Business tycoon and philanthropist Elon Musk is the world richest. He is the owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc., the founder of The Boring Company, the co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI, the CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, an angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc., and president of the charitable Musk Foundation. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, Musk is the second-wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of roughly $139 billion as of December 23, 2022, mostly derived from his ownership shares in Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and spent a brief period of time attending the University of Pretoria before relocating to Canada at the age of eighteen and obtaining Canadian citizenship through his mother. He enrolled at Queen’s University two years later and subsequently went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in both economics and physics. In 1995 he relocated to California to enroll at Stanford University. He quit college after two days and co-founded Zip2 with his brother Kimbal, a maker of online city guides. Musk co-founded X.com, a direct bank, in 1999 after Zip2 was bought by Compaq for $307 million. In order to create PayPal, X.com and Confinity merged in 2000. In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion.
Musk established SpaceX, a provider of spaceflight services, in 2002 with $175.8 million. He made an early investment in Tesla Motors, Inc. in 2004. (now Tesla, Inc.). In 2008, he took over as CEO and was appointed chairman of the company. He participated in the creation of SolarCity in 2006; Tesla later bought SolarCity, which became Tesla Energy. He joined others in establishing nonprofit artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI in 2015. The companies Neuralink, which develops brain-computer interfaces, and The Boring Company, which builds tunnels, were both co-founded by him the year after. Additionally, Musk has suggested a hyperloop high-speed rail system. His $44 billion purchase of Twitter was finalized in 2022.
Musk is a divisive character who has made contentious claims about politics and technology, particularly on Twitter. He has come under fire for making unfounded claims and circulating false information on COVID-19. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Musk in 2018 after he allegedly misrepresented in a tweet that he had money in place for a private acquisition of Tesla. In accordance with a settlement deal with the SEC, Musk resigned from his position as chairman of Tesla and paid a $20 million fine.
What are our hopes and fears about Elon Musk?
Elon Musk once said, “I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” This is a fantastic phrase. He also discusses “the future of human civilization” regularly. In this way, Elon Musk aspires to lead the world in contemporary technology, science, and business with the ultimate goal of creating the world he wants to live in. His business empire and the statement that “if he has to pick between dying on the planet and Mars, he prefers Mars” are evidences of this. This viewpoint tells us to anticipate “more amazing things than the world has ever seen or known to be invested.” Along with being the best in the world at business, science, and technology, he may also have the vision and determination to build an incredible civilization for the future of human beings. Wait and see what he will bring to the world.
On the negative side, remember the quote that say “the greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” His comments on political candidates and the firing of the former Twitter CEO are two examples. His arrogance has grown as a result of his tremendous successes and erudition. He put the public to the test of his greatness by asking them to vote on whether or not he should step down as CEO of Twitter, and the outcome disappointed him. The government has recently made attempts to measure and limit his influence.
As of now, Elon Musk is acknowledged as being “unmatchable on earth.”
