The story of Elon Mask. Biography of Elon Musk

The path from a victim of bullying at school to the CEO of two companies that bring science fiction to life.

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Musk became the CEO of the new company. However, this did not last long: in October, he advocated switching the company's servers from the free Unix operating system to Microsoft Windows, faced with a lack of understanding from the other co-founders. His main opponent in this matter was technical director Max Levchin.

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At the end of 2000, Musk took a vacation. While flying to Australia, PayPal's board of directors fired him and appointed Thiel as the new CEO. Years later, in an interview with Fortune magazine, Musk said, “That’s the problem with vacations.”

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But things didn't turn out so bad - Musk remained PayPal's largest shareholder, earning him $165 million of the $1.5 billion eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) paid for PayPal in late 2002.

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But even before the PayPal sale, Musk was busy with something else: an avid fan of science fiction, he hatched a crazy plan to send mice or plants to Mars. To achieve this, Musk even tried to buy decommissioned Soviet missiles. But Russian sellers asked for $8 million each, and Musk decided it would be cheaper to create his own.

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So, in early 2002, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, was founded. Musk's goal is to reduce the cost of space flights by 10 times.

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SpaceX's first vehicles were the Falcon 1 and 9 rockets, named after the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars...

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...And the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, named after the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." Musk chose this name to once again poke fun at skeptics who believe that SpaceX will never be able to send devices into space.

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Meanwhile, Musk took up the fate of the Earth. In 2004, he made his first investment in Tesla Motors, an electric vehicle company founded by venture industry veteran Martin Eberhard. Musk's total investment in Tesla will eventually exceed $70 million.

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Musk was actively involved in the development of the final product and was chairman of the company's board of directors. He helped develop the first all-electric car, the Tesla Roadster, which was unveiled to the public in 2006.

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As if all this wasn't enough, in 2006 Musk founded SolarCity, a solar energy company dedicated to combating global warming. He provided working capital to his cousins ​​Peter and Lyndon Reeve to help develop SolarCity.

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However, things were not going very well at Tesla itself. Under Eberhard's leadership, the company was spending far more money than it was making. In 2007, Musk staged a coup on the board of directors and overthrew Eberhard.

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In 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, which significantly limited his options, Musk invested $40 million in the company and provided a loan for another $40 million to save Tesla from bankruptcy. It is not surprising that in the same year he became its CEO.

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Torn between SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity, Musk himself became bankrupt. He describes 2008 as "the worst year of my life" - Tesla continued to lose money and SpaceX faced difficulties launching the Falcon 1 rocket. By early 2009, Musk was forced to live off personal loans.

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Around the same time, the founder of SpaceX and SolarCity was going through a divorce from his wife Justine Musk, a Canadian writer with whom he had six sons.

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On the eve of Christmas 2008, Musk receives two pieces of good news: SpaceX has signed a $1.5 billion contract with NASA to deliver cargo into space, and Tesla has finally found outside investors. Suddenly the white stripe replaced the black one.

The Western world relies on active, lively, smart, slightly adventurous people creating their own businesses. And even if for every successful businessman there were hundreds of failures, it was they who became the engine and brand of the West. And one of them was Elon Musk.

Childhood

The biography of Elon Musk is very similar to similar stories about the lives of the same businessmen, politicians, famous actors and scientists. Moreover, often all these professions were combined in the same people. Musk is not a Native American - he was born in Pretoria (South Africa) in the early seventies. The city where Elon Musk was born was formed as the administrative capital of the country, which was also considered a scientific center. His parents worked there - his father (an engineer by profession) and his mother - a Canadian model in her youth, and then a nutritionist. In addition to Elon, the family had two more children.

At the age of ten, Elon was given his first computer, which allowed him to actively engage in new technologies. Already at the age of twelve, he managed to sell his first computer game for $500. The teenager invested the proceeds in a pharmaceutical company and after a while received several times more for the shares. With this money, at the age of 17, Musk moved to Canada. There he will learn new life, including learning what poverty is. So, he learned to live on $1 a day, fortunately, without getting any digestive tract disease.

Formation of worldview

In his youth, Musk literally devoured philosophical and religious books. But the most significant influence on him was made by science fiction, for example, the book “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.” According to the future businessman, it was then that he decided that it was necessary, first of all, to be able to ask the right questions. And when he got a job at college, he already understood how to influence the development of civilization - he would work on relocating earthlings to new planets. The entrepreneur set himself the task of making science fiction real in order to contribute to the development of the space industry. And he began to look for funds.

First steps in business

In the early nineties, Musk changed his place of residence and stopped in the United States, where he settled at the University of Pennsylvania and began studying such opposing subjects as physics and business. He is writing his doctoral dissertation at Stanford University, but does not attend classes. Together with his friends, students like him, Musk creates the company Zip2. At the end of the twentieth century, this company was bought by Compaq Computer for $307 million, of which the young man received $20 million. With this money he bought a McLaren F1 plane and moved into luxury housing.

From X.com to SolarCity

The businessman did not remain still. Elon Musk, whose biography is full of different things, often simply miraculous phenomena, creates a new company at the end of the twentieth century immediately after selling the previous one. X.com was initially successful, but then problems arose. A couple of years later, the company was renamed PayPal, merging with the latter.

Both structures worked on the development of individual electronic money transfers through the e-mail system, and the result of the commercial transaction was the unification of payment systems. In practice, however, this did not work out that way. Musk stood firm behind the X.com brand by not renaming it PayPal. Colleagues thought differently. This led to a split in the campaign leadership.

The development of events ended with the departure of Musk by decision of the board of directors. But Elon’s very idea of ​​​​forming a new company by combining two companies together with rapid development computer system online payment contributed to the growth of the company's image in record time. The company had already been irrevocably converted into PayPal. Significant changes and growth in value made it possible to place securities on the stock exchange in early 2002. In the same year, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion. Given that Musk had 11.7% of the company's shares, he received $175 million.

New business

In 2006, Musk established SolarCity, a company of which he is still the owner and technical employee. This organization is working on the creation of compact power plants for individual use on the roofs of buildings. But the guiding principle was not to build power plants for homeowners themselves, but to lease them for a long period. The buyer can himself analyze the commercial benefits of implementing such a project, because he purchases his own individual solar power plant at a very low price. Their owners are usually ordinary Americans. The business turned out to be successful.

But Elon Musk himself was already moving on to other projects.

Happy ending in American style

Here we need to take a short pause. Elon Musk, whose biography has both wild successes and fiascoes, turned out to be very lucky when it comes to innovative ideas. IN last years his company is moving more successfully than its rivals. With over 30 operating centers in the United States, another customer arrives every five minutes, and ahead is a long line of those who want to work with solar energy. SolarCity has already installed such equipment in more than tens of thousands of homes and is now ranked as one of the largest.

Hence the serious changes in the fate of Musk himself. In Forbes magazine's 2016 list of billionaires, Elon Musk's net worth is estimated at $10.7 billion.

In December of the same year, he was among the members of the Presidential Forum on Strategy and Policy under US President Trump, a small association of 16 American businessmen gathered to develop solutions for the 45th US President on economic challenges.

Elon Musk, in his not yet very long life, has received a large number of awards for what he managed to invent. In 2008, he was included in the list of 75 most significant people of the year according to Esquire magazine. In 2011, the businessman accepted the Heinlein Prize for great achievements in the commercialization of space. At the same time, Forbes included him in the list of the 20 most influential young businessmen.

Elon Musk was the second entrepreneur to form three companies worth over $1 billion each. After this, a large number of businessmen wanted to reproduce such success. However, a fiasco awaited them. It seems that the businessman worked under different laws. Or he was born under the wing of fortune.

Spacewalk

Elon Musk, whose biography shows that in any case one cannot stop, creates a rocket manufacturing company in 2002. At the same time, it was immediately announced that the main goal was to reduce the costs of space flights and the exploration of Mars. Elon Musk (SpaceX is his brainchild) is defined as a private creator, manufacturer of a number of launch vehicles and commercial operator of space structures.

And success awaited him again. That same year, NASA awarded the company a $1.6 billion contract for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station to replace obsolete carriers.

Such great interest was caused, according to the recollections of Elon himself, not only by the desire for profit, but also by the ideas of major science fiction writers, in particular, the novels of Isaac Asimov with his ideas of widespread exploration of the universe. The businessman believed that the expansion of humanity's possessions on several planets would be a good defense against the danger of the liquidation of civilization.

To date, SpaceX has made a number of space rockets and the Dragon spacecraft. In 2010, it became the first spacecraft to be successfully launched, put into orbit, and returned back. Later, in 2015, it was the first spacecraft to be attached to the ISS.

In 2006, Musk’s company managed to take first place in NASA’s competition for grants for space objects and earned $278 million. Five successful flights have already been carried out.

Tesla

The name of Elon Musk is forever associated with another company - Tesla Motors. In 2010, shares of the company, which had never demonstrated normal earnings, were put up for public sale. And the moment was so successful that the stock price immediately rose by 41%. Forbes dubbed them the best-performing stocks of the year.

In 2012, Musk expressed confidence that within half a century all cars would be electric. He began to work along this line, and in 2008 Elon Musk finally created the Tesla Roadster - this is the first electric car delivered to mass production.

Business plan

Musk is often compared to Steve Jobs. He used the phrase “reality distortion field,” convincing everyone that the impossible is possible. Musk's workmates claim that he collects material so that technology develops within his reality.

His company Tesla Motors was often on the verge of bankruptcy, although Elon Musk himself achieved great results in business. The biography of Tesla's creator makes it clear that the businessman tried by all means to keep the company afloat. Over the years the situation has improved.

A little about personal

Elon Musk's personal life is not original compared to others famous people. The first wife, Justin Musk, studied with Elon at the same university in Canada. Their marriage took place in 2000, they have five sons. But in the fall of 2008, the couple decided to separate because Musk began dating English actress Taluda Riley. The second marriage took place in 2010 and turned out to be unsuccessful - the couple divorced several times, then got together again, until they separated forever in 2016.

Currently, Elon Musk is dating American actress Amber Heard.

We need to live differently

Elon Musk, whose biography teaches us to constantly step out of the ordinary, believes that innovation is hampered by people's ability to think in analogies. Therefore, they do not organize fresh ideas, but try to improve the existing ones. The businessman believes that it is necessary to expand reality and organize something fundamentally opposite.

By the way, space seems to be unrealistic for business. To implement projects in this area, a lot of money is needed. But Musk is convinced that costs can be dramatically reduced by defining a new mission for flights. Because of this, he formed SpaceX, whose goal is considered to be the colonization of planets. The entrepreneur notes that when it is necessary to resettle the people of Earth to another planet, it must be done inexpensively.

It's hard to live as an innovator

This is what Elon Musk is all about. One of the company's successes is General Motors' decision to develop the Chevy Volt. It is a small machine with electric charging potential. At the level of an electric car, it is able to travel 65 km. During the creation period, 33 thousand people wanted to buy a car.

Elon Musk, whose plans are always optimistic, became successful by implementing seemingly crazy ideas. However, he not only became a self-sufficient person and fed his family, he also went down in history. A businessman strives to improve life and therefore works on projects that in subsequent years will provide an opportunity for humanity to develop.

Elon (Elon) Reeve Musk(English: Elon Reeve Musk) is a Canadian-American engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, and investor. Elon Musk is the founder of Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, and also a member of the board of directors of SolarCity, founded by his cousins.

early years and Elon Musk's childhood

Mother - May Musk, was a model and a famous nutritionist. Father - Errol Musk, is a pilot, sailor and engineer. He made money by consulting.

The family had three children: Elon, Kimbal and daughter Tosca. May and Errol divorced when the children were young. But they stayed with their father, and Errol Musk was able to raise successful children.

As a child, Elon was an unusual child, read a lot. As his father recalled, once Elon, when he was three or four years old, asked him: “Where does the world end and begin?”

Pictured left: aged 12 with a fish he caught on a family fishing trip in South Africa. In the photo on the right: with brother and sister (Photo: eastbaytimes.com)

Elon and Kimbal attended Pretoria Boys High School. Elon graduated from school with excellent marks in physics and computer science. At the same time, at school, Musk had a difficult time in relationships with other children; after one of the beatings, he had to repair a broken nose, according to Elon Musk’s biography on Wikipedia.

Since childhood, Elon read a lot, loved science fiction, Jules Verne before Asimov, Heinlein And Tolkien. Novel Douglas Adams“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” helped him cope with an identity crisis at the age of fourteen, and the books “Academy” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” awakened Elon’s interest in space, according to Musk’s biography on the World of Science Fiction website.

When Elon Musk was 10 years old, he received his first Commodore VIC-20 computer as a gift, which he used for programming; at the age of 12, he sold his first program for $500, the game Blastar, in which you could shoot at aliens with a laser gun.

In the photo on the left: Elon Musk with his mother, brother and sister. In the photo on the right: Elon Musk's father (Photo: notjustrich.com)

To avoid conscription into the army in South Africa, the boys went to Canada to live with their mother. It is noted that Musk raised the money for the trip himself by selling shares of a pharmaceutical company.

At age 19, Elon entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1992, Musk moved to the United States and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business. Over time, he transferred to Stanford, but did not complete his studies.

Elon Musk's career

Zip2 is the first company founded jointly by the Musk brothers in 1996. They were engaged in software production. Their project was a digital equivalent of the Yellow Pages, with which you could find the nearest pizzeria in any area of ​​​​San Francisco. The startup did not develop as quickly as Elon wanted, but his hard work made it possible to bring it to such a level that investors became interested in it. Soon, Compac acquired Zip2 for $307 million, 22 million went to Elon Musk personally, and he became a millionaire at the age of 27.

In March 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com (investing $12 million of his own savings), intending to revolutionize the banking payments industry. Already in 2000, the companies X.com and Confinity merged, thereby merging the X.com and PayPal systems. Musk demanded the X.com brand instead of PayPal for the new formation. This caused disagreements within the organization, and Elon resigned by decision of the Board of Directors. But strategically and economically, Musk again made the right move. In October 2002, PayPal was purchased by eBay for $1.5 billion, and Elon received $175 million for his 11.7% stake.

In the photo (from left to right): Peter Thiel and Elon Musk (Photo: strumpeople.com)

Elon Musk and SpaceX

In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, SpaceX. This company of Elon is associated with space developments; the purpose of its creation was to reduce the costs of space flights, promote its development and, in particular, the future colonization of Mars.

Elon Musk became chief engineer and CEO of SpaceX. On March 24, 2006, the company's first launch of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle took place, but it ended in an accident. However, that same year, SpaceX was one of the winners of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition, receiving $396 million in total funding to develop and demonstrate the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft.

Photo: SpaceX Falcon 1 from the air shortly after launch as it rises over Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands. 2006 (Photo: wikipedia.org)

On September 28, 2008, the first successful launch of the Falcon 1 rocket took place and the payload was launched into orbit. Thanks to the energetic actions of Elon Musk, the company has developed two types of potentially reusable launch vehicles: Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, as well as the reusable Dragon spacecraft.

Photo: Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO, unveils the SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, 2014 (Photo: AP Photo/TASS)

In December 2008, NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract with the company for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 carrier and then the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, as a replacement for the Space Shuttle after the termination of their launch program in 2011.

Further achievements of SpaceX were: the launch of the Dragon spacecraft, which was launched into orbit and returned to Earth on December 8, 2010, the first ever landing of the first stage on the ground, performed after the payload was launched into low-Earth orbit (December 22, 2015), the first successful landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle onto the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship offshore platform (April 8, 2016) and the first launch and landing of a used Falcon 9 launch vehicle stage (March 31, 2017).

Photo: SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaking at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico. Musk elaborated on his plans to colonize Mars, 2016 (Photo: AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz/TASS)

One of Musk's fantasies was the exploration of Mars. According to Elon, Mars research will make it possible to set the price for transport flights to the planet at $500 thousand, which is “quite acceptable” for residents of developed countries, and will also mark the beginning of the exploration of other planets.

“I like to be involved in projects that change the world. The Internet did it, and space will probably change the world more than anything else. If humanity can go beyond the Earth, it is obvious that its future will be there,” the entrepreneur asserted.

Elon Musk has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the colonization of Mars, including proposing to drop thermonuclear bombs on the poles of Mars in order to heat the surface of the planet and make it suitable for life.

In April 2016, news came out that SpaceX's Red Dragon spacecraft would fly to Mars no later than 2018. There is a version that Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, reacted in this way to the message about the start of the hardware implementation of the promising Russian spacecraft “Federation”.

SpaceX is planning a 2018 mission to Mars (Photo: SpaceX/ZUMAPRESS.com/Global Look Press)

During the expedition to Mars, technologies for delivering large cargo to the surface of the planet will be developed, the company’s Twitter reports. If the mission is successful, SpaceX will be the first private company, which sent the ship to Mars.

In May 2017, the media reported that the American company Elysium Space was selling space on a spaceship for the ashes of the dead. Elysium Space will be launched into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Elon Musk's Space X company.

It is reported that for 2.5 thousand dollars, relatives can send the remains of their loved ones into space, where the “star hearse” will circle the Earth’s orbit for two years, after which it will enter the atmosphere and burn up.

In September 2017, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the possibility of using a multi-purpose rocket to fly to anywhere on Earth in half an hour.

"Get to most places on Earth in under 30 minutes and anywhere in under 60. The ticket should cost about the same as a full-fledged economy class airline ticket," Musk wrote on Instagram.

The new rocket, tentatively called BFR, will use the company's previous achievements, as reported by RIA Novosti. The rocket can replace Falcon 9 and Dragon, and it can also be used for flights to the Moon and Mars. It is noted that the BFR rocket will refuel after entering low-Earth orbit, and then fly to its destination; the technology will allow flying to the Moon and back.

Elon Musk's Tesla

In 2003, Elon founded a company that he named after Nikola Tesla Tesla Motors. The scope of activity of this company is the creation of environmentally friendly electric vehicles.

In 2008, Tesla Motors released the first electric car, the Tesla Roadster. The car was criticized, but Elon Musk and his company worked to improve the car and the Tesla Model S was introduced in 2011.

Tesla Roadster (Photo: CarrrsMag.com)

On September 27, 2012, a revolutionary network of super-refueling stations for long-distance travel was launched. Two Tesla Model S electric cars were tested and traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast from January 28 to February 2, 2014. For recharging, only “superchargers” (electric filling stations) were used. The trip from Los Angeles took 76 and a half hours and cost $0, thereby setting a Guinness record.

Tesla Model S (Photo: tesla.com)

At the end of 2014, Tesla Motors introduced the Tesla Model X, a new electric crossover car. In 2016, a new budget model was introduced - Tesla Model 3. In 2016, the company's share price reaches $231.55, market capitalization is $29 billion. Tesla Model 3 is built on a new chassis. The basic version of the electric car will be able to accelerate from zero to 96 kilometers per hour in less than six seconds, and the top version in 4 seconds. The battery supply is enough for 350-400 kilometers. Model 3 will start at $35,000.

Tesla Model X (Photo: tesla.com)

In 2016, Tesla received at least 373 thousand applications for the purchase of its most affordable model, Model 3. Musk said that due to the very big amount orders for the car, the company will try to “increase production volumes as quickly as possible.” At the same time, Elon Musk released a long-term plan for the development of Tesla, promising that in 2017 new models of transport that run on electric energy would be presented: heavy trucks and urban passenger transport.

Elon Musk also said that Tesla Motors is quite capable of creating a flying car just to have it, but it is much more difficult to make it quiet and safe. “It’s unlikely that people will be happy about a car roaring over their heads,” Musk was quoted as saying by the media.

In March 2017, the news reported that Tesla intends to open its representative offices, showrooms and service centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Hyperloop Elon Musk

In 2012, Musk, in addition to announcing his plans to conquer space, announced another project - a high-speed pipeline passenger transport Hyperloop (“hyperloop”). In 2012, Musk said in an interview that the new vehicle would be 2 times faster than an airplane and 3-4 times faster than a high-speed train, would be safe and run on solar energy, and the Hyperloop would be much cheaper than the California High-Speed ​​Rail project*. In January 2015, Elon Musk also announced his desire to build a 5-mile Hyperloop test track in Texas.

Hyperloop high-speed pipeline passenger transport project (Photo: hyperloop.com)

Co-founder of Hyperloop One Shervin Pishevar expressed hope for cooperation with the Russian authorities, in particular, he spoke about the prospect of using such trains to transport Chinese goods to Europe through the territory of the Russian Federation; the news wrote about the possible use of technology on the Moscow-London route.

In the summer of 2017, US authorities gave Elon Musk permission to begin work on the construction of a tunnel between New York and Washington for the implementation of the Hyperloop project. The businessman promises that his project will help residents of these two cities cover the 250 km distance between them in less than half an hour.

Social activity Elon Musk

Another of Elon Musk’s promising projects is SolarCity . The company produces solar panels for generating electricity. SolarCity is one of the leading suppliers of such panels worldwide.

Solarcity, one of the world's largest installers solar systems(Photo: solarcity.com/TASS)

Billionaire Elon Musk does not forget about charity. Elon became chairman of the board of the Musk Foundation. In January 2015, the foundation donated $10 million to the Future of Humanity Institute for research into the control of artificial intelligence.

Words from Russian President Vladimir Putin about the creation artificial intelligence Elon Musk commented in a very original way:

“I think the race for leadership in artificial intelligence will most likely lead to World War III,”

“Elon Musk heard certain things about her behavior that categorically did not suit him. Amber can be very selfish and often manipulates others,” said a source close to the couple.

Elon Musk's income

In August 2017, Forbes reported that Elon Musk, who nearly went bankrupt after launching Tesla Motors and the rocket company SpaceX, was worth more than $20 billion for the first time on its annual list of the richest tech billionaires. Musk took 12th place with $20.7 billion, ahead of the Microsoft Corporation co-founder Paul Allen($20.5 billion) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alphabet Eric Schmidt($12.4 billion). It is reported that from March 2017 to Forbes version, Elon Musk became richer by almost $7 billion.

The publication explained these data by the growth of SpaceX's capitalization, the value of which was estimated at $21 billion. Musk owns more than half of SpaceX.

At the same time, Musk's Wikipedia biography states that in July 2017 he was ranked 80th on the list of the world's richest people with $16.1 billion.

In December 2016, Elon Musk was ranked 21st on Forbes' list of the world's most powerful people.

Elon Musk V movie

Elon Musk is very popular in the USA. According to Jon Favreau, director of the film “Iron Man” (2008), Elon Musk served as the inspiration for Tony Stark, whom he played Robert Downey Jr. In 2010, Musk appeared in the film Iron Man 2 as himself (in the story, Elon is Tony Stark's friend).

Elon Musk made a cameo in the 12th episode of the 26th season of the animated series The Simpsons, released on January 25, 2015. In episode 9 of season 9 of The Big Bang Theory, Musk also played a cameo. In 2017, he starred in the comedy “Why Him?” as himself.

Musk can fly a plane. Elon owned a Czechoslovakian-made Aero L-39 Albatros and a Dassault Falcon 900 jet. In October 2013, Musk bought the Wet Nellie submarine car from the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” at auction for $997,000.

* High-speed rail - California's high-speed rail system, currently under construction, which will connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. The trains have stated speeds of up to 220 miles (350 km/h) per hour, providing a one-way trip of 2 hours 40 minutes. Construction began in 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2029.

• Zip2 and PayPal
• Tesla Motors
• SolarCity
• SpaceX
• Hyperloop

The computer industry has given a start in life to dozens of charismatic individuals who managed to create something revolutionary and earn an incredible amount of money from it. If there was a ranking of such people, the first number would belong to Bill Gates, the second to Steve Jobs. But the third place, despite the large number of applicants, is most deserving of the little-known billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in our latitudes. Why? Because he invested the money he earned from computer technology into projects that could change our world more than Microsoft and iPhones combined changed it.

Forbes estimates Musk's net worth at $2.4 billion. Musk is not only a businessman, but also an engineer: he is personally involved in the design of electric vehicles and spaceships. In his spare time, he drives expensive cars, marries sexy British actresses and becomes the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Iron Man. In all respects, Musk is more reminiscent of a comic book character than a real person.

However, behind the media image of a superhero lies one of the most successful serial businessmen in the world. Musk became the second entrepreneur in the history of Silicon Valley who managed to found three companies worth more than $1 billion - PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla (the first was Jim Clark). Moreover, in an era when “the best minds in humanity are figuring out how to get people to click on ads,” Musk has devoted himself to space and alternative energy. He plays by some different rules and does it extremely successfully. How does he do this?

Success Story, Biography of Elon Musk

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in South Africa. His family was mixed. His father, South African, was an engineer. And my mother, Canadian, is a nutritionist. Musk spent his childhood in South Africa. At the age of 10 he got his first computer. Elon immediately showed interest in programming, which he taught himself. At the age of 12, he made $500 by selling Blastar (a shooter game in the vein of Space Invaders) that he programmed himself.

Biographies of prominent people usually contain episodes in which the hero says to himself: “Yes, I will do it,” which later leads him to stunning success. There were at least two such episodes in Elon Musk’s biography. Musk made his first decision at the age of 17. After finishing school in Pretoria, he decided to leave home and, without parental support, emigrate from South Africa to the United States. But Elon didn’t get to the USA right away.

In 1989, he moved to Canada to live with his mother's relatives. Having received citizenship, Elon Musk goes to Montreal, where at first he agrees to any job and teeters on the brink of poverty for almost a year. Soon he enters Queen's University in Ontario, where he meets the future mother of his five sons (twins and triplets), Justine. He studied there for two years, after which his dream came true - in 1992, Musk went to the USA.

He moved to America after receiving a scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year he received a bachelor's degree in business, but decided to stay at the university for another year to obtain a bachelor's degree in physics.

When Elon Musk began to experience teenage depression, he began to actively absorb philosophical and religious literature. But the most valuable lessons, he says, he ultimately learned from Douglas Adams' book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. “She taught me that the hardest thing is to come up with the right questions. Once you have succeeded, everything else is very simple." , Musk tells Businessweek magazine. He was prompted to these thoughts by an episode in which a giant supercomputer, after several million years of thinking, answers “the main question of Life, the Universe and Everything Else” with the meaningless number 42.

“I have come to the conclusion that we must strive to expand the limits of human consciousness in order to learn to ask the right questions.” , says Musk. He came up with his question a long time ago: “When I was in college, I kept thinking about what would have the biggest impact on the destiny of humanity in the future?” Musk decided that it would be the Internet, the transition to renewable energy sources and the relocation of people to other planets. He decided to try to contribute to each of these areas. But first he needed money.

Zip2 and PayPal

Elon Musk made the second, most important and fateful decision in his life in the summer of 1995. He had just completed his studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was entering graduate school at Stanford University to continue his studies in applied physics and materials science. However, just two days later he gave up science and, instead of developing capacitors, together with his brother Kimbal, while in the capital of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, he created his first computer company, Zip2.

“I worked from morning to night. He lived in the same warehouse where he rented an office, and went to the locker rooms of the local stadium to shower. But I saved on renting an apartment, and in the first two most difficult years I kept the company afloat.”

At that time, the Internet was experiencing a period of rapid development, but no one had yet managed to earn serious money here. Musk’s company was one of the first to do this: it created a platform through which newspapers (including such reputable ones as the New York Times) could offer their clients additional commercial services.

Four years later, in 1999, AltaVista, the largest search engine in those years, bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash and $34 million in securities. This transaction set a record for a company being sold for cash. Musk immediately spent part of the proceeds ($20 million) on luxury purchases - a McLaren F1 sports car and a private jet.

Musk begins to master the increasingly popular electronic payments, and the startup X.com becomes his new business at the turn of the century. In March 2000, X.com merged on an equal basis with competitor Confinity of Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, whose office is located on the same street in Palo Alto. This is how one of the leading payment systems of our time - PayPal - was born. Now there is a huge choice for paying on the Internet, but back then it was an alternative to paying with a bank card.

At first, disagreements arise between the teams of the two startups regarding strategy and management, but this does not affect the dynamics of the company’s development in any way. Musk participates in the development of a new business model, conducts a successful viral marketing campaign, the audience of the service is growing rapidly, and in 2002 everything ends with the logical purchase of the system by the online auction eBay for $1.5 billion. This is how Elon Musk acquired enough funds (founder X. com received $180 million for his share) for his other hobbies - astronautics and alternative energy sources. We can say that with this he said goodbye to the Internet!

“I don’t want to be a grandfather who doesn’t know how to check his email. But I’m unlikely to start a new online business in the future. I feel like I should focus my efforts on creating things that can have a positive impact on the future of humanity."

Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors was invented in 2003 by entrepreneurial engineers Martin Eberhard and Mark Tappening. From the very beginning, the company positioned itself as the first serial manufacturer of electric vehicles; its founders dreamed of freeing consumers from being tied to the raw materials market - a mission quite in the spirit of Musk.

The businessman, who became rich from the sale of PayPal, appeared in the project in February 2004, leading a round of investment in the startup with a personal contribution of $70 million. He became chairman of the board of directors and at first did not take on the operational management of the company. Musk participated in the design of the debut model of the Roadster sports car, created on the basis of the British Lotus: he lobbied for the use of composite materials in the body structure, developed the battery module and even design details such as headlights. By 2006, the project received good press, Musk became a laureate of the prestigious Global Green environmental award (the award was presented to him personally by Mikhail Gorbachev), and the pool of Tesla investors included “Google fathers” Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The total amount of funds raised in the project exceeded $100 million.

However, in 2007, when the launch of the Roadster assembly line production was planned, a dark streak began in Musk’s life. Management miscalculations led to the fact that the selling price of the electric car turned out to be almost twice as high as what was originally included in the project - $92,000. In addition, the company's CEO Martin Eberhard made a strategic miscalculation: his transmission concept for the Tesla Roadster turned out to be ineffective, and the car's release had to be postponed for more than a year.

In a crisis situation, Elon Musk showed the necessary managerial qualities at that time: the ability to mercilessly throw overboard everyone who, for some reason, interferes with the project. Musk fired Eberhard and several other “founding fathers” without the slightest sentiment, and some time after this purge he himself became the helm of the company. Eberhard sued him, but the case was settled out of court, so effectively that almost no details of the conflict were leaked to the public.

On the threshold of the crisis, Elon Musk continued to vigorously cut the bones: lay off employees, demand lower prices from suppliers, close offices, etc. As a result, the Roadster was released in 2008 with a slight - less than $20,000 - increase in the price on the receipt.

At the most difficult moment (at the same time, the businessman began a high-profile divorce proceeding with his wife Justine, who did not skimp on criticizing the father of her five sons in media interviews and her personal blog for lack of attention and domestic tyranny), Musk invested his last savings of $20 million in Tesla. (he raised funds from Dell's $120 million takeover of software developer Everdream, of which Musk was a shareholder), sold his beloved McLaren F1 to save the project, and still saved the automaker from bankruptcy. He even gave customers personal guarantees of a refund if the initiative failed.

Soon things started to improve, which was especially impressive against the backdrop of the stagnating traditional automobile industry. The German concern Daimler invested $50 million in Tesla; the US Department of Energy authorized the inclusion of the project in the pool of innovative transport companies - recipients of a preferential interest loan. Tesla received almost half a billion dollars from the state. Subsequently, skeptics criticized the authorities for their decision to support Musk’s company, whose products are still aimed exclusively at wealthy buyers.

The word “electric car” often evokes something slow and clumsy, but in the case of Tesla Motors this is not the case. Its cars are fast and similar in appearance for luxury sports cars. However, there are plans to create more simple models. Tesla Motors specialists cooperate with Daimler and Toyota. The so-called “hybrids,” vehicles from these companies equipped with both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, use technology from Elon Musk’s company. In 2007, General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz cited Tesla as the main reason for the auto giant's decision to begin developing the Chevy Volt electric car: “If some startup from Silicon Valley could solve this equation, then no one else dares to tell me that it is unsolvable.”.

“Tesla Motors is named after Nikola Tesla because we use some of his inventions. This guy definitely deserves more recognition from society. However, to be honest, I always liked Thomas Edison better because, unlike Tesla, he was able to bring his inventions to the mass market and make them accessible to all humanity. Tesla failed at this."

In 2010, Tesla held its first U.S. automobile IPO since Ford went public in 1956. The company, despite a decade of unprofitable operations, is listed on NASDAQ at the top of the range at $17 per share and raises more than $225 million. Indeed, there could not have been a better time for an IPO. The oil slick, which, due to the fault of BP, covers an impressive part of the Gulf of Mexico, continues to grow, and at this time raising the issue of switching to new types of fuel seems more than logical. Today, Tesla's stock alone costs $147, and the automaker's capitalization is approaching $18 billion.

The main driver of Tesla's financial success was the luxury sedan Model S with a battery charge of 426 km, a bright design and unique speed characteristics (acceleration to 96 km/h in 3.9 seconds). The model went into mass production last summer with a price starting at $69,900 and received a score of 99 out of 100 points in the Consumer Reports rating.

At the presentation of the Model S, Musk categorically stated that in twenty years more than half of the cars produced will be fully electric: “I'm sure it will happen. I'm ready to bet money on it." . There are enough people willing to make such a bet. Even according to the most optimistic estimates of analysts, Musk’s forecast cannot come true. But this hardly bothers the founder and CEO of Tesla: by embellishing reality, he changes it.

The fact is that, according to Musk, the world has become too dependent on oil. This dependence has led to climate change and permanent geopolitical tensions. Abandoning internal combustion engines in favor of electricity could change the situation. Therefore, Tesla Motors is not just a business for him.

Musk continued to stir up interest in the project by staging a media battle with The New York Times columnist John Brodeur over a critical test drive of the Model S. It must be said that all these publicity stunts bore fruit. Thus, in the first half of 2013, the electric car sold 10,500 units, and supply still does not keep up with demand.

The release of the Model X crossover and the rapid development of a network of Supercharger charging stations are approaching. Tesla plans to cover high-traffic transport arteries with “sockets” throughout the United States, and begin overseas expansion in 2014.

SolarCity

Technology provider SolarCity, by formal criteria, is not exactly Musk’s project. In 2003, he invested $10 million in this startup, proceeds from the sale of PayPal. The founders of the project are businessman cousins ​​Lyndon and Peter Raiva.

SolarCity installs modular private solar power plants with a capacity of several kilowatts - perfect solution for households and small organizations. At the same time, the company does not sell the product, but gives it to customers on long-term lease with a horizon of 20 years. The buyer does not pay for the station itself, but exclusively for the energy it produces. The deals are financed by third-party lenders (for example, Google), who receive tax breaks for supporting the green economy.

In May-June 2008, photovoltaic installations were created to provide electricity to the servers and office of eBay, as well as for British Motors. Also in 2008, the company began producing software, which promotes more rational use of electricity in residential buildings, thanks to which end consumers pay less for electricity, and the load on networks has decreased.

The SolarCity concept is economical, environmentally friendly and absolutely coincides with Musk’s principles. The company, in particular, builds batteries for charging stations for Tesla electric cars. The project already consists of several dozen service centers in the United States and is in great demand among energy consumers: people sign up for home solar stations several months in advance.

However, leadership in the industry does not save SolarCity from criticism: solar power will never turn into an effective business model, and there is too much competition in the segment to maintain an acceptable price ceiling, skeptics argue. However, since its IPO in December 2012, SolarCity's share price has jumped from $8 to $38, peaking at $52 in May.

Musk remains the main shareholder of the company, whose capitalization is approaching $3 billion. It is his confidence in the prospects of the project that analysts call the main factor in the phenomenal market success of the company, which is still operating at a loss ($23.9 million in the second quarter of 2013). If the founder of SpaceX and Tesla bets on a technology, then it has a really good chance of taking off - this phenomenon on Wall Street has already been dubbed the “Musk effect.”

SpaceX

Elon Musk started thinking about creating a rocket company at the turn of the century. He was obsessed with the ambitious idea of ​​creating a platform for multiple human journeys to other planets. The closest point should be Mars, the inventor decided.

“I was fascinated by the prospect of colonizing Mars and became the founder of the Mars Oasis project. The goal is to create automated greenhouses on this planet, which in the future could become an incubator for a self-sustaining ecosystem. And everything was fine, if not for the huge cost of delivering greenhouses to Mars. I even tried to buy missiles in Russia and negotiated with Russian officials, but my friends explained: this deal smacks of such a crime that in the eyes of the intelligence services I risk turning into a second bin Laden. And I thought: wait, why don’t I create my own rocket?”

As soon as circumstances allowed (eBay bought PayPal), the businessman founded the Space Exploration Technologies Company, or simply SpaceX, in 2002. He invested more than $100 million in the project. The cost of proposals on the market - from $15 million for a rocket in Russia to $65 million in the USA - was considered by the entrepreneur to be many times too high.

According to his calculations, it turned out that in total all the parts necessary for the construction of a space carrier cost only 2% of the launch price in the States. This angered Musk. He saw the root of the problem in the bureaucratization of the space industry, low competitiveness large corporations and their lobbying efforts to prevent new players from entering the market.

Musk was confident that the costs of creating and launching rockets could be reduced tenfold. But first he needed to reformulate the purpose of space flight. The main mission of SpaceX, Musk assures, is not the delivery of astronauts and cargo into orbit, but the colonization of other planets. If you want to move some of humanity from Earth to some moon of Jupiter, you damn well have to figure out a way to do it economically.

SpaceX begins designing the Falcon 1 rocket. Development takes four years and hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment (Musk's former business partner Peter Thiel was one of the first to support Musk's project, and Musk retained two-thirds of SpaceX's shares). As a result, the rocket and three types of liquid engines - Merlin, Kestrel and Draco - were created from scratch without any government intervention. In 2006, NASA drew attention to SpaceX. The agency initially awarded the company several contracts for Falcon 1 test launches.

“My goal is to create not just a rocket, but a reliable rocket and affordable price. I was warned many times: if you reduce costs, you also reduce reliability. In my opinion, this is fundamentally wrong. A sports Ferrari is a very expensive car, but most likely the Ferrari will break down on the first dirt road. On the contrary, the cheapest Honda can work reliably for several years, and you can be sure that its wheel will not fall off in the first ditch. The same with rockets. The main thing is not to rush.”

The first three launches in 2006-2008 turned out to be failures (the third ended in an incident - the ashes of James Dewan, who played Scotty in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, were “buried” in the ocean depths instead of outer space). On the fourth attempt, the rocket launches successfully - this costs $7 million. On the fifth, it sends a Malaysian satellite into orbit. Impressed, NASA signs a contract with SpaceX for 12 missions to send cargo to the ISS for $1.6 billion.

“We use technologies that are simply impossible to imagine in our arsenal state institutions. For example, our company needed a theodolite, which is used to level a rocket, and instead of buying a new one, I suggested looking on eBay. That’s what we found – a wonderful working theodolite, saving about 25 thousand dollars.”

The company is updating its flagship product, and the upgraded Falcon 9 first simply launches a SpaceX-developed Dragon truck into orbit, and on May 22, 2012, it is the first in the history of private space to send a ship to the ISS. In October, Dragon successfully delivered half a ton of payload to the station, and in the future should accommodate crews of seven astronauts. The total package of orders from government and commercial structures for 50 SpaceX rocket launches today is about $4 billion; according to a conservative estimate, the company's value is about $2.5 billion.

But Musk is in no hurry to launch an IPO. For him, all the achievements of SpaceX are just preparation for the realization of his main dream - an expedition to Mars. Until the end of his life, the billionaire wants to become a pioneer colonizer of the Red Planet. To this end, SpaceX is developing the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCP) project. Musk's engineers are working on innovative rocket engines and spaceships to deliver people from Earth to Mars (a Falcon-based Grasshoper rocket can be created that can land vertically, and the second generation Dragon is technically already capable of getting to Mars, Musk assures).

According to the 42-year-old businessman, in 10-20 years the fantasy may become reality. “I would like to die on Mars. Just without crashing on the surface of the planet." , jokes the billionaire.

Using the example of Elon Musk, we can trace the path of a man who made childhood dreams come true, because many people in childhood wanted to fly into space, and soon this will be possible, because business has come to astronautics, and many will benefit from this, because space tourism will soon time will become a reality, thanks in part to Elon Musk.

“SpaceX wants to be a company that can help move people to other planets, because I think that's the biggest goal that life can have. And although we should never forget about more mundane things, it is very useful to have such a kind of Holy Grail, the search for which becomes a long-term goal and a main source of inspiration.”

Musk is a demanding perfectionist and pedant in the technical field. His background in physics helps him see objective truths and separate them from emotional assessments and speculative predictions. He just thinks big. For example, he thinks about a means public transport called "hyperloop". This electric supersonic vehicle should take people from Los Angeles to San Francisco (350 miles) in 30 minutes.

Hyperloop

Musk first shared his plans for creating the Loop with reporters in September 2012. Then he did not provide the technical specifications of the project, limiting himself to the vague term “fifth mode of transport” (after railway, aviation, motor transport and shipping). “It will be something that will never crash, will be at least twice as fast as an airplane, will be powered by solar energy and will take off not on a schedule, but exactly at the moment when you need it.” , the businessman said in an interview with Bloomberg.

With his developments, Musk intended to reach California Governor Jerry Brown and US President Barack Obama directly. Hyperloop, in his opinion, should become an alternative to the authorities’ plans to build a high-speed railway between San Francisco and Los Angeles at a cost of about $70 billion (and taking into account costs, the amount could rise to $100 billion, the businessman is sure). “They are offering California the slowest express train with the most high rate construction costs per mile of track. These are wrong records." , - the entrepreneur was indignant.

On August 12, 2013, Loop received a 57-page concept presentation. We are talking, as it turned out, about a closed overhead highway in the form of a steel pipe (more precisely, two parallel pipes connected at the end points of the route), inside which at almost the speed of sound in conditions low blood pressure(to reduce air resistance) a sealed aluminum capsule moves on an aerodynamic cushion. An electromagnetic pulse “accelerates” the structure. The capsule itself draws air through a cavity in the nose and out through "nozzles" on the bottom panel's gutters, forming an air gap - similar technology to magnetic levitation trains.

The “big pipe” will consist of 100-meter sections, which will be raised on pylons to a height of 20 meters (supports must be built at a distance of 45-90 meters from each other). The project's electricity needs will be 100% met by solar panels located along the entire route. The synergy with Musk’s other projects could not have come at a better time: the engines and electronic “filling” of the capsule can be inherited from Tesla Motors, SolarCity engineers understand solar energy best of all, and SpaceX will share with Loop alloys for the production of transport, tested in space.

Inside the transport shuttle, up to 28 people can be accommodated (if the project budget is increased from $6 billion to $10 billion, the Hyperloop design will allow three cars to be transported in one capsule). The Loop will cover the 600 km distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 35 minutes in comfortable conditions for humans (as Musk puts it, “it will be super comfortable and quiet, no turbulence”). The starting push of the capsule for passengers will be comparable to the acceleration of an airplane along the runway. About 70 shuttles on the line will be able to operate with a minimum interval of 30 seconds (the safe distance between capsules is approximately 8 km). Investments should pay off in 20 years, provided that a ticket for innovative transport costs $20 and transports 7.4 million passengers in each direction during this period.

The first Loop will roughly follow the route of California's Interstate 5.

Musk promises passengers an unprecedented level of safety. "Hyperloop will not fall from the sky and will not go off the rails" , - assured the inventor. Engineers from the project team took into account the possibility of emergency braking in case of depressurization of the capsule and even proposed bridge-building anti-seismic solutions in the design of pylons to level the risk of destruction by an earthquake.

The “Loop” will be a rational solution for large cities located at a distance of no more than 1,500 km from each other. Aviation is more suitable for long distances, the inventor believes.

Musk warned that he himself is not yet ready to devote a sufficient amount of time to Loop (it’s already “damn hard” for him to manage SpaceX, Tesla and SpaceX at the same time), although in any case he remains an investor and agrees to finance the creation of the prototype. The entrepreneur allowed all the engineering research of his team to be completed on an open source basis by any enthusiasts, guaranteeing all possible support. If brave investors are not found in the near future, Tesla will return to the project in a few years. “I’m not afraid of losing something financially on Hyperloop, it would just be cool to do the new kind transport" , - summed up the billionaire.

Technologically, there are no breakthrough solutions in the “Loop”: all components of the invention are already being used in other projects, and this seriously increases the chances of Hyperloop to “materialize”: Musk’s brainchild compares favorably with numerous analogues such as the “vacuum” train of the RAND Corporation, which has been running for several decades in concepts.

“The first thing I always think about is whether what we know about something is true. Maybe there is some other explanation? I did this from the first grades of school. I always challenged everything. This drove parents crazy. I never believed them and always demanded to answer the question “why?” Then I tried to figure out if their answer made sense."

The main obstacle to true innovation, according to Musk, is people's habit of thinking in analogies. As a result, in most cases they simply try to do something better instead of creating something new. Musk thinks fundamentally differently: “In physics there is the concept of fundamental principles. You dissect reality down to its fundamental foundations. And you start building your argument from there. It requires a lot of mental effort.".

“Think about company in your dreams and in reality – seven days a week and without breaks. Always stay laser-focused on creating amazing products for the future. This is exactly what you need to do at the start.”

“You need to be prepared for the fact that the company could collapse at any minute. Founding a startup is like eating glass and staring into the abyss, because the feeling of failure will never leave you.”

Musk is only forty-two years old, and he has no plans to retire. And there are enough tasks in the world that would be worth taking on by a person with a billion dollars in his pocket, who knows how to turn the most fantastic ideas into reality.

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This person evokes admiration, respect and envy. His success is natural: talent, charisma and business sense are complemented by efficiency and the ability to correctly set priorities. Key milestones: computer company Zip2, PayPal, TeslaMotors, SolarCity, SpaceX.

The story of Elon Musk is interesting because, by birth, he was not a candidate to become a famous billionaire. He was born in South Africa, in the family of an engineer and nutritionist. Despite the fact that the boy was smart and developed since childhood (he went to school a year earlier than his peers), even his parents admitted the fact that his son’s contacts with his peers did not go well. Subsequently, he himself will say: “I was a little nerdy child, quite smart... so in school time I just read a lot of books and tried not to get in people's way."

The guy compensated for his lack of friends by constantly reading everything he could get his hands on: from Spider-Man comics to encyclopedias. At the age of 17, after graduating from school in Pretoria, the future billionaire makes the bold decision to start an independent life in the USA.

In 1989, he boarded a plane to Canada, realizing that his parents would not be able to help financially, and he would have to rely on himself. For a whole year, Elon lived a difficult life: he worked wherever he could, earning a living. Entering Queens University in Ontario changes the situation. The talented student attracted attention, and in 1992, his dream of coming to the United States came true, thanks to receiving a scholarship to study in Pennsylvania. At the University of Pennsylvania, Elon received a bachelor's degree in business in a year, devoted the second year to studying physics and also received a bachelor's degree.

The story of serial businessman Elon Musk

The term appeared relatively recently and is used to refer to entrepreneurs who apply their talent to launch various, sometimes unrelated, projects.

Elon's first project- computer game Blastar, the creation of which brought 500 in 12 years. Initially, Elon and his brother were going to rent the development in the gaming room. They did almost everything for this:

• found a room to rent;
• We agreed with a machine provider who could supply the equipment.

However, it was not possible to obtain city approval: the parents did not know about their sons’ idea, and the young entrepreneurs were under 18 years old.

Second start-up more successful. To open the Internet company Zip2, Elon leaves graduate school at Stanford University after spending only two days there! The decision is explained as follows: “I realized that nothing was happening at Stanford, so I called the teachers, said that I wanted to start my own company and agreed that if things didn’t work out, there would be an opportunity to return back.”

As part of Zip2's activities:

• a platform was developed that allowed newspapers to provide commercial services to clients;
• Many printed publications, including authoritative ones, are being transferred to the digital era;
• The first online city directory is created.

The degree of success of the idea is easily assessed by numbers: Zip2 was sold to Compaq for $307 million and $34 million in securities. Musk joined the Silicon Valley millionaires when he was only 28 years old, receiving $22 million.

This transaction went down in history as the largest financial transaction conducted in cash.

The third part of Elon Musk's business story- PayPal electronic payment system. The startup was originally called X.com, after merging with competitive company Confinity on a parity basis is called PayPal. Musk's contribution to the development of the company is invaluable:

• development of a fundamentally new business model;
• competent, talented advertising, close to viral;
• bringing the payment system to the first positions.

All this has changed the principle of shopping: today we can no longer imagine how we can do it without the help of the Internet. Previously, it took a week to make a purchase using a card; PayPal processes the payment in a few seconds. The value of the idea is evidenced by the purchase of the company by a competitor - Ebay - for $1.5 billion. Musk sold his stake in the company for $180 million.

The billionaire's fourth project- TeslaMotors can rightfully be considered one of the most brilliant. Starting with the fact that Musk invested all his savings into the project and ending with the fact that he personally participated in the development, proving that he is not only a businessman, but also an inventor. At first everything went great:

• the release of the debut model of the Roadster sports car, in the development and design of which Musk personally took part (the development of the battery module was often carried out in his garage, the design of the headlights, as well as the body material, were the merits of the billionaire inventor);
• receiving the GlobalGreen award for contribution to environmentally friendly production;
• changing the image of an electric car: inconvenient, small cars, after Musk’s team worked on them, turned into prestigious high-speed sports cars;
• attracting new investors, such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin, etc.

The situation worsened in 2007, when there was talk of opening an assembly line. It turned out that management miscalculations led to the fact that the cost of the electric car would be twice as high as what was included in the estimate - $92 thousand. Technical shortcomings were also identified (the transmission concept proposed by General Director Eberhard turned out to be erroneous and required serious improvements).

There were several weeks with zero bank accounts. I had a choice: take all the capital left over from the PayPal sale and invest it in Tesla, or Tesla will die. (Quote from the 2014 film “Billionaire Elon Musk: How I Became a Real Iron Man”).

An entrepreneur takes matters into his own hands, saving the company from bankruptcy:

• fires Eberhard and senior managers who made major mistakes;
• invests in Tesla all the money he had at that time - $20 million;
• ruthlessly reduces the number of company employees, leaving only those who are necessary;
• negotiates with suppliers, bargaining for every cent;
• attracts investors in traditional and non-traditional ways (fortunately, there are many of these, you just need to wisely look for options);
• is looking for any means possible, even selling his favorite McLaren F1 car.

Soon the whole world was talking about a fundamentally new means of transportation, environmentally friendly, stylish and almost perfect. More details about the sources of investment can be found in Table 1. In 2016, it became known that there was a fatal accident in America involving the innovative Tesla sedan. This reduced the share price by 3%, but everyone is sure that the company’s development cannot be stopped.

The company's profits up to and including 2015 had negative dynamics, that is, the company operated at a loss. According to the billionaire, profitability will increase significantly when sales reach a million cars a year in 2020. So far, the increase in losses is associated with lower prices in key regions for the company: Europe, China, and the USA. The Model S and Model M electric cars are currently available for sale.

A logical continuation was the opening of gas stations for electric vehicles from Tesla Supercharger. The idea is that they will be available worldwide, making electric cars more affordable.

Fifth project: SpaceX.

Long term, I'd really like to go to Mars. This is SpaceX's primary goal. (Quote from the 2014 film “Billionaire Elon Musk: How I Became a Real Iron Man”).

The most ambitious project supported in the United States at the government level. The company was founded in 2002, its goal is the ability to travel to other planets using modern high-tech rockets. Departure point - Mars.

The achievements in this area are already colossal:

• cost reduction by 10 times;
• creation from scratch of a rocket and three types of liquid engines;
• a change in the concept of space flights, from now on the goal is the colonization of space, and not occasional flights there.

Today, Musk’s “crazy” idea is not only generally accepted, but is also supported at the state level. NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract for 12 missions to deliver cargo to the ISS.

How did Musk manage to reduce the cost of flights? When a theodolite was needed to level the surface of a rocket, Musk did not order it from government agencies; he bought it on eBay, saving $25,000.

Human delivery to Mars is planned for 2026.

“Personal style” of Elon Musk and success story

Elon Musk never had a choice whether to do or not to do. The question was: what to do next? (Quote from the 2014 film “Billionaire Elon Musk: How I Became a Real Iron Man”).

Elon Musk is not a man with business acumen. He is a dreamer who works to ensure that his projects, even the most fantastic ones, become reality. However, in difficult situations he acts like a tough businessman who does not look at personalities. An incomplete list of situations when the actions of an entrepreneur, which seemed crazy to others, led to stunning success:

• investing money not just in innovative, but in revolutionary projects;
• the ability to see one step ahead where others did not see prospects;
• the desire not just to make money, but to change the world.

To make the idea of ​​an electric car attractive, Musk changed people's worldviews. From now on, driving electric cars is easy, convenient and prestigious! A whole network of gas stations serving this type of car was also built.

In addition to the fact that this man is an inventor and a successful businessman, he also became the prototype for the famous comic book and movie character - Iron Man. By the way, he starred in Iron Man 2 as a friend of the main character. People talk and talk about his phenomenon!

Elon Musk's story is impressive and instructive. It gives hope to those who dream of success and are ready to work for it day and night.