Tesla & Why Elon Musk will Change The World
Today, I’m going to be talking about one of the most famous entrepreneurs on the planet, delving deep into the slightly crazy world of Elon Musk, giving you guys the information you need on how he made his fortune, and built a number of companies into world leaders!
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Background
If we were to ask you to name the top 5 entrepreneurs today, the chances are high that Elon Musk would be one of the first names to your lips. But it is true that he splits public opinion. Some people think that he is the gold standard (you mean bitcoin standard spenny) when it comes to serial entrepreneurs, and hold Musk as a global revolutionary. Others think he is simply a narcissistic charlatan.
One think is for sure, Elon Musk is inventive, polarising and inspirational in equal measures, and it is clear that he is on a mission to change the world.
Early Life
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971. Elon is the oldest of three children, all three of which have achieved great things in their personal and professional lives. For example, Elons brother Kimbal, is currently an environmentalist and a venture capitalist, whereas his sister Tosca is an award-winning producer and director.
Musks parents divorced when he was still a child, after which he lived primarily with his father. Musk got a head start in his education by starting school 1 year early, attending a private Prep School and later graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.
Musk was an avid reader and a huge comic book fan. He describes himself as a bookworm and something of a smart aleck, and he was bullied at school. Weren’t we all though.. As a result, he withdrew into his shell as a child and instead of socialising, spent his time reading books. Smart guy.. :P
Career Success
Musk holds an impressive portfolio of companies, including the industry leading Tesla, a space logistics company, and a company working on a groundbreaking high-speed train. All of these companies can potentially change the world in a massive way.
Although famous for Tesla, his first company was a little more mundane. He started his first company, called Zip2, in the late 90s. Zip2 was a Yellow Pages style online city directory, that caught peoples attention. It was purchased in 1999 by Compaq for a massive $341m, which netted musk a tidy profit of over $20m.
Following Zip2, Musk moved on to another company that became a world leader — the world famous payment website Paypal. Musk owned 11% of the company, and following its sale in 2002 to eBay for $1.5 billion, put a tidy profit into Musks bank balance.
Following the sale of Paypal, Musk moved on to start the Company Tesla in 2003. The company has positioned itself as the front-runner in electric cars, and in 2020 Tesla advanced ahead of General Motors to become the world’s most valuable car company. The fact that Tesla is now the most valuable car company in the world is astonishing, as the company sells relatively few cars when compared to other brands. For example, in 2016, Tesla sold just 80,000 vehicles. GM by comparison sold over 10 million vehicles.
In tandem with Tesla, Musk also set up the space company, Space X which has been quietly breaking boundaries and changing the world. For example, In 2010, Space X became the first private company to send a payload into space, and then return. Next, in 2015, Musk and Space X were able to pull off a planned landing and recovery of the rockets. They have also sent a manned flight to the International Space Station — massive achievements that would have been unheard of for a private company to achieve a decade ago. But the most impressive thing about Musks foray into the word of astronauts is not his ability to design, build and launch rockets — but that he can do it significantly cheaper, estimated at around a third of the cost of NASA.
If space remains a giant leap too far, then Hyperloop One is a much more manageable small step. Hyperloop is the project Musk has been working on to move things and people, quickly and cheaply here on Earth. It is Part-train, part-vacuum tube. To put the project into perspective, Musks vision would see a journey, that would usually take 5 or 6 hours on a train, take just 50 minutes. Exciting and again, game changing if it can be pulled off.
How is Tesla so valuable if its rivals outsell it?
Sales is only part of the “value” calculation — and it is the opportunities that really excite investors, and the reality is that Tesla are way out ahead of the chasing pack when it comes to the world of electric vehicles and autonomous self-driving cars. More than simply a car manufacturer, Musk has positioned Tesla to be GM, Uber and Apple all rolled into one mega and potentially trillion-dollar company.
Musk has made Tesla and the space age tech behind it investable, to such an extent that the Tesla share price has increased by over 1,000% in the last five years.
The genius is that Musk has made Tesla not just focus on the end product, but the main component part of any electric car — the battery.
Musk has used what he has learned about cars to develop battery storage for both commercial and domestic use, revolutionising the industry. Elon’s efforts and impact from this development cannot be underestimated; and as individuals, companies, corporations and countries become more “green” and focus on environmental sustainability, they lean increasingly on the technology that Musk and Tesla are perfecting.
Controversy
As we set out at the start, Musk is somewhat of a polarising figure, and one that has had his fair share of controversies. Firstly, in 2018, Musk appeared on a podcast for an interview. So far so straightforward. The issue was that Musk appeared to be smoking marijuana while being interviewed. That is not a good look for the Owner and CEO of one of the world’s most valuable companies. There have been other bad new incidents as well, odd, bizarre and inflammatory tweets, lawsuits and fall outs with high ranked workers in Telsa.
Despite such incidents, Tesla’s stock has not been significantly damaged and has continued to climb higher under Musk’s leadership, increasing his wealth along with it.8
So — with all this success, he must be worth a pretty penny?
As of Jan. 26, 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk has an estimated total net worth of $209 billion, which would see him surpass Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world. He has done this despite not earning a salary. For example, in early 2018, It was announced that Musk would not earn an annual salary, and instead, would simply earn profit based on the increasing market cap the company hoped to achieve over the next ten years. Its fair to say that that gamble this has worked out well for him!
Summary
Musk’s interests of reading philosophy, science fiction, and fantasy novels are well reflected in his concern with human progress, development and sense of idealism. Elon has stated that he plans to strive for progress in the areas he has identified as crucial to our future, such as the Internet, the transition to renewable energy sources, and space colonization. With the success he has experienced, and wealth he has accrued, and the companies he has developed, it is undeniable that Elon Musk has defied critics and made advances in all three of these aims.
