Elon Musk

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Elon Musk (born 28 June 1971) is an entrepreneur and founder of PayPal and SpaceX. He is chairman of Tesla Motors and SolarCity.

[edit] Introduction

Musk was born and grew up in South Africa, the son of a South African engineer and a New York City dietitian and model.[1] He left home in 1988 at the age of 17, without his parents' support,[1] and in part because of the prospect of compulsory service in the South African military ("Who wants to serve in a fascist army?" Musk said).[1] He went to Kingston, Ontario where he enrolled at Queen's University.[1] He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received an undergraduate business degree from the Wharton School, staying on another year to finish a second degree in physics.[1][2]

Musk lives in Bel-Air, California, with his wife, the author Justine Musk, and their five children.

[edit] Entrepreneurial activities

In 1995, Musk went on to a graduate program in high energy physics at Stanford, in which he stayed exactly two days before dropping out to start Zip2,[1] which provided online content publishing software for news organizations. In 1999, Compaq's AltaVista division acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options.[3] Elon and his brother Kimbal held about 12 percent of Zip2 at the time.[citation needed]

In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email payments company.[1] One year later, X.com acquired Confinity, originally a company formed to beam money between Palm Pilots,[4] and the combined entity focused on email payments through the PayPal domain, acquired as part of Confinity. In February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock.[5] Before its sale, Musk, the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.[6]

In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), of which he is currently the CEO and CTO. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles, with an emphasis on low cost and high reliability. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets.

In addition to his business activities in entrepreneurial space, Musk is the principal owner and Chairman of the Board of Tesla Motors, which aspires to build cost-effective electric automobiles for the mass market.[7] He is also the primary investor and Chairman of the Board of SolarCity, a photovoltaics products and services startup company.[8] The underlying motivation for funding both companies is to help combat global warming.[9]

Musk's fortune is estimated at US$328 million.[10]

[edit] Philanthropy

[edit] Non-space-related activities

Musk is Chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on science education, pediatric health, and clean energy.

[edit] Space-related activities

In 2001, Musk had plans for a "Mars Oasis" project, which would land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith.[11] He put this project on hold when he discovered that launch costs would dwarf the mission development and construction costs for the project, and decided to work on lowering launch costs by founding SpaceX. His long term goal is that SpaceX helps humanity become a true spacefaring civilization.

Musk is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, a Director of the Planetary Society and a Trustee of The X-Prize Foundation.

[edit] Interests

Musk owns a McLaren F1 sports car worth approximately $1 million, and a Czech-built Aero L-39 trainer worth approximately $250,000.[12] The 1994 model Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft used in the film, "Thank You for Smoking" (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006) is registered to Mr. Musk (N900SX). Mr. Musk is listed as an Executive Producer of the film.

Musk has paid a deposit on a Tesla Roadster from Tesla Motors. It is a battery electric sportscar with a 250 mile range. He will be among the first hundred owners.[13]

[edit] Education

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Fast Track", by Mark Gimein, Salon.com, August 17, 1999
  2. ^ "Entrepreneur Tries His Midas Touch in Space", Los Angeles Times, 22 April, 2007.
  3. ^ Compaq buys Zip2 by Sandeep Junnarkar, CNet News.com.com, Feb 16th, 1999
  4. ^ "PayPal Puts Dough in Your Palm", by Karlin Lillington, Wired News, July 27, 1999
  5. ^ EBay SEC 10-K (PDF format) December 31, 2002
  6. ^ Paypal SEC 10-K, December 31, 2001
  7. ^ Company Board, from Tesla Motors website.
  8. ^ SolarCity Management Team
  9. ^ "The unveiling of the Tesla Motors Electric Car", video from "Autoblog.com" via YouTube. Retrieved 2006-07-26
  10. ^ "Hondas in Space", FastCompany.com, Issue 91, February 2005, Page 74, By Jennifer Reingold
  11. ^ "Elon Musk, Life to Mars Foundation", from Mars Now, a weekly column by John Carter McKnight of the Space Frontier Foundation, September 25, 2001
  12. ^ "A Bold Plan to Go Where Men Have Gone Before", by Leslie Wayne, The New York Times, February 5, 2006
  13. ^ http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=29

[edit] External links

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