Top5 Amazing Facts About Elon Musk That Will Shock You

In this article we will explore amazing facts about Elon Musk, highlighting his achievements and the impact he has made in just a few decades. Elon Musk is a notable entrepreneur, engineer, and inventor originally from South Africa. He is recognized for his significant contributions to technology and is often viewed as a real-life Iron Man. At the age of 45, he is the 83rd richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately 11.5 billion dollars, which is on the rise. So let’s begin.

5) Investments

Musk began his journey at a young age, coding his first game called Blastar when he was just 12, selling it for $500. He showed early signs of talent similar to Bill Gates, spending five hours a day reading and quickly gaining knowledge. To overcome his fear of the dark, he studied basic physics and learned that darkness is simply the absence of visible light. 

Musk began a PhD in applied physics at Stanford in 1995 but dropped out after just two days due to boredom. He had already earned degrees in physics and economics. Instead, he launched a business called Zip2 with his brother, borrowing $28,000 from his father to create a software company that acted as a city guide for newspapers before services like Google Maps existed. He later sold Zip2 for $22 million. 

Elon Musk was a co-founder and a member of the PayPal mafia. After finding success with Zip 2, he targeted the banking industry by starting X.com. X.com and PayPal competed for a few years before merging. However, he was removed as CEO in 2000 due to disagreements over leadership. When PayPal was sold, Musk received $165 million. 

The PayPal mafia refers to the group of people who created PayPal, who all went on to start other highly successful companies. Three of them created YouTube, one founded LinkedIn (which Microsoft bought for $26 billion), and another started Yelp. Other members became respected investors in Silicon Valley with early investments in Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Uber. Musk himself transformed industries with Tesla and SpaceX. 

Musk experienced what is known as a “moxa moment,” where he invested all he had for a chance at success. After the PayPal sale, he had $180 million, from which he invested $100 million into SpaceX, $70 million into Tesla, and $10 million into Solar City. At one point, he had to borrow money to pay rent.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has a salary of just $1 a year. He is not a founder but discovered and bought into the company, later firing the original CEO to take over. Recently, Tesla was ranked with two of the world’s most expensive electric cars. The anticipation for the Model 3 is high, and deliveries are eagerly awaited. Musk has mentioned various future plans for the company. These are some main investments of Elon Musk, which make him rich and investments are amazing facts about Elon Musk’s life.

4) Aims

One of the amazing facts about Elon Musk is that Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars and prefers to die there rather than on Earth. His company, SpaceX, has plans for an ambitious mission to make life interplanetary. Musk aims to drop the cost of traveling to Mars to about $100,000, down from the current price of around $10 billion. He hopes to send people to Mars in six years and will first send rockets filled with resources to start the colonization process. 

Mars is seen as the best option for this venture. Musk has proposed ideas for terraforming Mars, including nuking its poles to create a suitable atmosphere. His ultimate goal is to send 1 million people to Mars to enhance the chances of human survival.

Other than this Elon Musk aims to connect the entire world to the internet. Recently, he requested government approval to launch 4,425 satellites into orbit to provide free internet globally. This ambitious project could generate enough revenue for him to establish the first city on Mars. Other companies, like Facebook and Google, are also working on internet access, with Facebook using solar drones and Google employing helium balloons. Among the three, Musk is in the best position to succeed due to his existing infrastructure.

3) Think About AI

One of the amazing facts about Elon Musk is that Musk views artificial intelligence as a significant threat to human survival, believing that the world is approaching AI development incorrectly. While many tech entrepreneurs embrace AI, Musk is cautious and critical. Nonetheless, he has invested in AI companies and established a nonprofit for AI research. 

He advocates for creating a neural network where people’s brains connect to the internet, suggesting this would democratize AI and prevent it from becoming dangerous. Musk compares traditional AI to summoning a potential threat.

2) Nationality

One of the amazing facts about Elon Musk is that Elon Musk has three official nationalities. He was born in South Africa, moved to Canada at 19, and later became an American citizen in 2002, expressing strong patriotism for his adopted country. Musk has donated to both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, identifying himself as between the two parties. His contributions include $100,000 to Obama’s re-election and $2,000 to George W. Bush. 

1) Marriage Life

One of the amazing facts about Elon Musk is that Elon Musk had a relationship history similar to Elizabeth Taylor. He first married Tula Riley in 2008, separated in 2012, remarried in 2013, and filed for divorce again in 2014, finalizing it in 2016. It seems this pattern is not working, as Musk is prioritizing his ambitions over his family life. He is compared to historical figures like Henry Ford in this context.