2. Birth and Upbringing
Elon Musk as a toddler
Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa.
The son of Maye Musk, a model and dietician from Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada…
And Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor.
During his childhood he was an avid reader.
His childhood reading included Isaac Asimov's Foundation series from which he drew
the lesson that
"you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize
the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one."
3. Timeline of Companies
• Zip2, founded in 1995
• PayPal (formerly X.com), founded in 1999
• SpaceX, founded in 2002
• Tesla, founded in 2003 but Musk joined in 2004
• Solar City, founded in 2006 by cousins of Musk, after he gave
the original concept, and then acquired by Tesla in 2016
4. Major events:
• In February 1999, Compaq Computer paid US$307 million to acquire Zip2. Elon and Kimbal
Musk, the original founders, netted US$22 million and $15 million respectively.
• The company was purchased to enhance Compaq's AltaVista web search engine.
In 2006, SpaceX was awarded a contract from NASA to continue the development and test of the SpaceX Falcon
9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft in order to transport cargo to the International Space Station…
• followed by a US$1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services program contract on December 23, 2008, for
12 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the Space Station, replacing the US Space Shuttle after it
retired in 2011.
5. • In October 2002, PayPal (formerly X.com) was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of
which Musk received US$165 million. Before its sale, Musk, who was the company's
largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.
• In July 2017, Musk purchased the domain x.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount stating
that it has "great sentimental value" to him.
6. • Following the financial crisis in 2008, Musk assumed leadership of Tesla as CEO and product
architect, positions he still holds today.
• Tesla Motors first built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster in 2008, with sales of about 2,500
vehicles to 31 countries.
7. • On June 17, 2014, Musk committed to building a SolarCity advanced production facility in
Buffalo, New York, that would triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States.
• Musk stated the plant will be "one of the single largest solar panel production plants in the
world“ and it will be followed by one or more even bigger facilities in subsequent years.
8. Details about each Company
• Founded in 1995
• Purpose: Zip2 allowed for two-way communication between users and
advertisers. Users could message advertisers and have that message
forwarded to their fax machine.
• Likewise, advertisers could fax users and users could view that fax using
specific URLs.
• Adversity faced: In April 1998, Zip2 attempted to merge with CitySearch,
its main competitor. While Musk initially supported the merger, he
persuaded the board of directors to not undergo the merger.
• The two companies "cited incompatibilities in cultures and technology" as
the reason for the merger's failure, according to The New York Times.
12. SpaceX
Founded in 2002
Purpose: Reducing space transportation costs and enabling
the colonization of Mars.
Adversity faced: In September 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded during a
propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test.
The payload, the Spacecom Amos-6 communications satellite valued
at $200 million, was destroyed.
Musk described the event as the "most difficult and complex failure"
ever in SpaceX's history.
14. Founded in 2003
Purpose: Eventually offering electric cars at prices affordable to the average
consumer.
Adversity faced: Tesla was on the brink of bankruptcy during the stock market crash
of 2008.
16. Founded in 2006
Purpose: SolarCity markets, manufactures, and installs residential and commercial
solar panels in the US
Adversity faced: On March 30, 2017, The Oregonian said that Campaign for
Accountability, a D.C.-based consumer advocacy group, and other groups have
asked Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to investigate solar panel sales
practices that "are designed to trick homeowners into buying or leasing solar
panels" in violation of Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
18. Lessons to learn from Elon Musk
• Love and take good care of our green and blue ball of life, called
Earth.
• Take calculated risks.
• Always try to gain more knowledge.
19. Which company I find the most fascinating:
I find SpaceX to be the most fascinating of all his
companies.
I, like Musk, believe that one day, we need to leave
this planet of ours. One day something could go
wrong, and we need to have another home, to
protect our species.
I love the technology, SpaceX has developed that
allows the boosters on rockets to be reused.
Also, I love how they sent a Tesla Roadster into
space.
