-- Elon Musk --
Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a South African-born American business magnate investor, engineer, and inventor. He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; a co-founder, Series A investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Inc.; co-chairman of OpenAI; and founder and CEO of Neuralink. Musk is also a co-founder and former chairman of SolarCity, co-founder of Zip2, and founder of X.com, which merged with Confinity and took the name PayPal.
Career
Zip2
In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web software company, with money raised from a small group of angel investors.The company developed and marketed an Internet "city guide" for the newspaper publishing industry.Musk obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch.While at Zip2, Musk wanted to become CEO; however, none of the board members would allow it.Compaq acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options in February 1999.Musk received US$22 million for his 7% share from the sale.
X.com and PayPal
In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, online financial services and e-mail payment company, with US$10 million from the sale of Zip2.One year later, the company merged with Confinity, which had a money transfer service called PayPal. The merged company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001. PayPal's early growth was driven mainly by a viral marketing campaign where new customers were recruited when they received money through the service.Musk was ousted in October 2000 from his role as CEO (although he remained on the board) due to disagreements with other company leadership, notably over his desire to move PayPal's Unix-based infrastructure to Microsoft Windows.In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received US$165 million.Before its sale, Musk, who was the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.
In July 2017, Musk purchased the domain x.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount stating that it has "great sentimental value" to him.
SpaceX
Tesla
Tesla Motors first built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster in 2008, with sales of about 2,500 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan on June 22, 2012. It unveiled its third product, the Model X, aimed at the SUV/minivan market, on February 9, 2012; however, the Model X launch was delayed until September 2015.[94][95][96] In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler for the Smart EV, Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive, and Mercedes A-Class, and to Toyota for the RAV4 EV
SolarCity
Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which was then co-founded in 2006 by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive.SolarCity is now the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.
The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming.[110] In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla are collaborating to use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop solar on the power grid, with the program going live in 2013.
Hyperloop
On August 12, 2013, Musk unveiled a concept for a high-speed transportation system incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors.The mechanism for releasing the concept was an alpha-design document that, in addition to scoping out the technology, outlined a notional route where such a transport system might be built: between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.
After earlier envisioning Hyperloop, Musk assigned a dozen engineers from Tesla and SpaceX who worked for nine months, establishing the conceptual foundations and creating the designs for the transportation system.
OpenAI
In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company. OpenAI aims to develop artificial general intelligence in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity.[126]
By making AI available to everyone, OpenAI wants to "counteract large corporations who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence systems devoted to profits, as well as governments which may use AI to gain power and even oppress their citizenry".
Neuralink
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company, to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence. The company, which is still in the earliest stages of existence, is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or allow for more direct interfacing with computing devices.
Honorary doctorates
- Honorary Doctorate in Design from the Art Center College of Design
- Honorary doctorate (DUniv) in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Surrey[228]
- Honorary Doctorate of Engineering and Technology from Yale University
- Honorary Doctorate from AGH Cracow.
-->Do what you love and love what you do
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