Today is Elon Musk birthday. He is one of the creative minds that helped transform the global economy in the aftermath of the late 1990s tech boom. After selling his interests in Zip2 in 1999 and PayPal in 2002, the South African native became a millionaire multiple times over, and he made electric automobiles hip after taking over as CEO of Tesla Motors in 2008.
Musk has worked with NASA and the US government to create his company’s fleet of rocket ships since starting Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002, and he is a firm believer in the significance of populating Mars to extend human existence. Here are 10 interesting facts about the man whose thoughts are literally out of this world.
Elon Musk Tried to Sell Tesla to Google
Elon Musk is well-known for his work with Tesla. The firm that manufactures futuristic electric vehicles is now making billions of dollars in profit. But, could you envision Tesla in Google’s hands today?
Elon Musk attempted to sell Tesla to Google in 2013, when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Larry Page, the CEO of Google, was an old friend of Musk’s. As a result, he encouraged a buddy to buy Tesla for $6 billion.
Musk apparently had some other expectations, such as Google providing an additional $5 billion for plant expenses. He also requested a commitment from Google that the company will not be shut down unless it produces a third-generation electric automobile. Elon Musk also desired to lead the corporation for the next eight years.
Despite the fact that this transaction never took place. Musk would have suffered a massive financial loss if Google had purchased Tesla.
Apple Got an Opportunity to Buy Tesla
Elon Musk has attempted to sell Tesla to the computer behemoth Apple. Musk was dealing with a huge manufacturing problem during the Model 3 program in 2018. Musk attempted to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the time to propose buying Tesla (for one-tenth of its current value). Despite the fact that Tim Cook declined to hold a meeting.
Travelling at the Top Speed of 750 Mph in a Floating Pod
Hyperloop is the name given to this concept. Musk popularized this concept in 2013 by presenting it in a white paper. The Hyperloop is a high-speed ground transportation system that includes of sealed and partially evacuated tubes through which passengers travel in pressurized cars known as pods. These pods lack traditional wheels and instead float on air skis.
Turned his House into a NightClub to Pay For Rent
Musk was a scholarship student at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. During this period, he and his roommate, Adeo Ressi, rented an off-campus residence and converted it into a NightClub, charging $5 per guest. They would have 500 guests, indicating that the party was held on a grand scale. According to Ressi, Musk was not a huge drinker and preferred to play video games alone in his room.
Elon Musk Dropped out of Stanford
Musk entered Stanford for a PhD program in physics when he was 24 years old, in 1995. Despite this, he dropped out of Stanford within two days. He believed that the internet had far greater power, therefore after dropping out, he founded his first startup, Zip2.
He is the real-life model for Iron Man Tony Stark
When writer and director Jon Favreau was looking for methods to humanize Tony Stark, the charismatic, super-smart protagonist of the comic book and film series, actor Robert Downey Jr. suggested he contact Musk. Parts of Iron Man 2 were shot at the SpaceX factory, and Musk later discovered a technique to mimic his fictional counterpart’s skills of designing rocket parts on a computer screen by waving his hands across a sensor.
He owns a James Bond car
Musk owns the Lotus Esprit from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, which (spoiler alert!) transforms into a submarine when Bond and his lovely female companion escape the enemies by zooming off a pier. The stunt automobile, dubbed “Wet Nellie,” sat in a storage locker for years before being auctioned off to an unnamed bidder in London in 2013. Following the revelation that the buyer was Musk, he issued a statement in which he expressed displeasure that the automobile did not convert into a true submarine, adding, “What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real.”
He inspired the creation of a solar power company
Musk was driving to Burning Man, the annual late-summer festival hosted in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, with his cousin Lyndon Rive in 2004. Rive, a successful software entrepreneur in his own right, expressed a desire to pursue a more meaningful venture. Musk suggested he examine the potential of solar electricity, and the idea evolved during the journey and ensuing indulgence in the desert. Rive and his brother Peter founded SolarCity, which expanded to become the nation’s largest solar supplier, with their cousin serving as chairman. Something about Burning Man definitely sparks Musk’s imagination; he claims to have created the idea of a vertical takeoff and landing electric jet while attending the event, which he describes as a “very creative place.”
He developed and sold a video game at age 12
The aspiring CEO got his start in the IT field after seeing a computer for the first time in a store when he was 10 years old. He learned to program and wrote the code for Blastar, a shooting-spaceship game that he sold to a computer magazine for $500. Naturally, the child with big dreams didn’t stop there, and he and his younger brother, Kimbal, made plans to construct an arcade near their school. However, when their parents refused to offer formal approval for a licence, the brothers were forced to sell chocolates to classmates instead.
Elon Musk’s First Startup
Musk and his brother Kimbal started their first startup, Zip2, in 1955, which generated online city guides for newspapers. Compaq Computer Corporation paid $350 million for this company.
Musk utilized some of this money to launch X.com, an online bank, in 1999. The corporation was renamed PayPal in 2001. Later, in 2002, eBay paid $1.5 billion for this company. Despite this, PayPal became an independent corporation in 2015.
