Elon Musk's Career and Ventures

• Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa on June 28, 1971.
• His parents are Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer, and Maye Musk, a model and dietitian.
• Musk has British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
• Musk attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada at age 17, acquiring citizenship through his Canadian-born mother.
• At age 18, he matriculated at Queen's University and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received bachelor's degrees in economics and physics.
• He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University, but dropped out after two days to pursue a business career.
• He co-founded the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal; the startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999.
• In 2002, he founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company.
• In 2004, he was an early investor in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc.
• He became its chairman and product architect, eventually assuming the position of CEO in 2008.
• In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy company that was later acquired by Tesla and became Tesla Energy.
• In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company.
• The following year, he co-founded Neuralink—a neurotechnology company developing brain–computer interfaces—and The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company.
• In 2022, he purchased the social media platform Twitter for $44 billion.
• He has proposed a hyperloop high-speed vactrain transportation system, and is the president of the philanthropic Musk Foundation.

Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX, a space transport services company. He has also been an early investor in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. He has been criticized for making unscientific and misleading statements, such as spreading COVID-19 misinformation. In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk for falsely tweeting that he had secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla. Musk stepped down as chairman of Tesla and paid a $20 million fine as part of a settlement agreement with the SEC. Following his failed submarine proposal during the Tham Luang cave rescue, Musk won a defamation case brought against him by a British caver involved in the operation.

• At the age of 18, he moved to Canada to be closer to his mother and began attending a university.

• He dropped out of the university after two years and started a business with his brother.

• In 1995, he co-founded Zip2, a company that developed an Internet city guide with maps, directions, and yellow pages.

• The company obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.

• He became CEO of the merged company in 2000, but his preference for Microsoft over Unix-based software caused a rift among the company.

• The company was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999.

• In 2000, he founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company.

• The company merged with online bank Confinity to avoid competition and he returned as CEO.

• He was replaced by Bill Harris by the end of the year.

• In 2001, he founded PayPal, an online payment company.

• PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.

• He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity.

• In 2000, he resigned from Confinity, a computer software company, after disagreements with the board.

• In 2001, he founded PayPal, a money-transfer service.

• In 2002, he was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock.

• In 2017, he purchased the X.com domain from PayPal for its sentimental value.

• In 2002, he founded SpaceX, a nonprofit company to develop affordable rockets.

• In 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy, becoming the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS.

• In 2019, SpaceX began developing Starship, a fully-reusable, super-heavy-lift launch vehicle.

• In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2.

Musk is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX, the founder, CEO, and CTO of Tesla, and the founder, CEO, and CTO of SolarCity.

• Tesla, Inc. was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
• Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested $6.5 million, became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla's board of directors as chairman.
• Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007, and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.
• Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008.
• A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others.
• As of 2019, Musk was the longest-tenured CEO of any automotive manufacturer globally.
• In 2021, Musk nominally changed his title to "Technoking" while retaining his position as CEO.
• Tesla first built an electric sports car, the Roadster, in 2008.
• Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan in 2012.
• A cross-over, the Model X was launched in 2015.
• A mass-market sedan, the Model 3, was released in 2017.
• The Model 3 is the all-time bestselling plug-in electric car worldwide.
• A fifth vehicle, the Model Y crossover, was launched in 2020.
• The Cybertruck, an all-electric pickup truck, was unveiled in 2019.
• Since its initial public offering in 2010, Tesla stock has risen significantly.
• In October 2021, it reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion, the sixth company in the world to do so.