Musk is the now the richest man in history
Elon Musk's net worth rose to $271.3 billion after Hertz announced they were buying 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla, which resulted in the company's surge of market cap surpassing the $1 trillion mark. Elon currently owns a 23% stake in Tesla which comprises the bulk of his wealth, but also holds a minority stake in his other privately founded company, SpaceX. Despite being the richest man in history, Musk doesn't have much real estate assets left from a recent spree of selling half a dozen of his California mansions, and is now currently living in a fold-able, prefabricated studio-type house rented from a tiny-homes startup, Boxabl. The Tesla CEO now lives in Boca Chica Texas, where SpaceX's main headquarters is located, making it easy for him to manage the company's projects 24/7.
Tesla revolutionized the electric car industry
Tesla, being the only electric car company startup in 2003, became a top competitor against gas-powered vehicles, paving the way for electric vehicle technology. Tesla's first product, the Roadster, was created as a sports car, offered for racing enthusiasts, but it wasn't until the year 2011, when the company decided to start creating personal vehicles by building the Model S Prototype. Musk's unique approach to the electric vehicle industry was that he did not only focus on automotive design and engineering, but manufactured very efficient car batteries and a network of supercharging stations, to create an entirely new sustainable transport ecosystem. Elon didn't only want Tesla to be a typical boring electric car company with super-powered batteries but brought speed to the market as well, making the Long Range Plus Model S sedan perform a 0-60 mph acceleration within 3.7 seconds.
The era of reusable rockets through SpaceX
In May 2002, Elon promised to bring re-usability, lower launch costs and easier access to space through his space company startup - SpaceX. Nearly a decade later, Musk has made good on his promise thanks to his Falcon 9 two-stage rocket that was designed to launch satellites and eventually people into orbit. The billionaire has been on a mission of getting people to Mars since the conception of SpaceX, and although he hasn't brought anyone or anything to the Red Planet just yet, theoretically SpaceX is already capable of sending 8,300 kg of payload to Mars through its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX is the first space company to land rocket boosters on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, particularly the reusable boosters of it's Falcon 9 rocket.
Solving traffic through The Boring Company
On top of Tesla's electric vehicles, and reusable rockets from SpaceX, Musk has set his sights on solving traffic by creating a system of underground tunnels through his other company - The Boring Company. In 2017, Elon designed a system wherein cars are lowered underground through a metal platform transportation pod, and allowed to zoom through tunnels at 124 mph, unhindered by any traffic. According to Musk, the main issue with building a tunneling system is that it takes a very long time to build them, on top of the very high expenditure it requires. At present, The Boring Company is figuring out innovations to tunneling technology that will allow them to build tunnels faster and cheaper.
Neuralink and Artificial Intelligence
Another project that Elon has been working on is creating a neural implant that can sync up human brain with artificial intelligence, enabling us humans to control computers, prosthetic devices and limbs using only our thoughts. Although at first it sounds like science fiction, Musk has already brought in teams of researchers from around the globe to experiment with surgically implanted Brain Computer Interface (BCI) in humans and have so far enabled people with neurological diseases and paralysis to operate tablets, and type at least eight words per minute using their thoughts. The most recent evidence of the potential advantage of a Neuralink chip was the demonstration of a monkey playing Pong on a computer screen using only it's thoughts. From his latest interview with The Wall Street Journal, Elon said that in 2022, we can expect approval of human trials and that Neuralink is much closer than ever before to helping people who have spinal cord injuries, quadriplegics and other individuals with motor disabilities to use their limbs again through advanced prosthetic technology through the company.
Solar City
Elon's quest for sustainable energy is not only limited to Tesla's electric vehicles and reusable rockets, but also through a startup he co-founded with his cousins in 2006 - Solar City. Solar City has become the second-largest provider of solar-power technology in America which has already provided installations in select areas of 14 other states, including the District of Columbia. The company is creating storage systems letting people tap into power supply produced by solar panels at night and working with Tesla to provide free solar-powered charging stations from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back. Solar City has also influenced Tesla to build the Powerwall - a rechargeable home battery system that stores energy from solar, or from America's grid, that is able to power people's home during the night and charge a Tesla car.
Elon Musk's humble beginnings
Elon Musk migrated to America at age 17 with no money, and later on graduated with over $100k in debt despite having scholarships, and working two jobs while at school. Born in South Africa, Elon had always dreamed of migrating to America and thought it would be easier to enter the US from Canada where his mother lives. Musk worked odd jobs at a farm and lumber-mill when he was in Canada, and attempted to get a job at Netscape but failed, when he moved to America. When Elon and his brother Kimbal started their first company Zip2, they could only afford to rent an office where they both slept on the floor and showered at the YMCA.
Elon Musk's worst year is 2008
Elon Musk may be one of the richest person in history today, but things have not always been easy 13 years ago. In 2008, Elon in an interview said that he only had $30 million left and had a major crisis on where to invest that money, whether to put it in one company and let the other company die, or to put it into both, and risk both companies of dying. Musk decided to put $15 million in each company and risked the loss of both companies, which fortunately didn't happen since Tesla and SpaceX were able to pull through. Musk initially made $180 million from selling PayPal to Ebay in 2002 and bet it all on Tesla and SpaceX, leaving him with $30 million left in 2008. Based on Elon Musk's interview with Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes, in 2008, the Falcon 1 rocket has failed for the third time and Tesla hit a speed bump with it's early model Roadster, causing the company to hemorrhage money.
Elon's influence on the cryptocurrency market
Elon Musk is quite active on Twitter and has greatly influenced the crypto space in the last couple of years, sending the price of Bitcoin as well as Dogecoin up and down. With over 55 million followers, the market seems to react to every crypto-related tweet that Elon posts on his public account. In May 2021, Musk hosted Saturday Night Live sending the price of Dogecoin upwards by 73% before the show started, and causing it to fall by 22% at 11:30 pm after the show, and subsequently down to 30% 24 hours later. Elon Musk, the billionaire trying to get people to Mars, explained cryptocurrency to the NBC show's audience during the Weekend Update segment of SNL, appearing as cryptocurrency expert Llyod Ostertag, but asked hosts Michael Che and Colin to call him "The Dogefather".
Elon Musk's famous productivity method
Musk is known to use time blocking method to boost his productivity and accomplish a significant amount of tasks for his companies. Apparently, Elon is able to reply to an e-mail within 5 minutes, packs or eats a meal within 5 minutes, and meets with his team for updates for 5 minutes. From the second Musk gets up from his bed at 7 in the morning, his day has already been pre-planned in advance with no room for interruptions and no blocks of time left unscheduled. Elon's strategy is based on the productivity principle of Parkinson's Law, which states that work expands to fill the available time for it's completion, therefore pushing tasks to be completed, not necessarily within 5 minutes, but within a shorter allocated time given.
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