X.com is actually part of the famous online paying website, PayPal. Elon Musk used 10 million from his Zip2 company and created a company that is based around the idea of transferring money through email. One year later he merged with Confinity and the company renamed itself PayPal. Elon Musk was ousted from CEO because people disagreed with his idea that PayPal should move itself to Windows. PayPal was later bought by eBay for 1.5 billion in stocks which Elon got 156 million from his share in the company.
Elon also created SpaceX, where he had the crazy idea of making humans a multi-planetary species. His aim was to make space travel much cheaper, cutting the costs by a factor of 10, making it more achievable and more sustainable, and exploring space so that humans are not going to exhaust the resources on Earth. Elon Musk made his rocket boosters reusable which land back on the designated landing pads on Earth. He also successfully brought materials to the ISS and got awarded a contract with NASA to continue the development of his rockets. One of his more recent stunts is sending his personal Tesla Roadster into space. It was a dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy which was the most powerful rocket in operation in 2018.
And of course, there is Tesla. Elon Musk started off with building a sports car and followed this plan: Build a sports car. Use that money to build an affordable car. Use that money to build an even more affordable car. While doing the above, also provide zero-emission electric power generation options. This motto explains a lot of the car models being produced. He started off with a basic roadster that was essentially an electric Lotus sports car. He poured so much money into making sure the car would come off the assembly line and to owners who ordered one. He went broke and into debt as he was dealing with divorce issues at the same time. He poured his 180 million into Tesla and SpaceX to keep them afloat. It worked. Tesla would continue to release its first sedan, the famous Model-S in 2012 and debut its Model-X in the same year. Elon Musk is a jokester as well so, in his model lineup, he wanted to spell out the word, S-E-X-Y. Starting with the Model-S followed by the Model-E, Model-X, and Model-Y. But he came into some complications with Ford as Ford would not let Tesla use Model-E as a car name. Elon concluded that Ford was killing S-E-X. After all that, Elon wanted to set up lithium-ion battery factories and create an autonomous driving mode that is much safer than any other self-driving cars. Solar City, a company Elon also started up, was acquired by Tesla in 2016. Solar City was the second-largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. The aim was to combat climate change and global warming and partner up with Tesla to use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop solar on the power grid.
These are just the main companies that Elon Musk brought to life. There are plenty of others so if you wanted to learn more about those, research and read about them.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Career
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/elon-musk-companies-disruption/
https://www.ccn.com/elon-musk-broke-save-tesla-in-2008-now-worth-21-billion/
I found your post a really interesting detailing of Elon Musk's adventure in business. Elon Musk to me really describes a man following his own American Dream and someone who succeed at it. Leaving home at 17 for Canada, he already had a vision for his future and he he followed it all the way through. A current day billionaire, Musk is someone people can look up to as well as follow his steps for their own American Dream to succeed. Even as it seems that the American Dream is becoming more and more difficult to find success with, figures such as Elon Musk, to me, show that it's still possible, even if a lot more difficult.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk
This is a really well-written and detailed post! I think it is really interesting how forward-thinking Elon Musk really is with respect to his plans for the future, which are reflected in his plans for space travel to become more accessible and inexpensive through SpaceX and designing high-functioning electric cars (Tesla) with the intention of eventually making them more affordable. It is these ambitions that seem to separate him from other technological innovators including Jeff Bezos or even Steve Jobs, as he is making developments that can help our entire society progress for generations and advance civilization as a whole.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030316/how-elon-musk-will-revolutionize-modern-world.asp