Who is Elon Musk and what is his net worth?
The world’s richest man, who oversees X (previously Twitter), Tesla, and SpaceX, utilizes his position to express his opinions on a wide range of subjects.He is in the UK right now for an international symposium on artificial intelligence.He stated before the event that he feared AI may cause mankind to go extinct, although he did not elaborate on how he thought it would actually happen.
Where was Elon Musk born?
The 52-year-old serial entrepreneur has charmed the world with his business antics ever since breaking into the Silicon Valley scene more than 20 years ago.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Mr. Musk shown his aptitude for business at a young age. At the age of twelve, he created his first computer game and went door-to-door with his brother selling handmade chocolate Easter eggs.
He has talked about having a rough upbringing due to bullying at school, his parents’ divorce, and his own struggles interpreting social cues due to Asperger’s syndrome. He moved to Canada and then the US at the earliest chance to attend college, where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school.
Justine Musk, his first wife, was a writer whom he met in college and wed in 2000. She claimed that Mr. Musk was “not a man who takes no for an answer” even before he became wealthy.She recounted that he told her, “I am the alpha in this relationship,” while dancing at their wedding. “The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home,” she said.
How did Elon Musk make his money?
Mr. Musk promptly left Stanford University’s PhD school in physics after being accepted, founding two tech start-ups in the 1990s “dotcom boom” instead. These included an online banking startup that later evolved into PayPal and a web software company that eBay purchased in 2002 for a sum of $1.5 billion.He invested his riches in two new businesses: SpaceX, a rocket firm he founded with the goal of becoming a more affordable NASA substitute, and Tesla, an electric automobile company where he chaired the board before taking the helm as CEO in 2008.
Though they occasionally flirted with bankruptcy, the two companies are recognized for having completely transformed their respective industries.Among his more recent commercial endeavors is his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022.Since then, he has relaunched the company as X, drastically decreased the number of employees, including, controversially, teams in charge of maintaining the platform’s security; and added additional premium memberships to the mix so that revenue is generated by the company’s operations rather than just advertising.Long term, Mr. Musk wants X to grow into a “everything app” with a variety of services. But according to sources, the firm’s worth has already dropped from the $44 billion he initially paid to just $19 billion.
Being an early investor in ChatGPT’s parent business, he also has aspirations in the AI space. In July, he will launch his own startup, xAI, with the goal of “understanding the true nature of the universe.”Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker adds, “I’m never hugely convinced that he knows what he wants to do tomorrow.” “He very much leads by instinct.”Author Ashlee Vance called Elon Musk “a confrontational know-it-all” with a “abundant ego” in a biography she wrote in 2015. However, he also described him as a clumsy dancer and a bashful public speaker.
Three times divorced—twice from British actress Talulah Riley—Mr. Musk is open about his vices and frequently talks about his love of marijuana.He has been called both Twitter’s biggest troll and a mad genius by the media. He is well-known for his small-time feuds and his grandiose aspirations, in addition to the more significant legal challenges he and his businesses have faced from authorities, investors, and others regarding racial discrimination and the veracity of his claims.Mr. Musk stated in a TED interview last year, “If you list my sins, I sound like the worst person on Earth.” “But if you put those against the things I’ve done right, it makes much more sense.”
What is Elon Musk’s net worth?
His attractiveness seems to stem from all those paradoxes, and that hasn’t stopped him from accumulating a sizable wealth.As of November 2023, Bloomberg and Forbes estimate his net worth to be between $198 billion (£162 billion) and $220 billion (£180 billion), making him the richest person in the world.That is mostly determined by the value of his Tesla stock, of which he owns over 13%. As the company’s output expanded and it began to generate consistent profits in 2020, the value of its stock shot up—some would say unfairly.Although some blamed the distraction of the Twitter takeover for the shares’ decline at the end of last year, they have subsequently recovered.
In addition, Mr. Musk supports virtual currencies and has stakes in a number of other smaller businesses, such as the Boring Company, which builds tunnels, and Neuralink, a start-up that experiments with brain computers.Wearing the workaholic moniker with pride, Mr. Musk has frequently stated that he is not in the business to generate money; he recently reaffirmed this in relation to his takeover of Twitter.According to friend and Tesla investor Ross Gerber, “Elon only gets involved with things if he feels that they’re critically important for some reason… for the sake of society or humanity.”
What are Elon Musk’s political views?
Since obtaining US citizenship in 2002, Mr. Musk has rejected attempts to categorize his political views, referring to himself as “independent,” “politically moderate,” and “half-Democrat, half-Republican.”That doesn’t imply he has avoided engaging in political discourse.Having inserted himself into some of the world’s most heated geopolitical disputes, he has suggested that China create a “special administrative zone” in Taiwan and put out parameters for ending the conflict in Ukraine that many of the nation’s most powerful officials have vehemently opposed.Although Mr. Musk offered Ukraine his Starlink satellite internet service, he has also come under fire for turning down Kyiv’s urgent request to activate Starlink at Sevastopol, which is home to a significant Russian navy port.
He relocated to Texas in the US, where he has since argued with union organizers, complained about the high taxes and restrictions in California, and called out coronavirus lockdowns as “fascist” in the spring of 2020.
After the US withdrew from a global climate accord, he was among the first corporate executives to break from former President Donald Trump, resigning from a White House business group.However, he has also made it known that he disapproves of President Joe Biden, whom he believes is undermining Tesla while endorsing electric cars.Since his companies, like Tesla, are devoted to finding solutions for pressing human problems, such as climate change, he has stated that he views them as a type of philanthropy.Even while he has a personal interest in AI, he has also been among the most vocal people concerned about the potential threat that extremely clever AIs could bring to humankind.