Elon Musk
The Life of Elon Musk
Elon Musk is an engineer and entrepreneur who builds and operates companies to solve environmental, social and economic challenges. He is currently the CEO and CTO of SpaceX and CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla Motors. He was an early investor in SpaceX, PayPal, Inc., Tesla Motors, and Zip2, and is widely considered a co-founder of each company. Musk invented the Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation system.
He was born and raised in South Africa; his mother was Canadian and his father a South African-born British man. His father inspired his love of technology and Musk bought his first computer at the age of 10 and taught himself how to program. By the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software program, a space game called Blastar.
Musk graduated from Pretoria Boys High School and moved to Canada in 1988 at the age of 17. In 1992, he left Canada after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and stayed an extra year to finish a second bachelor’s degree in physics. In 1995, Musk moved to California to enroll in a graduate program in high energy physics at Stanford, in which he stayed for only two days before dropping out to start his first product Zip2.
Musk started Zip2, a web software company, with his brother Kimbal Musk. The company developed and marketed an Internet “City Guide” for the newspaper publishing industry. Musk obtained contracts with The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with a company called CitySearch. Over time, Musk began to struggle with successfully maintaining his business. He made the decision to sell a large majority of control for Zip2 to venture capitalists. In return he was given an investment of $3.6 million Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options in 1999. Musk received 7% of which
Elon Musk is an engineer and entrepreneur who builds and operates companies to solve environmental, social and economic challenges. He is currently the CEO and CTO of SpaceX and CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla Motors. He was an early investor in SpaceX, PayPal, Inc., Tesla Motors, and Zip2, and is widely considered a co-founder of each company. Musk invented the Hyperloop, a high-speed transportation system.
He was born and raised in South Africa; his mother was Canadian and his father a South African-born British man. His father inspired his love of technology and Musk bought his first computer at the age of 10 and taught himself how to program. By the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software program, a space game called Blastar.
Musk graduated from Pretoria Boys High School and moved to Canada in 1988 at the age of 17. In 1992, he left Canada after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and stayed an extra year to finish a second bachelor’s degree in physics. In 1995, Musk moved to California to enroll in a graduate program in high energy physics at Stanford, in which he stayed for only two days before dropping out to start his first product Zip2.
Musk started Zip2, a web software company, with his brother Kimbal Musk. The company developed and marketed an Internet “City Guide” for the newspaper publishing industry. Musk obtained contracts with The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with a company called CitySearch. Over time, Musk began to struggle with successfully maintaining his business. He made the decision to sell a large majority of control for Zip2 to venture capitalists. In return he was given an investment of $3.6 million Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options in 1999. Musk received 7% of which
Cited: "Biography." Elon Musk. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. . "Elon Musk." 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 13 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159. Russell, Kyle. "The Fabulous Life Of Elon Musk." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. . Smith, Andrew. "Meet Tech Billionaire and Real Life Iron Man Elon Musk." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 30 June 2004. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .