From Tesla tequila to Iron Man inspiration: 7 issues it’s possible you’ll not find out about Elon Musk

The identify Elon Musk is probably some of the recognisable within the modern-day.

The richest man on this planet is understood for being the proprietor of assorted corporations together with electrical car maker Tesla and Area X, his takeover of social media firm Twitter – which he renamed X – and, till most just lately, his work throughout the US authorities.

After practically 130 days as head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity – referred to as DOGE for brief – Musk introduced he’s leaving his function inside Donald Trump’s administration.

His work throughout the division and his shut relationship with Mr Trump led to Musk being within the headlines greater than ever, however there’s a lot to the billionaire businessman that’s hardly ever reported.

Little one online game creator

Within the early Nineteen Eighties, on the age of 12, Musk created the online game Blastar.

He created the sport, which duties gamers to make use of their keyboards to shoot at alien fighter spaceships, by way of his data of coding and programming, which he picked up on the age of 9, in line with Ashlee Vance’s 2015 biography of the tech mogul.

By 1984 the sport was so good, Musk offered it to PC and Workplace Expertise journal for $500 (£371), the place it featured within the publication’s December challenge.

First massive pay cheque

From the get-go, it was clear Musk had a expertise for enterprise. In 1995, age 24, he arrange his first firm, Zip2 along with his brother, Kimbal.

The pair arrange the corporate, which created on-line metropolis guides for newspapers, for round $28,000 (£20,000). It was offered for round $300m (£222m) 4 years later in 1999.

Earlier than cashing in on the success of Zip2, Musk mentioned he and his brother have been just about broke and each slept within the workplace the place they labored – a behaviour he reportedly replicated within the early days of Tesla.

From the sale of the corporate, Musk walked away from Zip2 with a cool $22m, and the very first thing he purchased was a McLaren F1.

He instructed CNN on the time: “Simply three years in the past I used to be sleeping on the workplace flooring, and now I’ve acquired a million-dollar automobile.”

Musk’s musk

Regardless of having big success, a few of Musk’s concepts haven’t proved to be as long-lasting.

In 2022, he launched a fragrance known as Burnt Hair, which is described on his The Boring Firm web site as “the essence of repugnant want”.

The scent, which price $100 (£74) a bottle, was a smash hit, in line with Musk, who mentioned it had offered 10,000 bottles in just some hours, incomes him 1,000,000 {dollars}.

“With a reputation like mine, entering into the perfume enterprise was inevitable – why did I even struggle it for thus lengthy!?” Musk mentioned on the time.

It’s unknown if the product was severe, and (sadly) is not obtainable on The Boring Firm web site.

Along with fragrance, Tesla launched its personal tequila in 2020, and in the identical yr, Musk adopted by way of on a joke to promote restricted version pairs of Tesla quick shorts as a technique to show buyers who guess in opposition to the electrical car maker flawed.

The unique PayPal

Lengthy earlier than Twitter turned X, Musk created X.com, an internet banking and monetary companies firm.

The platform rapidly attracted a big buyer base, and within the yr 2000, it merged with Confinity, which was co-founded by tech entrepreneurs Peter Thiel and Max Levchin.

The platform was later renamed PayPal.

Musk went on to develop into chief govt of PayPal, however was later ousted from the place as arguments over the corporate’s identify and general course emerged.

In 2002, the banking website was purchased by eBay for $1.5bn (£1.4bn). Years later, in 2017, eBay offered the area X.com again to Musk.

Inspiration for Iron Man

Musk’s life as a billionaire entrepreneur appears like the beginning of a Hollywood blockbuster. And in actuality, Musk’s character and accomplishments have been partly used as inspiration for Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Iron Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In a 2022 interview, Iron Man screenwriter Mark Fergus mentioned his model of Tony Stark was primarily based on a fruits of Musk, Mr Trump and Apple creator Steve Jobs.

“Musk took the brilliance of Jobs with the showmanship of Trump. He was the one one who had the enjoyable issue and the superstar vibe and precise enterprise substance,” Mr Fergus instructed New York Journal.

Musk’s uncommon connection to the fictionalised billionaire was performed out on digital camera when he made a cameo in Iron Man 2 in 2010.

The actual Tesla founder?

Opposite to perception, Musk didn’t begin Tesla. He was really an early investor within the firm and was the fourth chief govt when he took over the function in 2008 – shortly after the corporate launched its first automobile – the Roadster sports activities automobile.

It was the truth is, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning who based the corporate in 2003, albeit Musk was the one to propel it on to a world stage.

Need for the ‘every little thing app’

After taking up social media platform X for $44bn in 2022, Musk turned one step nearer to attaining his purpose of making an “every little thing app”.

The tech mogul has beforehand mentioned he needs for X to develop into much like WeChat – a Chinese language app that provides a variety of options past messaging, together with funds, ordering taxis, sharing social media posts and conducting enterprise – consider it as a combination between Fb, Apple Pay, WhatsApp and Google.

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Musk’s imaginative and prescient of this “tremendous app” appears to be shared by these at X, together with chief govt Linda Yaccarino, who mentioned on the finish of final yr that 2025 could be the yr that X “join[s] you in methods by no means thought potential. X TV, X Cash, Grok and extra”.

And this seems to be considerably coming true.

In January, Musk introduced X had partnered with fee big Visa, which can permit customers to maneuver funds between conventional banks and a digital X pockets and make funds to buddies.