presented an updated design plan for his BFR (an acronym for either "Big F---ing Rocket" or "Big Falcon Rocket"), a 31-engine behemoth topped by a spaceship capable of carrying at least 100 people. He revealed that SpaceX was aiming to launch the first cargo missions to Mars with the vehicle in 2022, as part of his overarching goal of colonizing the Red Planet.

In March 2018, the entrepreneur told an audience at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, that he hoped to have the BFR ready for short flights early the following year, while delivering a knowing nod at his previous problems with meeting deadlines.

The following month, it was announced that SpaceX would construct a facility at the Port of Los Angeles to build and house the BFR. The port property presented an ideal location for SpaceX, as its mammoth rocket will only be movable by barge or ship when completed.

Starlink Internet Satellites

In late March 2018, SpaceX received permission from the U.S. government to launch a fleet of satellites into low orbit for the purpose of providing Internet service. The satellite network, named Starlink, would ideally make broadband service more accessible in rural areas, while also boosting competition in heavily populated markets that are typically dominated by one or two providers.

SpaceX launched the first batch of 60 satellites in May 2019, and followed with another payload of 60 satellites that November. While this represented significant progress for the Starlink venture, the appearance of these bright orbiters in the night sky, with the potential of thousands more to come, worried astronomers who felt that a proliferation of satellites would increase the difficulty of studying distant objects in space.

Tesla Motors

Musk is the co-founder, CEO and product architect at Tesla Motors, a company formed in 2003 that is dedicated to producing affordable, mass-market electric cars as well as battery products and solar roofs. Musk oversees all product development, engineering and design of the company's products.

Five years after its formation, in March 2008, Tesla unveiled the Roadster, a sports car capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, as well as traveling nearly 250 miles between charges of its lithium ion battery.

With a stake in the company taken by Daimler and a strategic partnership with Toyota, Tesla Motors launched its initial public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million.

In August 2008, Tesla announced plans for its Model S, the company's first electric sedan that was reportedly meant to take on the BMW 5 series. In 2012, the Model S finally entered production at a starting price of $58,570. Capable of covering 265 miles between charges, it was honored as the 2013 Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine .

In April 2017, Tesla announced that it surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. car maker. The news was an obvious boon to Tesla, which was looking to ramp up production and release its Model 3 sedan later that year.

In September 2019, using what Musk described as a "Plaid powertrain," a Model S set a speed record for four-door sedan at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey County, California.

The Model 3 was officially launched in early 2019 following extensive production delays. The car was initially priced at $35,000, a much more accessible price point than the $69,500 and up for its Model S and X electric sedans.

After initially aiming to produce 5,000 new Model 3 cars per week by December 2017, Musk pushed that goal back to March 2018, and then to June with the start of the new year. The announced delay didn't surprise industry experts, who were well aware of the company's production problems, though some questioned how long investors would remain patient with the process. It also didn't prevent Musk from garnering a radical new compensation package as CEO, in which he would be paid after reaching milestones of growing valuation based on $50 billion increments.

By April 2018, with Tesla expected to fall short of first-quarter production forecasts, news surfaced that Musk had pushed aside the head of engineering to personally oversee efforts in that division. In a Twitter exchange with a reporter, Musk said it was important to "divide and conquer" to meet production goals and was "back to sleeping at factory."

After signaling that the company would reorganize its management structure, Musk in June announced that Tesla was laying off 9 percent of its workforce, though its production department would remain intact. In an email to employees, Musk explained his decision to eliminate some "duplication of roles" to cut costs, admitting it was time to take serious steps toward turning a profit.

The restructuring appeared to pay dividends, as it was announced that Tesla had met its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June 2018, while churning out another 2,000 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. "We did it!" Musk wrote in a celebratory email to the company. "What an incredible job by an amazing team."

The following February, Musk announced that the company was finally rolling out its standard Model 3. Musk also said that Tesla was shifting to all-online sales, and offering customers the chance to return their cars within seven days or 1,000 miles for a full refund.

In November 2017, Musk made another splash with the unveiling of the new Tesla Semi and Roadster at the company's design studio. The semi-truck, which was expected to enter into production in 2019 before being delayed, boasts 500 miles of range as well as a battery and motors built to last 1 million miles.

Model Y and Roadster

In March 2019, Musk unveiled Tesla’s long-awaited Model Y. The compact crossover, which began arriving for customers in March 2020, has a driving range of 300 miles and a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds.

The Roadster, also set to be released in 2020, will become the fastest production car ever made, with a 0 to 60 time of 1.9 seconds.

In August 2016, in Musk’s continuing effort to promote and advance sustainable energy and products for a wider consumer base, a $2.6 billion dollar deal was solidified to combine his electric car and solar energy companies. His Tesla Motors Inc. announced an all-stock deal purchase of SolarCity Corp., a company Musk had helped his cousins start in 2006. He is a majority shareholder in each entity.

“Solar and storage are at their best when they're combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that improve the way that energy is generated, stored and consumed,” read a statement on Tesla’s website about the deal.

The Boring Company

In January 2017, Musk launched The Boring Company, a company devoted to boring and building tunnels in order to reduce street traffic. He began with a test dig on the SpaceX property in Los Angeles.

In late October of that year, Musk posted the first photo of his company's progress to his Instagram page. He said the 500-foot tunnel, which would generally run parallel to Interstate 405, would reach a length of two miles in approximately four months.

In May 2019 the company, now known as TBC, landed a $48.7 million contract from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to build an underground Loop system to shuttle people around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

In October 2022, Musk officially bought Twitter and became the social media company's CEO after months of back and forth.

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Musk’s Tweet and SEC Investigation

On August 7, 2018, Musk dropped a bombshell via a tweet: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The announcement opened the door for legal action against the company and its founder, as the SEC began inquiring about whether Musk had indeed secured the funding as claimed. Several investors filed lawsuits on the grounds that Musk was looking to manipulate stock prices and ambush short sellers with his tweet.

Musk’s tweet initially sent Tesla stock spiking, before it closed the day up 11 percent. The CEO followed up with a letter on the company blog, calling the move to go private "the best path forward." He promised to retain his stake in the company, and added that he would create a special fund to help all current investors remain on board.

Six days later, Musk sought to clarify his position with a statement in which he pointed to discussions with the managing director of the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund as the source of his "funding secured" declaration. He later tweeted that he was working on a proposal to take Tesla private with Goldman Sachs and Silver Lake as financial advisers.

The saga took a bizarre turn that day when rapper Azealia Banks wrote on Instagram that, as a guest at Musk's home at the time, she learned that he was under the influence of LSD when he fired off his headline-grabbing tweet. Banks said she overheard Musk making phone calls to drum up the funding he promised was already in place.

The news quickly turned serious again when it was reported that Tesla's outside directors had retained two law firms to deal with the SEC inquiry and the CEO's plans to take the company private.

On August 24, one day after meeting with the board, Musk announced that he had reversed course and would not be taking the company private. Among his reasons, he cited the preference of most directors to keep Tesla public, as well as the difficulty of retaining some of the large shareholders who were prohibited from investing in a private company. Others suggested that Musk was also influenced by the poor optics of an electric car company being funded by Saudi Arabia, a country heavily involved in the oil industry.

On September 29, 2018, it was announced that Musk would pay a $20 million fine and step down as chairman of Tesla's board for three years as part of an agreement with the SEC.

Inventions and Innovations

In August 2013, Musk released a concept for a new form of transportation called the "Hyperloop," an invention that would foster commuting between major cities while severely cutting travel time. Ideally resistant to weather and powered by renewable energy, the Hyperloop would propel riders in pods through a network of low-pressure tubes at speeds reaching more than 700 mph. Musk noted that the Hyperloop could take from seven to 10 years to be built and ready for use.

Although he introduced the Hyperloop with claims that it would be safer than a plane or train, with an estimated cost of $6 billion — approximately one-tenth of the cost for the rail system planned by the state of California — Musk's concept has drawn skepticism. Nevertheless, the entrepreneur has sought to encourage the development of this idea.

After he announced a competition for teams to submit their designs for a Hyperloop pod prototype, the first Hyperloop Pod Competition was held at the SpaceX facility in January 2017. A speed record of 284 mph was set by a German student engineering team at competition No. 3 in 2018, with the same team pushing the record to 287 mph the next year.

AI and Neuralink

Musk has pursued an interest in artificial intelligence, becoming co-chair of the nonprofit OpenAI. The research company launched in late 2015 with the stated mission of advancing digital intelligence to benefit humanity.

In 2017, it was also reported that Musk was backing a venture called Neuralink, which intends to create devices to be implanted in the human brain and help people merge with software. He expanded on the company's progress during a July 2019 discussion, revealing that its devices will consist of a microscopic chip that connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone.

High-Speed Train

In late November 2017, after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for proposals to build and operate a high-speed rail line that would transport passengers from O'Hare Airport to downtown Chicago in 20 minutes or less, Musk tweeted that he was all-in on the competition with The Boring Company. He said that the concept of the Chicago loop would be different from his Hyperloop, its relatively short route not requiring the need for drawing a vacuum to eliminate air friction.

In summer 2018 Musk announced he would cover the estimated $1 billion needed to dig the 17-mile tunnel from the airport to downtown Chicago. However, in late 2019 he tweeted that TBC would focus on completing the commercial tunnel in Las Vegas before turning to other projects, suggesting that plans for Chicago would remain in limbo for the immediate future.

Flamethrower

Musk also reportedly found a market for The Boring Company's flamethrowers. After announcing they were going on sale for $500 apiece in late January 2018, he claimed to have sold 10,000 of them within a day.

Relationship with Donald Trump

In December 2016, Musk was named to President Trump’s Strategy and Policy Forum; the following January, he joined Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. Following Trump’s election, Musk found himself on common ground with the new president and his advisers as the president announced plans to pursue massive infrastructure developments.

While sometimes at odds with the president's controversial measures, such as a proposed ban on immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, Musk defended his involvement with the new administration. "My goals," he tweeted in early 2017, "are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creating of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all."

On June 1, following Trump's announcement that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, Musk stepped down from his advisory roles.

Personal Life

Wives and children.

Musk has been married twice. He wed Justine Wilson in 2000, and the couple had six children together. In 2002, their first son died at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Musk and Wilson had five additional sons together: twins Griffin and Xavier (born in 2004) and triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian (born in 2006).

After a contentious divorce from Wilson, Musk met actress Talulah Riley. The couple married in 2010. They split in 2012 but married each other again in 2013. Their relationship ultimately ended in divorce in 2016.

Girlfriends

Musk reportedly began dating actress Amber Heard in 2016 after finalizing his divorce with Riley and Heard finalized her divorce from Johnny Depp . Their busy schedules caused the couple to break up in August 2017; they got back together in January 2018 and split again one month later.

In May 2018, Musk began dating musician Grimes (born Claire Boucher). That month, Grimes announced that she had changed her name to “ c ,” the symbol for the speed of light, reportedly on the encouragement of Musk. Fans criticized the feminist performer for dating a billionaire whose company has been described as a “predator zone” among accusations of sexual harassment.

The couple discussed their love for one another in a March 2019 feature in the Wall Street Journal Magazine , with Grimes saying “Look, I love him, he’s great...I mean, he’s a super-interesting goddamn person.” Musk, for his part, told the Journal, “I love c’s wild fae artistic creativity and hyper-intense work ethic.”

Grimes gave birth to their son on May 4, 2020, with Musk announcing that they had named the boy "X Æ A-12." Later in the month, after it was reported that the State of California wouldn't accept a name with a number, the couple said they were changing their son's name to "X Æ A-Xii."

Musk and Grimes welcomed their second child, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, in December 2021. The child was delivered via a surrogate.

Nonprofit Work

The boundless potential of space exploration and the preservation of the future of the human race have become the cornerstones of Musk's abiding interests, and toward these, he has founded the Musk Foundation, which is dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of renewable and clean energy sources.

In October 2019 Musk pledged to donate $1 million to the #TeamTrees campaign, which aims to plant 20 million trees around the world by 2020. He even changed his Twitter name to Treelon for the occasion.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Elon Musk
• Birth Year: 1971
• Birth date: June 28, 1971
• Birth City: Pretoria
• Birth Country: South Africa
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: South African entrepreneur Elon Musk is known for founding Tesla Motors and SpaceX, which launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2012.
• Space Exploration
• Internet/Computing
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• University of Pennsylania
• Queen's University, Ontario
• Stanford University
• Nacionalities
• South African
• Interesting Facts
• Elon Musk left Stanford after two days to take advantage of the Internet boom.
• In April 2017, Musk's Tesla Motors surpassed General Motors to become the most valuable U.S. car maker.

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Elon Musk Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: October 31, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• I'm very pro-environment, but let's figure out how to do it better and not jump through a dozen hoops to achieve what is obvious in the first place.
• Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

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Elon Musk Facts & Worksheets

Elon musk is a south african-canadian business magnate, engineer and ceo of spacex, tesla motors, solarcity, and the boring company., search for worksheets, download the elon musk facts & worksheets.

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Table of Contents

Elon Musk is a South African-Canadian business magnate, engineer and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and the Boring Company. He also co-founded X.com, which is now known as PayPal.

See the fact file below for more information on Elon Musk or alternatively, you can download our 22 page Elon Musk worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Early life and interests:.

• On June 28, 1971, Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He was the son of Errol Musk, a pilot and electromechanical engineer and Maye Musk, a dietician from Canada.
• Young Elon spent part of his childhood in South Africa with his siblings, Kimbal and Tosca. When he was 10, he became interested in computers. By the age of 12, he created his first software called Blaster.
• He graduated from Pretoria Boys High School before moving to Canada when he was 17. Elon attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.
• In May 1997, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. In addition, Musk also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Wharton School of Business. After a year, at the age of 24, he entered Stanford University for his Ph.D. in applied physics and materials science. He dropped out after two days.

Elon Musk’s Career and Ventures

• In 1995, Elon and his brother Kimbal launched their first company named Zip2 Corporation. It was an online city guide, which soon catered The New York Times and Chicago Tribune. By 1999, they sold it to Compaq Computer Corporation for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options. Musk co-founded X.com in 1999. It was an online financial service company that would come to be known as PayPal. He owned 11% of its stock before eBay acquired it in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock.
• For his third company, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, also known as SpaceX. He established SpaceX in 2002 to build spacecraft for commercial space tourism.
• By 2008, SpaceX was commissioned by NASA to transport cargo to the International Space Station. On May 22, 2012, Musk made history by being the first private company to send an unmanned capsule, the Falcon 9 rocket with 1 000 tons of supplies, to astronauts.
• Falcon 9 version 1.0 went to space five times from 2010 to March 2013. By September, version 1.1 flew 15 times until January 2016.
• In February 2015, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 to observe the emissions from the sun that affect communication systems and power on Earth.
• In 2017, the BFR or Big Falcon Rocket design was presented by Musk. According to the plan, it could carry at least 100 people to Mars.
• By February 2018, Musk reached another milestone for SpaceX by launching the Falcon Heavy rocket complete with boosters. It’s designed to carry out immense missions.
• Aside from SpaceX, Musk is also a co-founder and product designer of Tesla Motors. It was founded in 2003 to produce electric cars and battery products, including solar roof tiles.
• By 2008, Musk introduced the Roadster, a sports car charged with lithium-ion batteries. In partnership with Toyota, Tesla Motors released it to the public in 2010.
• In 2013, Motor Trend magazine awarded Tesla Motors’ Model S Car of the Year.
• By August 2016, Tesla Motors Inc. acquired an all-stock deal purchase of SolarCity Corp for $2.6 billion.

Additional Ideas for Innovation and Politics

• In 2013, Musk introduced the concept of the Hyperloop. It is a transportation system that can carry city-to-city passengers in pods through low-pressure tubes. The project is estimated to cost $6 billion and take up to 10 years to build.
• In 2017, Musk announced his venture on Neuralink, which aimed to expand AI or artificial intelligence by creating a device to be implanted in the human brain.
• Upon the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, Musk joined Trump’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative but he stepped down after the president’s announcement of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.
• As part of his philanthropic work, he founded the Musk Foundation dedicated to promoting renewable and clean energy sources and space exploration.

Elon Musk Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about entrepreneur Elon Musk across 22 in-depth pages. These are  ready-to-use Elon Musk worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Elon Musk who is a South African-Canadian business magnate, engineer, and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and the Boring Company. He also co-founded X.com, which is now known as PayPal.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

• Elon Musk Facts
• The Iron Man
• Billionaire’s Take
• World’s Most Influential
• Year After Year
• Musk’s Infographic
• Point of View
• Change by Doing
• Breaking Stories

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Elon Musk: The Complete Biography of an Extraordinary Innovator

• by history tools
• March 26, 2024

Elon Musk is one of the most famous entrepreneurs and business leaders of the 21st century. As the co-founder of PayPal, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and driving force behind many other companies, Musk has had an outsized influence on technology, space exploration, and solving some of humanity‘s biggest challenges.

Let‘s take a closer look at Musk’s remarkable life story, complex persona, monumental successes and occasional setbacks, and what makes him such a polarizing character.

Childhood and Early Life in South Africa

Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, one of South Africa’s wealthiest and most segregated cities during apartheid. His mother Maye was a famous dietitian and model who grew up in Canada, while his father Errol was a wealthy white South African electromechanical engineer.

As a child, Musk was an avid reader and self-taught computer programmer. At age 12 he created and sold a video game called Blastar to a computer magazine for $500. But his relationship with his father was difficult – his parents divorced when he was 9 years old. Musk chose to live mostly with his father, which he would later regret considering they became estranged.

Discovering His Calling

After spending two years in the South African military, Musk moved to Canada at age 19. He studied at Queen‘s University in Ontario for two years, avoiding mandatory service in the South African military, before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.

At Penn, Musk pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Physics as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Most notably, he rekindled an early passion by taking extra classes at the Stanford School of Engineering. It was a harbinger of innovations to come.

Founding Zip2 and PayPal

In 1995 Musk dropped out of Stanford’s PhD program to found his first startup Zip2 Corporation with his brother Kimbal. Zip2 provided online city guides to newspapers like the New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

Compaq bought Zip2 in 1999 for $307 million, earning Musk $22 million. He soon co-founded X.com, one of the first online banks providing services like checking accounts and money transfers.

X.com merged with its rival Confinity in 2000 to become PayPal, with Musk serving as the new CEO. Despite internal struggles at the new company, PayPal went on to revolutionize online payments. In 2002 eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received $175 million.

“If something‘s important enough you should try, even if the probable outcome is failure.”

Making History with SpaceX

Flush with cash from the PayPal sale, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002 with an audacious long-term goal: make humanity multi-planetary by establishing a human colony on Mars.

SpaceX develops rockets, spacecraft and satellites aimed at revolutionizing space transportation to eventually make it affordable for private citizens to travel into orbit and to other planets. It almost went bankrupt in 2008, but Musk kept it afloat with personal funds.

In 2012 SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spaceship to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. And in 2020 SpaceX sent astronauts to the ISS for the first time, effectively resurrecting American manned spaceflight.

Tesla Accelerates Ahead with Musk at the Helm

Also in 2004 Musk made the series A investment round in Tesla Motors and joined Tesla’s board of directors as chairman. Founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, Tesla aimed to prove electric cars could be better than gasoline-powered cars.

The original Roadster sports car impressed critics, but by 2007 Tesla was also on the verge of bankruptcy. Musk invested heavily in Tesla and took over leadership of the company, serving as CEO and product architect.

Under his guidance, Tesla went public in 2010 to raise funds and the Model S sedan was named Motor Trend‘s 2013 Car of the Year. By 2023 Tesla had become the world‘s most valuable automaker, dominating the rapidly growing EV market.

Expanding His Entrepreneurial Portfolio

In addition to SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has founded or co-founded a number of new companies over the last two decades. These include:

• The Boring Company (2016) – Develops tunnels aimed at eliminating street traffic to reduce transportation time
• Neuralink (2016) – Develops implantable brain-machine interfaces to connect human brains with computers
• OpenAI (2015) – Non-profit AI research company working to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits humanity
• Starlink (2019) – SpaceX project to provide global satellite Internet access coverage

Not all of these companies have proven successful so far. But Musk continues to think big while attracting top talent to bring innovative new technologies to reality.

Taking Over Twitter for $44 Billion

In January 2022, Musk started acquiring shares of social media company Twitter. By March he had accumulated a 9.2% stake to become Twitter‘s largest shareholder. This set in motion a tumultuous year that eventually led to his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022.

Shortly after acquiring Twitter, Musk laid off roughly half the company‘s 7,500 employees and radically changed the platform‘s operations. Many users have quit the platform over concerns about misinformation as Musk grants "amnesty" to suspended accounts. The long-term implications of his takeover remain uncertain.

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”

Marriages, Relationships and Family

In 2000, Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson. Their first son died unexpectedly from SIDS at 10 weeks old. They share custody of 5 sons – a set of twins and a set of triplets – born through IVF. Musk and Wilson separated in 2008.

From 2010 to 2012, Musk was married to English actress Talulah Riley. After divorcing, they remarried in 2013 before finalizing their divorce again in 2016. Musk also had an on-and-off relationship with musician Grimes which began in 2018. They had 2 children – a son born in 2020 and daughter born in 2021 via surrogate.

In 2022 it was revealed that Musk secretly had twins in 2021 with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at his company Neuralink. He now has 10 children from 3 relationships. But his 18-year-old transgender daughter has disowned him, changing her name in opposition to Musk‘s "public transphobia."

Losing and Regaining Title of World‘s Richest Person

Thanks mostly to his shares in Tesla Motors, Musk experienced an astronomical rise in his personal net worth. He became the richest person in the world for the first time in January 2021 when he surpassed Jeff Bezos.

But his net worth dropped in 2022 and early 2023 as Tesla‘s share price declined. On January 6, 2023 Musk lost the title of world‘s richest person to Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH.

What‘s more, with an estimated $183 billion loss between November 2021 and January 2023, Musk holds the record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history according to Guinness World Records. Despite these setbacks, Musk’s supporters are betting he’ll reclaim the top spot someday.

What Makes Musk Such a Polarizing Figure

Musk has earned both ardent fans and vocal critics. So what makes him such a polarizing public figure?

Reasons supporters are drawn to Musk include:

• Daring vision for future innovations
• Willingness to take risks
• Commitment to tackling climate change with sustainable energy
• Power to make things happen that others consider impossible
• Relatable sense of humor on social media

However some people are strongly critical of Musk for:

• Poor treatment of employees by demanding unrealistic hours and goals
• Controversial public stances on issues like pandemic lockdowns
• Spreading misinformation and making questionable promises on Twitter
• Brash communication style and vindictiveness towards naysayers
• Concerns about concentration of power held by billionaires

But there‘s no questioning the outsized impact Musk already made on multiple industries. Even his detractors admit they‘re curious to see what he’ll achieve next.

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• Born: Elon Reeve Musk, June 28, 1971.
• Country Born: South Africa.
• Parents: Errol Musk (Father), Maye Musk (Mother).
• Siblings: Kimbal Musk (Brother), Tosca Musk (Sister).
• Citizenship: South Africa (1971). Canada (1971). United States (2002).
• Education: University of Pennsylvania (BS, BA).
• Professional Titles: Found, CEO, Cheif Engineer, Product Architect.
• Children: Nevada Alexander, Xavier, Griffin, Damian, Saxon, Kai & X Æ A-Xii.

Zip2 was Elon’s first company. He founded the company in 1995 with is brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri. The company provided and licensed online city guide software to newspapers.

Founded by Elon and a several others in 1999. X.com was an online bank, and one of the first of its kind.

Founded by Elon and several others, PayPal has grown into a US multinational financial technology company, that operates online payment systems and money transfers.

Founded solely by Elon in 2002, SpaceX is an American aerospace company, with a very ambitious mission to get humans to Mars.

Founded in 2003, with Elon a key figure in the company (current CEO). Telsa Inc is an American electric vehicle. The company is a tribute to the great  Nikola Tesla

Telsa Energy

Founded in 2015, Tesla Energy is a child company of Telsa Inc, focusing on clean energy.

Founded by Elon and several others in 2015, Open AI is an artificial intelligence research company that is on the cutting edge of tech and AI.

Founded by Elon and several others in 2016, Neuralink is a neurotechnology company developing implantable brain machine interfaces, with goals of improving the lives of people with head injuries and brain illnesses.

The Boring Company

Founded solely by Elon in 2016, The Boring Company is an American infrastructure and tunnel construction services company, with the aim of improving traffic by bigging tunnels underground.

Personal Life:

Elon is a great man, and already his lived such a full life. From starting and running successfully a number of companies, attending university, having been married, and having 7 children (all boys), with a set of twins and triplets, that is already so much already.

In 2000, when Elon was a young man, while on holiday in South Africa, he contracted malaria, and as a result, nearly died.

Elon revealed in 2021 that he has Asperger Syndrome.

Elon splits his time between all of the companies that he runs, and along with bringing up his kids, it does not leave a lot of time for anything else, however he does find the time to do so much more, like making time for interviews,  cameo appearances in TV programs and movies, and has even hosted Saturday Night Live.

As of 2022, Elon Musk is the richest man in the world (+$250 billion).

List of awards, honors and accolades:

• University of Pennsylvania (BS, BA) – 1995.
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award – 2008.
• Federation Aeronautique Interationale Gold Space Medal – 2010.
• Royal Aeronautics Society Gold Medal – 2012.
• Honorary Doctorte in Engneering & Technology at Yale – 2015.
• Fellow of the Royal Society – 2018.
• Time’s Person of the Year – 2021.

As you can see, Elon Musk has achieved so much already and truly is a great businessman, engineer, visionary, and most importantly, a father. And all at the age of just 50 years old. (as of 2022).

Download questions about the Elon Musk here: Bio  (answers are on this page)

For more in-depth worksheets on Elon Musk. Click on Kidskonnect Worksheets

Check out our  new twitter account dedicated to Elon Musk @elonmuskforkids

Fun Facts About Elon Musk

• Elon Musk has a half brother and a half sister on his fathers side.
• Elon Musk has no formal training in rocketry.
• Elon Musk created a foundation called the ‘Elon Musk Foundation’
• Elon Musk is in direct space exploration competition with Jeff Bezos.
• Elon Musk has pledged to give away most of his fortune to good causes.
• What year was Elon Musk born?
• Which country was Elon Musk born in?
• Name one member of Elon Musk’s family?
• Name an accolade given to Elon Musk?
• Which Syndrome does Elon Musk have?

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Elon Musk – Space Visionary

Do you know who Elon Musk is, what he does and how he is involved in Space Exploration

This page is dedicated to the great man who is Elon Musk

Elon Musk is truly a great space visionary, and one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. Elon is a billionaire, however money is far from his motivation. Elon uses money from his business ventures for good, and more importantly for space exploration. Elon Musk is on a mission of great space exploration by creating spacecraft and technology that is funding and will fund space travel for today and for the future.

Before we get into Elon’s already quite remarkable achievements, let’s take a look at Elon’s early life and previous achievements that has gotten him to where he is now.

Elon was born Pretoria, South Africa on June 28th, 1971. He is the son of Errol and Maye Musk. Elon has one brother and one sister, and a half brother and half sister.

At a very early age, Elon was very interested in computers and computer programming, and at this early age even wrote code for gamming. Unfortunately for Elon, not everyone liked his talents, which led him to be bullied at school. This made Elon even more determined in being a good person and to do good for humanity.

Naturally Elon excelled in school and university, and before long moved from his birth home in South Africa to Canada where his mother was living.

From Canada, Elon moved to the United Sates and attend one of the most prestigious university in the world, Stanford in California. Elon always wanted to moved to the US, to live and work, and create opportunities.

Career & Achievements before SpaceX

Elon has been involved and has started up a number of organizations to build up his fortune before his endeavors into space travel with his company  SpaceX   

Elon was involved and ran companies like Zip2, x.com and PayPal. But one of Elon’s true callings was to start a company called SpaceX.

SpaceX mission is to ‘boldly go where one has gone’ ….. Em no, that is Star Trek , just joking. Elon’s and SpaceX mission ultimately is to get to Mars    

SpaceX is a fantastic company and is doing great work in making this amazing dream of regular Mars missions a reality one day. SpaceX also works with NASA and other space organizations, providing them with rockets and technology to use for missions. SpaceX also conducts certain space missions to the International Space Station

SpaceX is an amazing organization and is right now leading the new space race to Mars, and could well be the organization to get there. With Elon Musk leading the way, I would not be surprised is SpaceX make it there first.

Other ventures Elon Musk is involved in outside of SpaceX

Outside of SpaceX, Elon is the founder and CEO (chief executive officer) of a number of companies. These companies are also doing great work, not on Mars, but on Earth.   Below is a list of companies Elon is involved in:

Tesla – An electric automobile company.

SolarCity – A solar power company.

Gigafactory – A solar panel company.

Hyperloop – A high speed transportation company.

OpenAI – An Artificial Intelligence company.

Neuralink – A Neurotechnology company.

The Boring Company – A tunnel boring company.

Elon always states that he is an engineer at heart, and that is definitely true judging by all of these companies that is involved in, however he is also a business man, a visionary and a great man. Elon will be remembered as a pioneer of space exploration. 

Kids Fun Facts Corner

# 1. Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002.

# 2. Elon Musk has no formal training in rocketry.

# 3. Elon Musk is in direct space exploration competition with Jeff Bezos.

# 4. Elon Musk is a multi billionaire.

# 5. Elon Musk’s SpaceX estimate that seats on future missions to Mars will cost in the region of $500,000.

# 6. Elon Musk has a foundation dedicated to space exploration called the Musk Foundation.

# 7. Elon Musk is a South African, Canadian & US citizen.  

# 8. Elon Musk is a visionary in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

# 9. Elon Musk built model rockets as a kid.

# 10. Elon Musk has pledged to give away most of his fortune to good causes.

Q&A Corner

Q. In what year was Elon Musk born?

Q. In what year was SpaceX founded by Elon Musk?

Q. What types of citizenships does Elon Musk hold? 

Q. How much will a seat cost on future SpaceX missions to Mars?

Q. Who is in direct competition in the space race with Elon Musk? 

Q. Outside of SpaceX, name two other companies that Elon Musk is involved in?

Q. What is the name of Elon Musk’s foundation?

Q. How would Elon Musk describe his job? (hint what is at heart)

Q. What did Elon Musk build as a kid?

Q. What has Elon Musk pledged to do with this fortune?

Q. What will Elon Musk be remembered as?

Download questions about Elon Musk here: Elon Musk   (answer are on this page)

For further reading and more information on Elon Musk  visit https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/wiki/Elon_Musk

7 thoughts on “Elon Musk – Space Visionary”

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Elon Musk Biography: Investor, Engineer, and Inventor

He is the 21st Century Howard Hughes , John D. Rockefeller and Steve Jobs – all rolled into one dynamic package. His hunger for global change mirrors the sense of adventure of the great explorers of the past. His ideas, considered crazy by everyone around him, have opened up new frontiers as he continues to improve the world with the aid of technological advancement. His goal to make the earth a better place to live on has expanded to encompass the entire universe – including the possibility of supporting human life on Mars.

In this episode of Biographics, we get up close and personal with the man who was the model for Marvel’s Iron Man movie franchise character Tony Start… Of course, the man we are talking about is Elon Musk.

Elon Musk was born on June 28th, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. His Canadian born mother was a dietitian, with his father being a mechanical and electrical engineer. The boy had a natural leaning towards technology, buying his first computer – a Commodore VIC 20 – with money he had saved when he was just ten years old. By the age of twelve, he had created his own video game, Blaster, which he sold for $500. As a pre-teen, he had already taught himself computer programming.

Musk’s life came to a crossroads in his late teens when he was faced with compulsory military service in South Africa. While he had no problem with the thought of serving his country in uniform, he was repulsed by the idea of being a part of a system that suppressed the country’s indigenous black people. His desire was to get to America, the land of opportunity, especially in regard to his growing fascination with all things related to computer technology. To do so, however, he figured that he would have to use Canada as a stepping stone. His mother was still a Canadian citizen and, so steps were taken for Elon to acquire Canadian citizenship for himself.

After graduating from the Pretoria Boy’s High School, he emigrated to Canada in June 1989, aged just seventeen. He had hardly any money and no real connections, turning up on the doorsteps of distant relatives of his mother and being put to work on their farms.

As well as tending vegetables and shoveling grain, he got a job at a lumber mill, cleaning out boilers. Then he managed to secure a job as an intern clerk at a local bank. In 1990, he moved to Kingston, Ontario where he began a science degree at the Queen’s University. Two years later, he was able to achieve his goal of living in the United States, transferring his studies to the University of Pennsylvania. Within two more years he graduated with double degrees, in science and business.

It was around this time that Musk came across a copy of the Douglas Adams book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The book, which revolves around a supercomputer which is built to figure out the ultimate answer to the question of “life, the universe and everything.” After 7.5 million years of computing, it spits out the answer – the number 42.

Along with that answer, the computer, which can talk, adds some sage advice, telling the inquirer . . .

“The problem with you, to be quite honest with you, is that you never really know what the question is.”

For Musk, reading that was a lightbulb moment. He later recalled . . .

“It highlighted an important point, which is that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer.” Elon Musk

By the time he emerged from university, Musk wasn’t entirely sure what the questions were. But he knew that they were tied up in three key areas: the internet, clean energy and outer space.

In 1995, Musk enrolled himself in a Ph.D. program for energy physics at Stanford University. Yet, after an attendance of just two days, he decided to drop out in order to launch his first business. His love for physics never wavered, but he saw greater opportunities in the burgeoning internet revolution – a way to make society better – and himself richer.

Musk realized that, as more and more companies established an online presence, they would need to have their printed materials converted into digital documents. If he could fill that need, he would be onto a winner. Elon teamed up with his younger brother Kimbal to develop content publishing software designed for news and media companies. At a time, when many venture capitalists had never even heard the word ‘internet’, it was a major risk.

The product that the Musk brothers came up with was called Zip2. It started life as a tool that would help people to search for maps and directions on the internet, with people also being able to post information through something similar to a micro-blogging system.

Things were tough for Musk in these early days. He had no money, not even enough to rent an office and an apartment at the same time. So, he rented an office where he slept on a futon, taking care of his personal hygiene down at the local “Y”.

Staring with small newspapers, Musk was able to quickly grow his client base. Agreements were made with large media companies, including the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times to allow those companies to use Zip2 to make their content readily available to their readers via the internet. The program was then used by many similar companies, along with e-commerce sites, as a platform for their web presence.

By 1999, the Zip2 Corporation was providing web hosting, web development and maintenance services for close to two hundred websites. They came to the attention of the online city guide CitySearch, who were interested in a merger. This deal didn’t work out, but another one did. After just four years of operation, the Zip2 Corporation was sold to Compaq Computers for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

At the age of 28, Elon Musk was a multi-millionaire. But, he was just getting started, and even before the ink was dry on the Zip2 deal, he had thrown himself into his next venture – X.com. Musk’s vision was to create the world’s first online bank and he invested $10 million to kick it off. The goal was to offer every service that you could get from a conventional bank, but with the added benefit that you could send and receive money securely using only your email address.

On the time he almost died from malaria while on holiday: “That’s my lesson for taking a vacation: Vacation will kill you.”

X.com was an immediate success. After just a year of operation, it was merged with a money transfer system called Confinity. The combined businesses were renamed Paypal in 2001. Now working with Confinity founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, the business dropped the idea of a fully functional online bank and focused on the feature that seemed to grab everyone’s attention – the ability to send money to and from anyone who had the same app. At this early stage, the system relied on a Windows based handheld device.

During the first months of the merger, from January 1999 to October 2000, Musk was CEO of X-com. During this time he set up a viral system that grew it into the world’s largest e-mail payment system. New customers were offered a twenty dollar cash card, along with an additional ten dollars for referring a friend. Within two months, more than a hundred thousand new customers came onboard.

But not all was well within the company’s management. The problem was Musk’s management style, which can best be described as dictatorial. Both Thiel and Levchin found it difficult to work with him. They were especially frustrated at his need to micromanage everything. Disputes and divisions arose over which technologies to use and how to brand the company.

As a result of such divisions, Thiel and Levchin organized a coup against CEO Musk while he was meeting with prospective customers overseas. He returned to the country to discover that he had been fired as CEO by the board and replaced by Thiel. Shortly thereafter the name of the company was changed to PayPal.

From there it grew exponentially, leading to a buy out by Ebay in 2002. The cost of the sale was a staggering 1.5 billion dollars. As the largest shareholder, Musk walked away with $165 million.

Even before PayPal was sold, Musk was on to his next business venture. Ever since he was a child he had been fascinated by space exploration. He had been an avid science fiction reader – now he had the money to turn fiction into reality. He was convinced that the earth was destined to collapse as a life sustaining planet. The sooner we started working on the technology required for interplanetary travel and for sustaining life beyond Earth, the better.

In discussions with a friend one day, Musk complained that, despite the vast improvements in the technology industry, the space industry has lagged sorrowfully behind. Since man had set foot on the moon way back in 1969 it appeared to him that no meaningful progress had been made. He was determined to change that and his third company, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, was to be his platform to do it.

A major goal of SpaceX is to create a space vehicle that can take people, equipment and other necessary resources to Mars and to build a transportation infrastructure that will allow humans to become a multi-planetary species.

On how he’d rather die: “I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.”

When Musk let the world in on his vision, he was immediately subjected to ridicule. Industry experts dismissed him as a rich, bored playboy, claiming that his physics degree and previous business ventures hardly made him qualified to conceptualize, develop and build rockets. However, they were underestimating Musk, who was not only a quick study, but who also brought on board the best engineers from top aerospace companies such as Boeing, TWA and NASA.

Musk was disappointed that NASA seemed disinterested in space exploration. He wanted to pique the public’s interest in order to encourage NASA to increase their allocated funds on a project to land a device on Mars and then build a bubble bioverse.

He also wanted to introduce a cheaper and safer alternative to Space shuttle travel. He was struck by the fact that the Russians were able to produce rockets that were cheaper and safer than anything the Americans could come out with. He traveled to Russia in an attempt to purchase a ‘refurbished ICBM’, but the deal became too complicated.

Musk next set his sights on creating and successfully launching a reusable rocket, which he called Falcon 1, that could fly off to space, return to Earth and then be launched back to space again. The first scheduled launch for Falcon 1 was in 2005, yet three years later, after multiple failed attempts, Falcon 1 was still to have its first successful flight.

“My biggest mistake is probably weighing too much on someone’s talent and not someone’s personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart.” Elon Musk

Finally, on its fourth attempt, Falcon 1, successfully launched. On the back of this success, SpaceX was able to secure a $1.6 billion contract from NASA involving 12 future flights on their rocket, Falcon 9, to the International Space Station. Musk has estimated that SpaceX’s efforts can minimize the U.S. government’s expenses by around $1 billion per year…

Future Cars

Musk has always been fascinated by cars and specifically by the dream of creating a breed of electric cars that totally transform the driving experience. While he was still a sophomore at university, he had become aware of the world’s depleting resources. What was needed was an alternative source of fuel, one that would not produce the carbon emissions that were damaging the environment. It was from these ideas that Musk decided to pursue electric cars.

A year after launching SpaceX, Musk was introduced to Al Ciccone and Tom Gage of AC Propulsion, the company behind an all electric car known as the Tzero. Musk was interested in mass producing the Tzero, but Ciccone and Gage showed no interest. They did, however, introduce Musk to a group of men who were dedicated to finding a more environmentally friendly vehicle. In July 2003, Musk teamed with three of them, Ian Wright, Marc Tarpening and Martin Eberhard to form the Tesla Corporation, in recognition of the father of AC induction motors, Nikola Tesla.

From the very beginning, Tesla faced an uphill battle. The concept of an electric car was years away from capturing the public attention. And, just as was the case with SpaceX, the question was loudly asked how a visionary with no experience in the car industry could successfully establish a new company and a new product and stand against the industry giants. What’s more, they were attempting to do something that those industry giants had been unable to do. In fact, Robert Lutz, CEO of General Motors, stated that lithium ion technology for cars was at least 10 years into the future.

As a result of the lack of industry enthusiasm, very few investors wanted anything to do with Tesla. In fact, Musk had to fund the majority of the operations of the company himself. The goal of having the first roadstar rolling off the assembly line by 2007 never materialized, as costs continued to mount. Just as with X.com years earlier, tensions arose among the management. Musk, who was Chairman of the Board, had no faith in Martin Eberhard, the president of the company. Before long Eberhard had been ousted and Musk put himself in full control.

He was now the CEO of two start ups. Even for a dynamo like Musk, this was too much.

Still, he had to make both companies work. His master plan for Tesla was to build a luxury electric sports car, along with a line of more affordable cars, and an electric powered car with zero emissions.

In 2008, the first Roadstar was shipped out. This $110,000 electric sports car could run for 200 miles on a single charge and was capable of going from 0-60 miles per hours in less than 4 seconds.

The more family affordable electric car was called the Tesla Model S. Its release began in June of 2012. Sales took off, and there are currently 500 rolling off the production lines every week.

As well as being the CEO of Tesla, Musk is also the chairman of the board of directors of another environmental company, SolarCity. While not the founder of the company, he is very involved in achieving the company’s mission to deliver complete solar energy systems to the end users without the cost of any up-front fees. It also promised reduced utility bills for all of its customers. By offering free installation and zero down payment to homeowners, Musk has made it easier for consumers to afford solar energy and has revolutionized the way the solar industry is run. SolarCity had enjoyed tremendous growth and success, with clients that include eBay, Wal-Mart and the U.S. Military, making it the number one solar power service provider in the United States.

As if being an industry leader in space travel, electric cars and solar power isn’t enough, in August 2013, Musk proposed a completely new mode of personal transport. He called it the ‘Hyperloop.’ The concept will allow people to travel between large cities at the speed of sound, allowing passengers to go from San Francisco to L.A. in about 30 minutes. It involves a vacuum sealed pod that rides on top of electromagnetic waves, in much the same way as a surfer’s board rides an ocean’s waves. The pods will glide across the track at speeds of many hundreds of miles per hour. This eliminates the problem of friction created by wheels on tracks.

The same month that Musk unveiled plans for Hyperloop, the crowdsourcing and collaboration platform JumpStartFund was established. Comprised of more than a hundred engineers, developers and investors, the group took on Hyperloop as their first project. In 2014 they formed Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and undertook a feasibility study. In 2015, Musk ran a student competition to design and build HyperLoop pods. A SpaceX sponsored mile long track was built to run the pods on.

On July 20th, 2017 Musk announced that he had gained ‘verbal government approval’ to build a Hyperloop track between New York City and Washington, D.C.

Elon Musk is one guy who it is a challenge to keep up with. In the twelve months from December 2015 to December 2016 he started no less than three companies – Open AI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence research company, Neuralink, a neurotechnology start-up with the aim of integrating the human brain with A.I and The Boring Company, which aims to bring down the cost of tunnel boring by ten-fold.

Personal Life

Elon Musk has been married two times. He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, while they were both students at Queen’s University in Ontario. They tied the knot in 2000. Justine is a fantasy novelist who described her life with Elon as a ‘dream lifestyle’ that was empty at the core. Her husband was so focused on his work that, even when he was at home, his mind didn’t seem to be there. The marriage ended in 2008 in a very messy public divorce.

Elon and Justine have five children together, a set of twins and a set of triplets.

Musk met his second wife, Talulah Riley, at a London nightclub. They were married just six weeks after he filed for divorce from Justine. The wedding took place at Skibo Castle in Scotland – he was 39, she was 23. Things apparently didn’t go well, with Musk announcing their separation just two years later on Twitter . . . @rileytalulah It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day.

The couple got back together in 2014, but a divorce was finalized towards the end of 2016.

When it comes to the future of Elon Musk, the best advice is to watch this space. He has never backed down from his ambition to travel to Mars and, possibly, retire there one day. Until that happens we can be assured that he will continue to revolutionize the way that the world consumes energy, benefits from technology, and travels into space.

Elon Musk Video Biography

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Eight things we learned from the Elon Musk biography

Widespread access to world’s richest man allowed biographer Walter Isaacson to detail a number of illuminating anecdotes

A new biography of Elon Musk was published on Tuesday and contains colourful details of the life of the world’s richest man.

Musk afforded widespread access to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, the author of the bestselling biography of the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and the book contains a series of illuminating anecdotes about Musk. Here are eight things we learned from the book.

1. Musk’s difficult relationship with his father

Musk, 52, was born and raised in South Africa and endured a fraught relationship with his father, Errol, an engineer. Isaacson writes that Errol “bedevils Elon”.

Musk’s brother, Kimbal, says the worst memory of his life was watching Errol berate Musk after he was hospitalised after a fight at school (the book says Musk was still getting corrective surgery for the injuries decades later). “My father just lost it,” says Kimbal.

Musk and Kimbal, who are estranged from their father, describe Errol as a “volatile fabulist”. Interviewed by Isaacson, Errol admits he encouraged a “physical and emotional toughness” in his sons.

Grimes, the artist who is mother to three of his 10 children, says PTSD from Musk’s childhood shaped an aversion to contentment: “I just don’t think he knows how to savor success and smell the flowers.” Musk tells Isaacson he agrees: “Adversity shaped me. My pain threshold became very high.”

2. Elon Musk has an issue with the ‘woke mind virus’

Shortly before taking over Twitter, or X as it is now called, Musk told Isaacson that the “woke mind virus” – a derogatory term for progressive politics and culture – would prevent extraplanetary settlement (one of Musk’s fixations).

“Unless the woke mind virus, which is fundamentally anti-science, anti-merit, and anti-human in general, is stopped, civilization will never become multiplanetary,” said Musk.

3. Musk gave Twitter executives short shrift

Musk fired Twitter’s executive team as soon as he completed the takeover of Twitter in October last year and it had been coming. When Musk bought a significant stake in Twitter months before, he agreed to meet the CEO, Parag Agrawal. After the meeting, Musk said: “What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon and Parag is not that.”

They soon fell out. Agrawal texted Musk to say his tweet asking if Twitter was “dying” was not helpful. Musk, on a break in Hawaii, replied: “What did you get done this week?” He added: “I’m not joining the board. This is a waste of time. Will make an offer to take Twitter private.”

This was during discussions about Musk joining the board. Agrawal’s reply underlined the power imbalance, and Twitter’s fear of Musk. He texted: “Can we talk?” Musk soon lodged an official bid for Twitter, which he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out of, but the die was cast for Agrawal and his colleagues.

4. Sam Bankman-Fried tried to get in on the Twitter takeover

The founder and CEO of the fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, offered via his banker to put $5bn (£4.1bn) into the Twitter takeover, the book claims. Bankman-Fried also wanted to discuss putting Twitter on a blockchain – the technological underpinning for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

A subsequent call between Musk and Bankman-Fried in May 2022 went badly, Isaacson wrote. “My bullshit detector went off like red alert on a Geiger counter,” Musk is quoted as saying.

Bankman-Fried’s offer to invest or to roll over $100m of Twitter stock that he claimed he had invested, came to nothing.

5. Musk tried to recruit Rudy Giuliani as an adviser

In his early tycoon career, Musk pondered recruiting the then mayor of New York as a political fixer to help him turn his PayPal business into a bank in 2001. Musk sought a meeting with Giuliani, then coming to the end of his tenure in office, because he wanted to turn PayPal – an online payments company – into a “social network that would disrupt the whole banking industry”.

In 2001, Musk and an investor, Michael Moritz, went to New York to see if they could hire Giuliani to guide them through the process of turning PayPal into a bank. It didn’t go well.

“It was like walking into a mob scene,” Moritz says in the book. Giuliani “was surrounded by goonish confidantes. He didn’t have any idea whatsoever about Silicon Valley, but he and his henchmen were eager to line their pockets”.

“‘This guy occupies a different planet,’ Musk told Moritz.”

6. Musk is concerned about a dwindling human population

One of Musk’s reasons for founding a new artificial intelligence company , xAI, is addressing the threat of population collapse. In one face-to-face conversation with Isaacson, the multi-billionaire said human intelligence was in danger of being surmounted by digital intelligence.

“The amount of human intelligence, he noted, was levelling off because people were not having enough children. Meanwhile, the amount of computer intelligence was going up exponentially, like Moore’s law on steroids. At some point, biological brainpower would be dwarfed by digital brainpower.”

This conversation was conducted at the Austin, Texas house of Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s Neuralink business who is the mother of two of his children. Zilis told Isaacson she agreed to have children with Musk via IVF after listening to his arguments about having children as a “kind of social duty”. She said: “He really wants smart people to have kids, so he encouraged me to.”

7. Musk is very concerned about AI

Musk tells Isaacson that human consciousness is under threat from the prospect of super-intelligent, and uncontrollable, AI systems.

He says: “What can be done to make AI safe? I keep wrestling with that. What actions can we take to minimize AI danger and assure that human consciousness survives?”

8. Musk’s complicated role in the Ukraine conflict

Musk’s satellite communications unit, Starlink, has a key role in Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion. When a Russian cyber-attack crippled Ukraine’s satellite comms network an hour before the invasion, Musk stepped in following an appeal for help from Ukrainian officials and the country’s deputy prime minister.

However, the book alleges that Musk told his engineers to “turn off” Starlink coverage that would have facilitated an attack by drone submarines on Russia’s navy at the Sevastopol base in Crimea.

However, Isaacson has subsequently clarified this excerpt after Musk used his X platform to state that there was no Starlink coverage in that area and he refused a Ukrainian request to activate it. Musk posted: “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson is published by Simon & Schuster. To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

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10 Interesting Elon Musk Facts for Kids 2024 (Fun Facts)

Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world! He is one of the most influential and successful people in the world. From starting multiple companies over the years to investing in various kinds of businesses across the world, it goes without saying that Musk is a force to be reckoned with. 

In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at some facts about Elon Musk’s life and career. 

Let’s take a closer look!

What Was Elon Musk’s Childhood Like?

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria to Errol and Maye Musk. His father was an engineer and property developer, and he also owned an emerald mine in an area near Lake Tanganyika. His mother is a dietician and model. Musk also has two siblings, a brother and a sister, who work as a chef and film executive, respectively. 

Musk went on to attend university in America , where he attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School. He studied physics and economics at UPenn and Wharton, hosting ticketed parties to help pay for his college tuition. 

How did Elon Musk’s Career Start?

After completing two internships in Silicon Valley, Musk started his first company with his brother Errol and Greg Kouri. It was called Zip2, and the company developed a kind of guidebook that had yellow pages, directions, and maps. After getting contracts with a couple of newspapers, Zip2 was eventually acquired by Compaq, and Musk received a payment for his share of the company. 

A few years later, in 1999, Musk started an online services company called X.com, which was one of the first online banks to be federally insured. After a few internal problems, the company was eventually renamed PayPal, and Musk was replaced as the CEO. 

Later on, he became interested in funding a growth chamber to grow plants on the planet Mars , and eventually, he launched the company SpaceX. 

8 Interesting Facts About Elon Musk

1. elon musk created and developed a video game when he was 12. .

Most 12 year old kids spend their time playing video games and hanging out with their friends, but Musk spent his time creating them! When Musk was 12, he developed the code for a game called Blastar. The game involved blowing up aliens with a spaceship. He earned $500 for the sale of his game, and in 2015, it was turned into a proper video game. 

2. He started SpaceX to build affordable rockets. 

When Musk started the SpaceX company, he had traveled to Russia to discuss the possibility of buying refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to send growth chambers to Mars and begin the process of developing a living colony over there.

However, since he was seen as inexperienced and unable to take on a project like that, he returned to America. When he went back to Russia two years later, he was offered a rocket for $8 million, but turned it down due to its high cost. He then started SpaceX with the intention of building affordable rockets. 

3. Musk was one of Tesla’s early funders. 

Contrary to popular belief, Elon Musk did not found the company Tesla, but led the initial stage of funding! The company was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, though Musk later joined the company as a chairman and became a major shareholder. However, Musk later became the CEO and was listed as a co-founder after Martine Eberhard was asked to leave the company.

4. Musk co-founded a neurotechnology company. 

Elon Musk started a company called Neuralink in 2016 that uses artificial intelligence. The company’s aim was to integrate the human brain with AI technology by implanting devices that aim to merge the brain with machines. Additionally, the company wants to develop devices that help treat various conditions like dementia, spinal cord injuries, and even Alzheimer’s. 

5. Elon Musk is the current owner of Twitter. 

Musk first bought around 9% of the company at the beginning of April in 2022. However, after the company announced that he would be joining its board, Musk bidded for the entire company, and the board accepted his deal. After a legal battle, Musk eventually gained ownership of the Twitter, and eventually renamed it X in 2023. 

6. Musk has released original music. 

Though his strengths lie in science, technology, and innovation, Musk has also released a few original musical tracks. One of them is a rap song called “RIP Harambe,” and the other one is an EDM song called “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe.”

7. Musk held a Guiness World Record. 

Even though he is the richest person in the world, Musk’s net worth has seen its fair share of highs and lows. In January 2023, he held the record for largest loss of personal fortune in history. This was because he lost around $200 billion because Tesla stock declined. 

8. Musk has made cameos in multiple TV shows and movies. 

Given his background and interest in science, it’s not surprising that Elon Musk has made appearances in various television shows movies! His acting credits include The Big Bang Theory, Iron Man, and The Simpsons. 

Frequently asked questions

What is elon musk’s background and early life.

Elon Musk, born in South Africa, attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School. He initially funded his education by hosting parties.

How did Elon Musk start his career?

Musk began with Zip2, an acquisition by Compaq, followed by PayPal. He then ventured into space exploration with SpaceX.

What are some interesting facts about Elon Musk?

Musk developed a game at 12, started SpaceX for affordable rockets, funded Tesla’s early stages, co-founded Neuralink, acquired Twitter (now X), released music, held a record for a significant personal fortune loss, and made TV and movie appearances.

Why is Elon Musk influential?

Musk’s groundbreaking work in technology and innovation, including SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and Twitter, solidifies his status as one of the world’s most influential figures.

Conclusion 

Elon Musk is a well-known and interesting public figure who makes headlines almost every day! In this article, we took you through some interesting facts about his life and work, and how he kickstarted his career. His work as an investor and magnate have made him one of the most powerful forces to be reckoned with. Now that you know more about him, maybe you will feel inspired to kickstart your own journey as an entrepreneur!

71 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 11

Chapters 12-23

Chapters 24-35

Chapters 36-47

Chapters 48-59

Chapters 60-71

Chapters 72-83

Chapters 84-95

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, published in 2023, explores the life and achievements of one of the most enigmatic figures in the tech and business worlds. Isaacson, a biographer with a track record of profiles on iconic individuals such as Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Leonardo da Vinci, brings his expertise to unravel the complex layers of Elon Musk’s persona. Isaacson’s deep dive into Musk’s life aims to give readers a deeper understanding of the man behind Tesla, SpaceX, and numerous other ventures. This work navigates the intersections of Musk’s personal and professional spheres, shedding light on his ambitious pursuits, visionary goals, and the controversies that surround him.

This guide references the Simon & Schuster 2023 Kindle Edition.

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Content Warning: The source text includes descriptions of violence, physical and psychological abuse, and transphobia.

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The biography is structured chronologically, providing readers with a detailed account of Elon Musk’s life from his childhood in South Africa to his ventures in the United States, where he would become a key player in revolutionizing the automotive and space industries.

The narrative begins by unraveling Musk’s formative years in Pretoria, South Africa. Isaacson focuses on how Elon’s childhood, which was shaped by violence and verbal abuse, laid the foundation for his behavior as an adult. These chapters also outline Musk’s childhood interests in computers, technology, and science fiction, which inspired his future endeavors. Musk’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and his ambition to make a mark on the world set the stage for his eventual move to the United States.

The book then chronicles Musk’s early entrepreneurial ventures, starting with Zip2, a city guide software for newspapers. The challenges and successes of Zip2 provided Musk with invaluable experiences and lessons. Subsequently, the narrative transitions to the creation of X.com, an online payment company, which eventually merged with Confinity to become PayPal. Isaacson details Musk’s struggles, innovations, and eventual sale of PayPal, emphasizing his extreme work ethic and his desire for control and autonomy.

A significant portion of the biography is dedicated to Musk’s founding and development of SpaceX. It particularly focuses on the challenges faced during the company’s early years. Isaacson elucidates Musk’s vision for interplanetary colonization and his unwavering commitment to reducing space travel costs. Isaacson argues that Musk’s willingness to challenge the conventionally accepted notions of the cost of rockets enabled SpaceX to move more nimbly than NASA and jumpstart the United States’ flagging participation in the space industry.

Another pivotal aspect of Musk’s career is explored in the chapters dedicated to Tesla Motors. The biography describes Musk’s involvement with Tesla, from investing in the company to taking over as CEO and becoming a driving force behind its electric vehicle revolution. Isaacson touches upon Tesla’s challenges, including financial difficulties, and highlights Musk’s leadership style and determination to cut costs and create an efficient means of production, even at the expense of alienating employees and driving them to the point of burnout.

The narrative extends beyond Musk’s automotive and space endeavors to cover his involvement in SolarCity, a solar energy services company, and his ventures into neuroscience with Neuralink. Isaacson also discusses The Boring Company, a venture focused on infrastructure and tunnel construction. These chapters illuminate Musk’s wide-ranging interests and his desire to address global challenges.

Throughout the book, Isaacson provides glimpses into Musk’s personal life, exploring his relationships, marriages, and the toll his professional commitments take on his personal well-being. The narrative doesn’t shy away from portraying Musk’s complex personality, including his struggles with social interactions and the toll his intense work ethic has on his health.

Isaacson draws connections between Musk’s abusive childhood and his behavior in relationships, repeatedly intoning that Musk possesses a predilection for drama, conflict, and crisis, something that he brings to his relationships in both his personal life and his business life. Isaacson observes that when Musk experiences phases of relative stability or success, Musk feels a need to artificially create crises to feel energized. Isaacson contends that this enables Musk to drive his teams to high levels of success, pushing them to reach achievements that they previously thought were impossible, though Isaacson also acknowledges the interpersonal fallout from Musk’s driven and sometimes callous behavior.

The biography concludes with Musk’s foray into social media, particularly his acquisition and transformation of Twitter. The book explores Musk’s unorthodox management style and the consequences of his decisions on the platform. Additionally, the narrative touches upon Musk’s concerns about artificial intelligence and his efforts to ensure ethical development in the field.

Isaacson concludes the biography by reflecting on Musk's lasting impact on various industries and the tensions between his controversial behavior and innovative contributions. The book presents Musk as a complex figure, acknowledging both his successes and the controversies surrounding his leadership style. Isaacson implies that Musk’s behavior, while sometimes callous, cruel, and reckless, may be justified by the grandiosity of his accomplishments.

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Elon musk is a 'great engineer better off with tesla and spacex, not buying twitter,' says biographer walter isaacson.

Walter Isaacson, known for his in-depth biographies of historical figures, suggested that Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk's logical and systematic approach to problem-solving significantly contributes to his success in engineering-focused industries such as electric vehicles and aerospace technologies.

Isaacson, who followed Musk for years to write a biography on the renowned inventor, highlighted his subject's exceptional skills and shared insights into his controversial acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, during a recent interview posted on YouTube.

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"He's a great engineer,” Isaacson said, emphasizing that Musk understands physical engineering but “doesn’t understand human emotions very well.”

Isaacson expressed concerns regarding Musk’s decision to buy Twitter, a move he believes might not play to Musk’s strengths. During the discussion, Isaacson pointed out that managing Twitter — a platform that primarily deals with social dynamics and communication — might not be the best fit for Musk, whose skills are more technically oriented than socially nuanced.

“He's better off with Tesla and SpaceX and not buying Twitter,” Isaacson said, suggesting that Musk’s talents are best used in industries where engineering innovation is paramount.

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The biographer's comments underscore a critical view of Musk’s venture into social media, which contrasts sharply with his achievements in technology and space. Isaacson said he believes that Musk’s lack of finesse in understanding human emotions could be a disadvantage in handling a platform that serves as a digital public square, where emotional intelligence plays a significant role in managing controversies and public discourse.

Isaacson’s perspective provides a nuanced understanding of Musk’s capabilities and limitations. While Musk’s engineering acumen has led to groundbreaking advancements in several sectors, his foray into social media with the acquisition of Twitter may pose challenges that require a different skill set. Isaacson said Musk’s impact might be more positively felt in industries that align more closely with his technical expertise and less in arenas that demand a deep grasp of social and emotional complexities.

This is particularly true given that Musk has Asperger's, a condition that often makes social interaction difficult or unintuitive. But this hasn't deterred Musk, who continues to dedicate himself to the social media giant and forged ahead with an appearance on Saturday Night Live and regular interviews with journalists or speaking at events. While X has seen an overall decline in users year over year, according to some reports, Musk continues to roll out new features on the platform, implying revenue may be increasing — especially after the substantial layoffs and cost-cutting conducted after Musk took over.

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This article Elon Musk Is A 'Great Engineer Better Off With Tesla And SpaceX, Not Buying Twitter,' Says Biographer Walter Isaacson originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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Full Biography of Elon Musk

Biography of Elon Musk

Elon Musk, born on June 28, 1971, is a remarkable entrepreneur and inventor known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of technology, transportation, and space exploration. 

With an innovative spirit that knows no bounds, Musk has played a key role in revolutionizing industries and pushing the boundaries of human achievement. 

He’s the driving force behind companies like SpaceX, which aims to make space travel more accessible, and Tesla, a pioneer in electric vehicles. 

Musk’s daring vision and relentless pursuit of progress have not only earned him wealth, being one of the richest people in the world but have also reshaped the way we think about the future of technology.

However, there’s more you need to know about the biography of Elon Musk. Enjoy the ride as I take you to it.

Also see: Biography of Burna Boy(2023 updated)

Table of Contents

Biography of Elon Musk – profile  

Real name: Elon Reeve Musk

Nickname: None

Gender: Male

Date of birth: June 28, 1971

Age: 52 years old (as of February 2023)

Place of birth: Pretoria, South Africa

Current residence: Various locations including Los Angeles, United States

Nationality: South African, Canadian, and American

Ethnicity: White (Caucasian)

Religion: None (Agnostic)

Sexual orientation: Straight

Height in feet: 6’2″

Height in centimeters: 188

Weight in kilograms: Approximately 90

Weight in pounds: Approximately 198

Eye color: Blue-Green

Hair color: Brown

Relationship status: In a relationship

High school: Pretoria Boys High School, Pretoria, South Africa; Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Profession: Entrepreneur, Engineer, Inventor

Net worth: $151 Billion

Twitter: @elonmusk

Biography of Elon Musk- Early life

Elon Musk has had quite an interesting journey from his childhood to the present day. As a young boy, he was incredibly curious and showed interest in computers. He even coded his own video game at just 12 years old.

In his late teens, Elon left South Africa for Canada and eventually made his way to the United States for studies. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned degrees in physics and economics.

After that, he headed to Stanford University for a Ph.D. program but left after just two days to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.

In the late 90s, Elon co-founded a web software company called Zip2, which helped businesses put maps and directories online.

This venture was a success, and he sold it for over $300 million. He didn’t stop there! In 2002, he started SpaceX to make space travel more affordable and eventually colonize Mars.

Then came Tesla in 2004. Elon believed electric cars could be amazing, so he joined the company and led its transformation from a small startup to a major player in the automotive industry.

He wanted to show the world that electric cars could be both high-performance and sustainable.

Elon’s journey wasn’t without challenges. SpaceX faced multiple rocket failures before achieving success, and Tesla struggled to produce cars at scale.

But Elon’s determination and vision kept him going.

He’s not just about space and electric cars, though. Elon is also into renewable energy with SolarCity and Neuralink, which aims to develop brain-computer interface technology.

In addition, Elon Musk is known for his bold ideas that some initially consider crazy. But he has a way of turning these ideas into reality. His journey shows that with passion, perseverance, and a touch of daring, one person can indeed change the world.

Biography of Elon Musk – parents 

Elon Musk’s parents have interesting stories that helped shape him into the successful entrepreneur he is today. 

Elon’s father, Errol Musk, grew up in South Africa. He was an electromechanical engineer, which means he worked with machines and electricity mostly, for his inventions. However, Errol’s profession inspired Elon’s love for technology and innovation.

Also, his mother Maye Musk is equally remarkable. She was born in Canada and showed an early interest in science and nutrition. Maye became a successful dietitian and model, breaking stereotypes about age and beauty.

Her determination and courage might have influenced Elon’s boldness in tackling challenges and pushing boundaries.

However, His parents divorced when he was young, and he spent a lot of time reading and exploring on his own. 

Biography of Elon Musk – siblings 

Elon Musk, the famous entrepreneur, has a brother and a sister. Let’s take a look at his siblings’ journey from when they were kids till today.

Kimbal Musk is Elon’s younger brother. They grew up together in South Africa. As kids, they were quite close and shared an interest in computers and technology.

Just like Elon, Kimbal also showed interest in innovation. While Elon is known for his work in companies like Tesla and SpaceX, Kimbal has focused more on sustainable food initiatives.

He’s been involved in starting restaurants and organizations that promote locally sourced and organic foods.

Tosca Musk is Elon’s younger sister. Growing up, she shared her brothers’ enthusiasm for creativity. While not popularity as her brothers, Tosca found her passion in the entertainment industry.

She’s a filmmaker and producer, known for creating romance and drama movies. Her path took her in a different direction compared to her tech-focused brothers, but creativity seems to be a common thread among the Musk siblings.

Throughout their lives, Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca have pursued their interests and careers, but their shared background and experiences have likely played a role in shaping who they are today.

Biography of Elon Musk – Educational Journey

As a young boy in South Africa, Elon Musk was known for his eagerness to learn and his love for reading. He once read all the books in his local library about space and technology, setting the stage for his future endeavors.

During his school years, Elon showed his sharp mind by excelling in math and computer programming.

He even created a video game called “Blastar” when he was just 12 years old. His interest in computers led him to attend Queen’s University in Canada, where he studied physics and economics.

However, Elon’s thirst for innovation and exploration drew him to the United States. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and earned degrees in both physics and economics.

This combination of knowledge laid the groundwork for his future success in the fields of technology and business.

After college, Musk didn’t immediately dive into the tech world. He pursued a Ph.D. at Stanford but left after just two days, seeing an opportunity to contribute to the internet boom.

This decision led to the creation of Zip2, a company that helped newspapers put their content online. Elon’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited, and he went on to co-found X.com, along with other inventions over the years.

However, Elon Musk’s educational journey underscores the importance of curiosity, continuous learning, and daring to challenge the status quo.

His story is a testament to how a passion for learning, combined with relentless determination, can lead to groundbreaking innovations that change the world.

Biography of Elon Musk – cars 

Elon Musk owns a variety of cars, including a few Tesla models like the Model S, Model X, and Model 3. He’s also mentioned having a Ford Model T and a Jaguar E-Type, which are both classic cars.

Biography of Elon Musk- house 

Elon Musk reportedly owns multiple properties, including mansions in Bel Air, California, and Texas.

Biography of Elon Musk – Relationship 

Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur, has had a fascinating story when it comes to relationships. He’s been married a few times and has a lot going on in his personal life.

Elon’s first wife was Justine Musk, and they got married in 2000. They had a son together but unfortunately divorced in 2008. After that, Elon began dating actress Talulah Riley and they eventually got married in 2010.

However, they went through a couple of divorces and reconciliations before finally divorcing for the second and final time in 2016.

In 2018, Elon Musk started dating Canadian musician Grimes (real name Claire Boucher). This relationship drew quite a bit of attention due to their differing backgrounds.

In 2020, they welcomed a son named X Æ A-12 (later slightly modified to X AE A-Xii), which sparked even more curiosity around their unique choices.

However, Elon Musk’s relationships have often been public due to his high-profile status. Despite the ups and downs, he seems to be continuing to move forward in both his personal and professional endeavors.

Biography of Elon Musk – career

Elon Musk’s first big success came with Zip2, a company that provided online business directories and maps. This laid the foundation for his future ventures.

Then came PayPal, a popular online payment system. Elon’s knack for turning complex ideas into practical solutions played a major role in PayPal’s growth and eventual sale to eBay.

But Elon’s true passion lies in space exploration and sustainable energy. He founded SpaceX in 2002, with the ambitious goal of reducing space transportation costs and eventually colonizing Mars.

The company’s achievements include reusable rockets and launching satellites into orbit.

Tesla, another brainchild of Elon, aimed to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.

The electric car company faced challenges, but Musk’s dedication and belief in the mission helped it grow.

Tesla’s electric cars became popular for their performance and environmental benefits.

Musk’s interest in renewable energy extended to SolarCity, a company focused on solar energy systems. He also ventured into tunneling with The Boring Company, aiming to alleviate urban traffic congestion.

Beyond these, Musk has proposed the Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation concept, and Neuralink, a venture to develop brain-computer interface technology.

His unconventional thinking, risk-taking, and relentless pursuit of bold ideas have made him a controversial but undeniable force in the business world.

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, Elon Musk continues to lead these ventures, shaping the future in unique ways.

Biography of Elon Musk – Lifestyle

Musks is known for his intense work ethic, often involving long work hours, and an unwavering commitment to his projects. He’s known to be a hands-on leader, deeply involved in the technical aspects of his companies.

He’s also quite active on social media, where he shares updates, and thoughts, and interacts with his followers.

However, his unconventional approach has sometimes attracted controversy. Musk’s communication style and decisions have occasionally faced criticism, but he remains a stand-out figure who continues to push the boundaries of innovation and technology.

In essence, Elon Musk’s lifestyle is a testament to his unyielding dedication to pushing the limits of what’s possible. 

Biography of Elon Musk- Achievements

Elon Musk’s achievements span various industries and have had a significant impact on technology, transportation, and space exploration. His innovative thinking and determination continue to shape the future in exciting ways. Here are some of his achievements 

Tesla’s Electric Revolution: 

One of Musk’s biggest achievements is bringing electric cars into the mainstream with Tesla.

These cars are not only environmentally friendly but also high-performing and stylish, changing the way people think about electric vehicles.

SpaceX’s Reusable Rockets: 

Musk’s SpaceX developed the Falcon 9 rocket, which can be reused multiple times. This innovation drastically cuts down the cost of space travel and has opened up possibilities for more frequent and affordable space exploration.

Commercial Crew Program: 

SpaceX successfully launched astronauts to the International Space Station using the Crew Dragon capsule, marking the first time a commercial company achieved such a feat.

Hyperloop Concept: 

Musk proposed the idea of the Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation system using pods in low-pressure tubes. Although not fully realized yet, this concept has sparked interest and discussions about the future of transportation.

Solar Power Advances: 

Through SolarCity and Tesla, Musk has been instrumental in advancing solar power technology, making it more accessible and affordable for homes and businesses.

6. Neuralink’s Brain-Machine Interface:

Musk’s Neuralink aims to develop technology that connects the human brain to computers. This has the potential to revolutionize medical treatments and enhance human capabilities.

Promotion of Sustainable Energy:

Musk’s advocacy for clean energy has led to increased awareness and adoption of solar power and electric vehicles, contributing to the fight against climate change.

8. Landing Boosters on Drone Ships:

SpaceX has achieved the remarkable feat of landing rocket boosters back on Earth after launching, a breakthrough that has significantly reduced the cost of launching payloads into space.

Mission to Mars: 

Musk’s ambition includes establishing a human settlement on Mars. While this is still a work in progress, SpaceX’s efforts have pushed the boundaries of space exploration.

Innovative Transportation: 

The Boring Company aims to reduce traffic congestion by building underground tunnels for efficient transportation. While in the early stages, this concept showcases Musk’s drive to solve urban challenges.

Biography of Elon Musk – Awards 

Elon Musk has received numerous awards throughout his career for his discoveries in technology and space exploration. Let’s take a look at some of the notable awards he has received:

• Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization (2011): 

Musk was recognized for his significant contributions to space travel, including the founding of SpaceX and his vision for making space travel more accessible.

• Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal (2012): 

Elon Musk received this prestigious award for his outstanding work in the aerospace industry, particularly his role in advancing the field of commercial spaceflight.

• IEEE Honorary Membership (2013):

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) honored Musk for his influential work in electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions.

• Robert A. Heinlein Award (2014): 

This award was presented to Musk for his contributions to commercial space exploration and his efforts to create a multi-planetary future through SpaceX.

• FAI Gold Space Medal (2019): 

Musk was recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) for his exceptional achievements in space transportation.

• Axel Springer Award (2020): 

Musk received this award for his pioneering spirit and achievements in transforming industries, from electric cars with Tesla to space travel with SpaceX.

• Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2022): 

Elon Musk, along with his team at SpaceX, was honored with this award for their outstanding achievements in advancing our understanding of fundamental physics through the discovery of new gravitational wave sources.

Biography of Elon Musk – Partnerships

One of his earliest partnerships was with Martin Eberhard, co-founding Tesla Motors in 2004.

Their collaboration aimed to revolutionize the electric car industry, which eventually led to the creation of the popular Tesla electric cars we see today.

Another significant partnership was with JB Straubel, a key figure at Tesla, who helped develop the technology behind their electric vehicles.

Together, they helped design and engineer Tesla’s latest electric powertrains.

In the aerospace industry, Elon Musk partnered with Tom Mueller, an engineer, to work on SpaceX’s ambitious goals of reducing space travel costs and eventually enabling human colonization of Mars.

Their teamwork led to the development of the Falcon 1 rocket, which became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit.

Furthermore, in 2010, Elon Musk collaborated with NASA to develop the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, enabling cargo and crew transport to the International Space Station (ISS).

This partnership marked a significant shift in the space industry, allowing private companies to contribute to space exploration.

Musk’s involvement with SolarCity, a solar energy company founded by his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, was another notable partnership.

SolarCity aimed to make solar energy more accessible to homeowners, aligning with Musk’s vision for sustainable energy solutions.

More recently, Musk has been partnering with various companies and organizations to develop technologies for high-speed transportation, brain-computer interfaces, and more.

These partnerships continue to showcase his commitment to advancing innovation across multiple sectors.

Biography of Elon Musk – net worth

Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated to be around $151 billion.

Biography of Elon Musk – Social Media 

Here are the approximate numbers of followers Elon Musk had on each of the listed social media platforms:

Twitter: @elonmusk – 

Instagram: @elonmusk

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Elon Musk Book for Kids: The Ultimate Biography of Elon Musk for children Ages (6-12), colored pages (Legends for Kids) Hardcover – Large Print, October 27, 2023

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ELON MUSK BOOK FOR KIDS:

Blast off into a world of imagination and innovation with "Elon musk book for kids" - the ultimate journey for young, curious minds!

• Prepare to embark on an out-of-this-world adventure through the life of the real-life Tony Stark of our generation, Elon Musk. This book is your ticket to explore the fascinating universe of space exploration, electric cars, and renewable energy, all through the eyes of a brilliant entrepreneur who dares to dream big.
• Join us as we unravel the incredible story of Elon Musk, from his childhood dreams to becoming the man behind SpaceX, Tesla, and so much more. Through captivating stories and colorful illustrations, young readers will discover what it takes to reach for the stars and change the world.
• Learn how Elon Musk's innovations are paving the way for a brighter, more sustainable future. From electric cars that zip silently through the streets to rockets that soar into space and land back on Earth, Elon's visions are shaping the world in ways never before imagined.
• Let your imagination run wild with fun facts, mind-blowing experiments, and thought-provoking questions, designed to spark the next generation of inventors, engineers, and explorers. Whether you dream of conquering Mars, saving the planet, or just want to know more about the man behind the magic, this book is your launchpad to adventure.
• "Rocket Adventures with Elon" is not just a book; it's an invitation to dream, to create, and to dare to reach for the stars. Join us and discover how one person's dreams can change the world. Get ready to be inspired, entertained, and educated on a journey that's truly out of this world!
• Top notch colored book for kids.
• Large print with a lot of pictures for young readers.
• Perfect for young readers.
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• It has top notch colored pages.

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• Reading age 6 - 12 years
• Print length 56 pages
• Language English
• Dimensions 8.5 x 0.31 x 11 inches
• Publisher Verity Books
• Publication date October 27, 2023
• ISBN-10 0981174353
• ISBN-13 978-0981174358
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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verity Books; Large type / Large print edition (October 27, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 56 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0981174353
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0981174358
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 6 - 12 years
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.31 x 11 inches
• #1,734 in Children's Science Biographies (Books)

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Elon Musk's 11 Children: All About His Kids and Their Mothers

Elon Musk is the father of 11 children, including a pair of twins and a set of triplets with his ex-wife Justine Wilson and two boys and a girl with ex-girlfriend Grimes

Elon Musk 's family keeps on growing.

Within two decades, the Tesla founder has become a father of 11 children with three women. His first child was born in 2002 and his most recent in 2023.

The first six children he shares with his ex-wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson . After first meeting as students at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, the SpaceX CEO wed Wilson in 2000 — but after seven years of marriage and five kids, the couple officially divorced in 2008.

"Custody of our five children is split evenly," Musk said in a 2010 Business Insider op-ed. "Almost all of my non-work waking hours are spent with my boys, and they are the love of my life."

Two years later, the entrepreneur married and divorced actress Talulah Riley twice — the first lasting from 2010 to 2012, and the second from 2013 to 2016. They never had children together.

In 2018, Musk and singer-songwriter Grimes (whose real name is Claire Boucher) were linked — and had their first child together in 2020.

Despite splitting up in September 2021 after three years, Grimes revealed in a March 2022 Vanity Fair interview that the couple had reconciled and welcomed another child via surrogate in December 2021. At the time, she also revealed that the couple wants more babies — telling the outlet, "we've always wanted at least three or four" — but the day the article was released, she tweeted that they had broken up again.

A few weeks prior to the arrival of their second child together, the CEO secretly fathered twins with Shivon Zilis in November 2021, according to court documents published by Insider. The twins were born in Austin, Texas.

In September 2023, a biography about Musk revealed that he and Grimes had secretly welcomed a third child. They named their second son Techno Mechanicus , who also goes by “Tau."

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal ’s CEO Council, Musk spoke about his children's futures. He shared that he has no plans to "automatically" give his children shares of his companies "if they have no interest or inclination or ability to manage" his empire.

Learn more about Musk's family, below.

Nevada Alexander

Musk had his first son, Nevada Alexander, with his first wife, Justine Wilson in 2002. Sadly, at 10 weeks old, he passed away from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

"Nevada went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing," Wilson wrote in a 2010 essay for Marie Claire . "By the time the paramedics resuscitated him, he had been deprived of oxygen for so long that he was brain-dead."

She continued, "He spent three days on life support in a hospital in Orange County before we made the decision to take him off it. I held him in my arms when he died."

Vivian Jenna Wilson and Griffin

In her Marie Claire essay, Wilson details their journey to expanding their family further.

"I buried my feelings ... coping with Nevada's death by making my first visit to an IVF clinic less than two months later. Elon and I planned to get pregnant again as swiftly as possible. Within the next five years, I gave birth to twins, then triplets," she wrote .

One of Musk's now 18-year-old twins has filed to legally change her name and gender and said she no longer wishes to be related to her father, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

The April 18 petition seeks the legal change of her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson (the maiden name of her mother, Justine Wilson); recognition of her gender as female; and the issuance of a new birth certificate to reflect the changes.

"Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form," Vivian wrote in the petition explaining her request for the changes.

In an October 2022 interview with Financial Times , Musk said he believes Vivian doesn't want to be associated with him because of the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists. "It's full-on communism . . . and a general sentiment that if you're rich, you're evil," said the Tesla CEO. "It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Can't win them all."

Kai, Saxon and Damian

Wilson gave birth to triplets named Kai, Saxon, and Damian in 2006, two years after having twins. She revealed in a 2017 TedTalk that they were also conceived via IVF, but she and Musk have not discussed the children themselves publicly.

Musk does not often discuss his own family, but he does have strong opinions on increasing the birth rate — stating that there are "not enough people" in the world at Wall Street Journal 's annual CEO Council in December 2021.

"I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birthrate," he said. "Please look at the numbers – if people don't have more children, civilization is going to crumble, mark my words."

In a 2023 biography on the tech mogul, titled  Elon Musk ,  author Walter Isaacson wrote about Damian , who became a vegetarian at age 8 to "decrease my carbon footprint."

Isaacson also mentioned that Damian became a classical music prodigy who excelled in math and physics. Musk's mom, Maye, even once told her son, "I think Damian is brighter than you."

For more on Elon Musk, listen below to our daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.

Grimes and Musk welcomed their first child on May 4, 2020 after the singer announced her pregnancy with a picture of her baby bump back in January 2020. Their son X Æ A-12, whose name was later changed to X Æ A-Xii , was in part named after the CIA's Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance plane.

Though nicknamed "X," Grimes broke down his pronunciation in her Instagram comment section. "It's just X, like the letter X," she wrote. "Then A.I.," she added. "Like how you said the letter A then I."

But Musk explained the pronunciation differently, saying on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that "X" is spoken "like the letter" while "the 'Æ' is pronounced like 'ash.'"

While proudly stating that "A-12 was [his] contribution," he said it was Grimes who " mostly came up with the name ." She even gave a thorough description of the meaning behind it on her Twitter .

The boy later made headlines when he joined his dad for a tense meeting at Twitter at the age of 2.

According to The Washington Post , Musk brought X Æ A-Xii to Twitter's offices while meeting with Trust and Safety Office Yoel Roth in October 2022. The child was reportedly running around the building as Musk discussed Twitter's future. X Æ A-Xii also made himself comfortable in the conference room, which the newspaper reported "was strewn with toys."

In April 2023, X Æ A-Xii tagged along with his dad to the MMA Global Possible Conference in Miami. The little boy was seen playing with Musk on stage, which the audience found heartwarming.

Four months later, Grimes opened up about her son's love of spacecraft . "X knows a lot about rockets. It's crazy," she explained. "He knows more about rockets than me."

She even admitted that she was worried about his "obsession with space" after SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded after takeoff in April.

"When X saw Starship blow up, he had, like, a three-day PTSD meltdown," the mom of two said. "Every hour, he was waking up and going, 'Starship ...' and I had to rub his back."

Strider and Azure

Walter Isaacson/Twitter

Musk secretly welcomed twins, son Strider and daughter Azure, with Shivon Zilis in November 2021, according to court documents published by Insider on July 6 . The twins were born in Austin, Texas — just weeks before he and Grimes welcomed a baby girl via a surrogate.

The papers reveal that in April, Musk and Zilis — who is the project director at his Neuralink company — asked a Texan county court to change their babies' names so they would "have their father's last name and contain their mother's last name as part of their middle name."

The parents revealed the babies' names and sexes in September 2023, when they were 16 months old.

Exa Dark Sideræl

Grimes revealed a year later in a Vanity Fair interview that she welcomed a baby girl via surrogate in December 2021, three months after the couple's public breakup. Named Exa Dark Sideræl, the singer-songwriter explained that her name has double meaning.

Exa refers to a supercomputing term, exaFLOPS, while Dark represents "the unknown." She explained to the outlet, "People fear it but truly it's the absence of photons. Dark matter is the beautiful mystery of our universe."

The third part of Y's full name, Sideræl, is pronounced "sigh-deer-ee-el," according to Vanity Fair. Grimes described the word as "a more elven" spelling of sidereal, which she defined as "the true time of the universe, star time, deep space time, not our relative earth time."

The second meaning of Sideræl is a nod to Grimes' favorite Lord of the Rings character, Galadriel, who "chooses to abdicate the ring."

In March 2023, Grimes shared a rare photo of her daughter on Twitter — and revealed that the little girl is going by a new name.

"Normally we [don't] post her for her privacy, but she's fairly unrecognizable here since shes channeling Goku," the mom-of-two wrote in the comments, referring to a Dragon Ball character. The photo showed Musk's youngest in a red onesie with super blonde spiked hair.

In a separate comment, Grimes said: "She's Y now, or "Why?" or just "?" (But the government won't recognize that). curiosity, the eternal question, .. and such."

In August, Grimes described her younger child as "a little engineer," and said, "she likes industrial shipping. She's very strange."

Techno Mechanicus

Journalist Walter Isaacson's biography about Musk revealed the birth of the Tesla founder's third child with Grimes. The couple secretly welcomed a second son, Techno Mechanicus , who also goes by “Tau."

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Why Is Elon Musk Dragging His 3-Year-Old All Over the World?

Lil x has become both prop and ‘emotional support human.’.

On a rainy night in early April, Elon Musk brought his young son X Æ A-12 — whom everyone calls X — to the Lobster Club for a party for a PBS documentary screening. “The younger Musk wandered around the restaurant wearing a Tesla shirt,” while his father schmoozed with guests, the New York Times reported , under a headline that read “Partying on a Tuesday With Elon Musk and His 3-Year-Old.”

The photos from the party show a cheerful Musk leaning in to chat with the film’s executive producer Kathryn Murdoch. Had Tesla shares tumbled after disastrous first-quarter results? Did the market-research firm Caliber say the day before that the Tesla CEO’s right-wing rants and public feuds were likely “contributing to the reputational downfall” of the brand, hurting sales? Yes, it had. But how adorable did Lil X, as his father has also called him, look in that photo?

The message, intentional or otherwise, was clear: This was not the erratic, share-tanking shitposter you’ve heard about, but a cuddly dad who has it all.

Nor was it the first time that X, Musk’s eldest son with the singer Grimes, had been carted around the way children his age might clutch a stuffie. What’s weird is how little flak Musk gets for this behavior, which often gets chalked up to charming eccentricity, Musk being Musk. His fatherly antics are met with admiration on the platform formerly known as Twitter, which he owns, evidence of Musk showing his personal commitment to stanching the population collapse he rarely fails to mention these days. “At the end of the day, birth rate is all that matters for civilizational continuity,” he recently posted , bemoaning the rise of young people who identify as LGBTQ. Schlepping one of his ten known children around becomes just another way to show how much skin he has in that doomerist game.

All this obscures the fact that one of the world’s richest men is ensuring that his young son is photographed constantly, reportedly against his mother’s will, while seemingly denying him the routine and socialization of a healthy childhood. Why? A read of the public record suggests Musk’s behavior is at once a calculated attempt to soften his own image, an intense attachment to this particular child, and, per RadarOnline’s reporting of Grimes’s custody filings, a willingness to use X as a pawn in their custody dispute.

X has been spotted since early toddlerhood standing atop conference tables or clambering around Musk’s worksites. When X was 2 years old, Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson wrote that he witnessed him at 10 p.m. climbing on a moving spotlight during a solar-roof construction. (Musk intervened at that point.) Last April, according to X’s mother , watching his dad’s Starship rocket explode had given X “like, a three-day PTSD meltdown.” While Grimes and Musk were still together, she sounded concerned about X’s ubiquitous public presence. “Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it, and X is just out there,” she said in a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair . “I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff.” A few months later, X was at the first meeting with the Twitter brass after Musk acquired the company.

The custody dispute between X’s parents, which began last year, has only seemed to heighten his visibility, even as Grimes claimed that she herself had been unable to see the boy. In September, the day after Musk filed suit in a Texas family court in an apparent preemptive strike against Grimes trying to adjudicate in friendlier California, Grimes tweeted at Isaacson to “tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer.” She soon deleted it, but it sounded like a genuine cry for help.

Later that month, Musk was filmed bouncing his son on his lap in a meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan , who a little uneasily asked where Musk’s “wife” was. Musk told him, “We are separated and I take care of him mostly.” When someone posted the video calling him “the SuperDad Elon Musk [heart hands emoji],” Musk replied , “Lil X is my emotional support human.” Isaacson also quotes Musk jokingly calling his son his “cuteness prop.”

In November, X was spotted on the SpaceX livestream with Musk in the control room for the launch of the second Starship rocket, which also exploded. In December, X was onstage at the annual conference of far-right Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, clinging to his father and cowering a bit before the audience; even after being shooed into the wings, he scrambled back onstage to grasp his father’s leg. “Make more Italians to save Italy’s culture,” Musk instructed the audience, on his population-panic hobby horse.

Two weeks later, RadarOnline reported on a court filing Grimes made alleging that Musk, who cited numerous security threats against himself and his family in getting the custody filings sealed, was using X as a bargaining chip in their dispute. “He has refused to let mother see [X] unless she consents to jurisdiction in Texas,” the filing was quoted as saying. (Texas, unlike Grimes’s preferred jurisdiction of California, caps child support.) “He has on countless occasions secreted [X] from mother and taken him to Texas over her objection.” The status of the case, including whether they’ve come to an agreement, is unclear, since the Texas court proceedings were sealed from the public in December at Musk’s request.

This January, as Musk attempted to do cleanup after endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, X was photographed perched on his father’s shoulders at Auschwitz. Official guidelines state that the site of the murder of over a million people is not recommended for children under the age of 14. In March, X was at a Tesla factory in Germany.

If Musk has been using X to burnish his family-guy image and negotiate custody with Grimes, he also appears to have developed a real psychological bond with him. Avowedly scarred by his allegedly abusive father, who among other things had two children with the much younger woman he’d helped raise as his stepdaughter, Musk has been open about his desire to never be alone. (In an interview with Daily Mail , his father denied the abuse allegations described in Isaacson’s book.) For years, this took the form of tempestuous relationships, including three marriages to and divorces from two women, one of which involved an ugly battle over a postnuptial agreement with his first wife, Justine.

In 2022, one of Musk’s twins with Justine turned 18 and filed papers in Los Angeles County Superior Court to register her gender transition to female and change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, her mother’s maiden name. By way of explanation, Wilson wrote, “Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”

From the earliest days of his career, long before he renamed Twitter, Elon Musk has nurtured an obsession with the letter X: The early payment company he co-founded that eventually was subsumed by PayPal was X.com, followed by SpaceX, Tesla’s Model X, and so on. (He didn’t care if it sounded like adult entertainment.) The name Vivian had been given at birth began with an X. On Reddit, where devoted ex-Grimes fans obsessively track her and Musk, one theory had it that Lil X had been anointed to step in the place of the first X-named Musk. To Isaacson, Musk compared Vivian cutting him off to the death in infancy of his and Justine’s firstborn son. An unrelated deposition made public this week confirmed the rumor that Musk has a burner account in which he seems to pose as Lil X and post things like ​​“I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” — his son’s actual birthday — and “I wish I was old enough to go to nightclubs. They sound so fun.”

Right after Vivian’s repudiation was made public, in July 2022, Musk broke an unusual nine-day Twitter silence by sharing a photograph of his four teenage sons and him meeting the pope. According to Isaacson, this upset the boys: “One of them even cried.” Another “asked him to not tweet out pictures of them without their permission. Musk got depressed, dropped off the group chat, and a few minutes later sent word that they were returning to the U.S.”

X, of course, cannot yet protest.

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Elon Musk’s dating history: Amber Heard, Grimes and more

H e may be best known as the founder and chief engineer of SpaceX, the CEO of Tesla and the man who turned Twitter into X , but billionaire businessman Elon Musk is famous for his private life, too.

After all, the 52-year-old has fathered 11 children , and he didn’t welcome that big brood into the world alone. Over the years, Musk has dated multiple famous faces, been married three times (to two women) and had one workplace situationship .

Who are the women who’ve been by his side? Read on to learn all about them.

Justine Musk (née Wilson)

In the early 1990s, Musk attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he met his Canadian-born college sweetheart, Justine Wilson, a then-aspiring writer one year behind him.

In an essay she penned for Marie Claire in 2010, she recalled young Musk as “a clean-cut, upper-class boy with a South African accent who appeared in front of me one afternoon as I was leaping up the steps to my dorm. He said we’d met at a party I knew I hadn’t been to. (Years later, he would confess that he had noticed me from across the common room and decided he wanted to meet me.)”

Though she found him charming and they dated briefly, their studies and personal ambitions took them in different directions — until just a couple of years later, when they reunited and became closer than ever.

In January 2000, the couple married, and over the course of the following eight years, a whirlwind of events changed their lives.

Musk went from well off to staggeringly wealthy, thanks in large part to eBay’s 2002 acquisition of PayPal. As the financial tech company’s largest shareholder, Musk made $165 million from the deal, according to CNN Business . Meanwhile, his wife launched her own career as a dark fantasy author.

Two years after they wed, the couple welcomed their first child, a son named Nevada, who died of sudden infant death syndrome at just 10 weeks old. In 2004, they welcomed twins, son Griffin and a child who later transitioned and now goes by her middle name, Jenna . And just two years after that, the Musk family added three more sons with the arrival of triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian.

In her Marie Claire essay, the mother of six noted that their relationship “was a dream lifestyle, privileged and surreal. But the whirlwind of glitter couldn’t disguise a growing void at the core.”

The pair divorced in 2008.  

Talulah Riley

As one relationship ended in 2008, another began: Musk started dating English actor Talulah Riley.

According to the “Westworld” star, she had no idea who he was at the time.

“I remember thinking that this guy probably didn’t get to talk to young actresses a lot and that he seemed quite nervous,” she told Ashlee Vance, author of the 2015 biography “ Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future .” “I decided to be really nice to him and give him a nice evening. Little did I know that he’d spoken to a lot of pretty girls in his life.”

At first, Riley did not know much about Musk. But soon, she realized she knew enough to make a big commitment.

“It all happened very fast,” she recalled in a 2014 interview with “ 60 Minutes .” “We were engaged after, I think, two weeks of knowing each other. And I was 22 and it was ... fast. And then we were in it.”

In 2010, they wed — and stayed hitched for a while. By 2012, they divorced. But that wasn’t the end of their romance. The couple gave it another go, walking down the aisle for a second time in 2013, before finally parting ways permanently in 2016.

Amber Heard

A year after Musk’s divorce from Riley and a year after “Aquaman” star Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp, the two high-profile personalities began publicly dating.

By May of 2017, things seemed solid for the couple, as Heard shared photos to Instagram featuring an Australian vacation in which she can be seen frolicking with Musk’s sons.

However, as the year progressed, their relationship was rumored to be off and on, and in November 2017, Musk opened up about their split in Rolling Stone .

“I just broke up with my girlfriend,” he told the publication. “I was really in love, and it hurt bad. ... Well, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think.”

Though it’s hard to say exactly when they started dating or when they officially broke up, Musk and singer-songwriter Grimes had an on-again, off-again partnership that lasted around three years, per Vanity Fair .

In May 2018, after several weeks of dating rumors, the couple attended the Met Gala together, seemingly confirming their relationship status. But by August, they were contending with split rumors after reports from sources including Business Insider shared that the two unfollowed each other on social media.

It appeared they were going strong again in 2020, as they welcomed a son, X Æ A-Xii , followed by another child via surrogate in 2021, a girl named Exa Dark Sideræl .

In March 2022, Grimes told Vanity Fair , “I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. We live in separate houses. We’re best friends.”

At least that was the case at the time.

By the time the story was published, she had another update to share, writing on X, formerly Twitter, “Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but he’s my best friend and the love of my life.”

In mid-June of 2022, Musk and Grimes — perhaps as a couple, perhaps as best friends — welcomed another son. They named him Techno Mechanicus.

Shivon Zilis

During his on-and-off relationship with Grimes, Musk dipped into another relationship, this time with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, a neurotechnology company Musk co-founded and owns.

In November 2021, the two welcomed twins Strider and Azure via in vitro fertilization.

“I’m just a fool for love. I am often a fool, but especially for love,” Musk is quoted in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography, “Elon Musk.”

But according to Zilis, love had nothing to do with bringing their children into the world. Strictly speaking, the two weren’t even in a romantic relationship.

“He really wants smart people to have kids, so he encouraged me to do this,” Zilis explained in the book. “I can’t possibly think of genes I would prefer for my children.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com

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Larry David confronted Elon Musk at a wedding over Republican support

“Do you just want to murder kids in schools?”

Larry David confronted Elon Musk for supporting the Republican Party at a wedding last year, according to a new biography.

As described in author Walter Isaacson’s authorised biography, Elon Musk, the altercation is said to have occurred at Endeavour CEO Ari Emanuel’s wedding in Saint-Tropez, France in May 2022, a few days after the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

• READ MORE:  7 times Larry David’s real life was just like an episode of  Curb …

According to the book (via New York Post ), the Curb Your Enthusiasm creator “seemed to be fuming” when he sat down with Musk at the wedding reception.

“Do you just want to murder kids in schools?” David asked Musk, seemingly in reference to the shooting which killed 19 children and two teachers. The “baffled” and “annoyed” Tesla CEO is said to have replied: “I’m anti-kid murder.” In reponse, David said: “Then how could you vote Republican?”

David later confirmed the encounter to Isaacson, telling the author: “His tweets about voting Republican because Democrats were the party of division and hate were sticking in my craw. Even if Uvalde never happened, I probably would have brought it up, because I was angry and offended.”

Last year, Musk said he plans to vote Republican in the next election despite voting “overwhelmingly” for Democrats in the past.

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Speaking at a Miami tech conference (via Insider ), Musk said: “The reality is that Twitter at this point, you know, has a very far left bias. I would classify myself as a moderate, neither Republican nor Democrat.

“I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically. Like I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election I will.”

In 2021, David reportedly engaged in a heated row with Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz over his political ties to Donald Trump .

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