Elon musk
Early Life and Education
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He is the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. He has a younger brother, Kimbal, and a younger sister, Tosca. Musk taught himself computer programming at the age of 10. He moved to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania where he earned two bachelor's degrees in physics and economics.
Zip2 Corporation
In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web software company. Zip2 developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options in 1999.
PayPal
In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. One year later, the company acquired Confinity, which had a money-transfer service called PayPal. X.com was then renamed PayPal in 2001, and expanded rapidly throughout the year before its initial public offering (IPO) on February 15, 2002. Later that year, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock.
SpaceX
After the sale of PayPal, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, in May 2002 with the long-term goal of creating a true spacefaring civilization. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, both designed to be reusable, and the Dragon spacecraft which is flown into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with cargo.
Tesla, Inc.
In 2004, Musk joined electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.) as chairman and an investor. He became its CEO in 2008. Under his leadership, Tesla has introduced a series of electric vehicles and has also built a network of charging stations to facilitate long-distance travel.
SolarCity
In 2006, Musk co-founded SolarCity, a photovoltaics products and services company with his cousin Lyndon Rive. It is the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity.
Neuralink
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company, to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence. The company is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence.
The Boring Company
In December 2016, Musk founded The Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel construction company focused on developing the technology for an underground, high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop.
Philanthropy
Musk has also been involved in various philanthropic endeavors, establishing the Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on providing solar-power energy systems in disaster areas.
Personal Life
Musk has been married three times and has six sons. He is known for his high-risk tolerance and vision for the future of humanity, including the colonization of Mars and the integration of artificial intelligence with the human brain.
