American entrepreneur and businessman Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, created X.com in 1999 (which eventually evolved into PayPal), SpaceX in 2002, and Tesla Motors in 2003. When Musk sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers in his late 20s, he became a multimillionaire. When SpaceX launched a rocket in May 2012 to deliver the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station, Musk made headlines. By adding SolarCity to his portfolio in 2016 and accepting an advising position in the early months of President Donald Trump's administration, he solidified his position as an industry leader. According to reports, Musk will overtake Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world in January 2021.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971. When Musk was younger, his parents and physicians demanded a hearing test because he was so engrossed in his invention-related daydreams. When Musk was 10 years old, just around the time of his parent's divorce, he started to get interested in computers. He learned how to write on his own, and at the age of 12, he sold his first piece of software—a game he had made named Blastar. Musk was a bookish, withdrawn, and short student in elementary school. He went through a growth spurt, was bullied until he was 15 years old, and learned karate and wrestling as self-defense techniques.
Maye Musk, Musk's mother, is a Canadian model and the oldest person to appear in a Covergirl advertisement. She once held five jobs at once to support her family while Musk was growing up. Errol Musk, Musk's father, is a successful South African engineer. With his sister Tosca and brother Kimbal, Musk spent his early years in South Africa. When he was 10 years old, his parents separated.
Musk left South Africa at the age of 17 in 1989 to attend Queen's University and avoid serving in the South African military's conscription program. In part, because he believed it would be simpler to get American citizenship through that route, Musk became a citizen of Canada that year. Musk left Canada in 1992 to attend the University of Pennsylvania to study physics and business. He earned an economics undergraduate degree before staying on to earn a second bachelor in physics.
Musk moved to Stanford University in California to seek a Ph.D. in energy physics after. He left Stanford after just two days to join the Internet boom, starting his first firm, Zip2 Corporation, in 1995. However, his decision was made at the exact right time. In 2002, Musk acceded to citizenship.
In 1995, Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk founded their first business, Zip2 Corporation. Zip2, an online city guide, quickly started contributing content to The New York Times and Chicago Tribune's new websites. For $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options, a division of Compaq Computer Corporation acquired Zip2 in 1999.
Elon and Kimbal Musk founded the online financial services and payments company X.com in 1999 with the proceeds from the sale of Zip2. The following year, X.com was acquired, which resulted in the birth of PayPal as we know it today.
When PayPal was purchased by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock in October 2002, Musk made his first billion dollars. Musk controlled 11% of PayPal equity before the deal.
