2020 may have been the year of Covid-19 but, it also saw the rise of Elon Musk. Musk is always in the news because of his innovative companies and ambitious plans for humanity. Elon Musk’s journey is a lesson in success through failures. By looking at his life closely, we can understand what makes this man a modern-day genius. So here’s the list of 15 things you didn’t know about Elon Musk.
#1 Richest Man in the World
According to Forbes, Elon Musk becomes the richest man in the world at the end of 2020 when the shares of Tesla went up again. He surpassed the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is just $2 billion behind Musk right now. Elon Musk is now worth over $182.9 in 2021, a staggering $150 billion growth from 2020.
#2 Has citizenship of three countries
Contrary to what many people think, Elon Musk was not born in the US. He was born and spent his early years in Pretoria, South Africa. At the age of 17, he moved to Canada and got citizenship later. It was after three when he comes to the US. After getting his two bachelor’s degrees, he got a degree in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
#3 Taught himself programming at the age of 9
Elon Musk was a fast learner since he was a kid. Musk got into computer programming when he was just 9. He programmed a space-themed game ‘Blastar.’ A young Elon Musk made a lot of money when he sold the code for Blastar to a computer magazine for a whopping $500. But, of course, if you want, you can still play the game online.
#4 Dropped out of Stanford in just two days
Getting into Stanford is a dream for so many of us. But what if we told you that Elon Musk got admission into the prestigious university and dropped out after only 2 days? He moved to California to study Physics at Stanford, but he didn’t; he saw a long-term vision. So he left Stanford to work on his first company Zip2 Corporation.
#5 He was the inspiration for superhero Tony Stark also known as Ironman
We all love Tony Stark, don’t we? But, not many people know that the SpaceX founder inspires the character. In the movies, Tony Stark is an Entrepreneur and has a lot of resembles with Musk. It is also speculated that Robert Downey Jr. met with Elon Musk multiple times to get into the character’s skin. And, that may be true because Musk made a cameo appearance in the ironman movie.
#6 His Tesla salary is pretty low
Elon Musk may be the founder and CEO of SpaceX, but he doesn’t get a hefty package from the company. Instead, musk receives a Compensation Package of less than $40,000 and does not even cash the checks. However, he holds about 35 million Tesla shares and gets his other company, SpaceX, earnings.
#7 He owns a James Bond submarine car.’
Musk is a self-proclaimed nerd. One of the rarest collectibles from his collection is a James Bond Submarine car. ‘Wet Leslie’ submarine car was featured in the 1970’s James Bond Movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me. Wet Leslie is just a movie prop car, but Musk is planning to convert it into a real car that can also work as a submarine.
#8 X-men fanboy
Elon Musk loves comic books and sci-fi, as many of you already know. The interesting fact is that the robots in the Tesla factory are named after the comic book franchise. The names of the robots are Xavier, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus.
#9 Ran a nightclub out of his house in college
Elon Musk always stood out for his out-of-the-box thinking. For example, when he studied at the University of Pennsylvania, he wanted a bigger house off-campus and escape student housing. So he got a house off-campus and turned it into a nightclub for paying the rent. This venture was pretty successful as almost 1,000 people were coming in daily.
#10 Musk is a pro at Dungeons and Dragons
Elon Musk is a master player at Dungeons and Dragons, which is an imaginative board game. He once went to Johannesburg with his cousin to participate in a D&D tournament. Years later, he told the author of his biography Ashley Vance ‘That was being geek masters.’ His cousin Peter river told in an interview that they won the tournament because of Musk’s imagination.
#11 Elon Musk’s daily budget was $1 a day
Elon Musk has had his fair share of struggles in his journey. When he comes to North America, he didn’t have any money and only spent $1 daily. He bought food from the supermarket in bulk quantity because that was the cheaper option. He shared this experience of his life by saying, ‘I eat oranges and hotdogs for some time, but you do get tired of them after a while.
#12 Musk tried to open his own arcade business when he was 16
When he was in high school, he thought of opening an arcade game business. So, he teamed up with his brother to start the business. He went far for his idea by signing a lease, filling out city forms at the city planning department. But, the business never started because they were too young to get permission.
#13 Read the entire encyclopedia when he was 9
Elon Musk was bullied in school, so from an early age, he found comfort within books. He said this about his obsession with books ‘I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents.’ He read for 10 hours daily and completed the Encyclopedia Britannica when he was just 9 years old. Later on in his life, he got into comic books and sci-fi stuff.
#14 Made his own rockets when he was a kid
Elon Musk always had a vision for space exploration. When he was a kid, and his parents were away. He would make explosives, read books, and make model rockets. He jokingly recalled that time, saying, ‘I’m shocked that I have all my fingers.’
#15 If you invested in Tesla’s IPO, you would have made a lot of money
Before Tesla went public in 2010, critics doubted its success and future. However, after the IPO in 2010, Tesla rapidly grew to become the biggest automaker in the world. According to CNBC calculations, if you invested $1,000 before the IPO, you would have made over $20,000 today.
