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Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Elon Musk

With an estimated net worth of around $181 billion as of November 18, 2022, Elon Musk is listed as one of the wealthiest persons in the world. He is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, Inc, founder of The Boring Company, co-founder of Neuralink, and the owner of Twitter, Inc.

Born and raised in South Africa by a South African father and a Canadian mother before immigrating to the United States, Musk has been listed as one of the most influential persons on earth today.

Celebrated by his fans and hated by critics, Musk is often described as an eccentric who makes spontaneous and controversial statements, unlike other billionaires who prefer a quiet and reclusive life to protect their businesses.

Here are the top 10 outstanding facts about him.

1. He was born in South Africa

Although Elon Musk now lives permanently in the United States, he was actually born and raised in South Africa. He was born to Errol Musk and Maye Musk on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, one of the capital cities of South Africa.

His father is a South African electromechanical engineer who was also a half-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, and his mother is a Canadian-born model and dietitian who was raised in South Africa.

Elon moved to Canada in 1989, at the age of 17, before immigrating to the United State in 1992. Indeed, he has three countries citizenship – Canada, the United States, and South Africa.

2. He Dropped out of University to Pursue a Career in Business

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Musk attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, before he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School in 1995.

He later joined Stanford University in California where he planned to do a Ph.D. program in materials science. However, he dropped out two days after his admission, preferring to pursue a career in business instead.

3. He is the CEO and the founder of Space x

In 2002, Musk decided to start a company that could build affordable rockets after he failed to secure a deal of buying refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBM) that could send greenhouse payloads into space.

Using $100 million of his own money, he founded SpaceX in May 2002 and became its chief executive officer and Chief Engineer. Attempt to Launch its first three rockets failed, and as a result, Musk nearly went bankrupt.

However, in 2008, SpaceX succeeded in launching its first rocket into orbit and consequently received a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract from NASA for 12 flights of its rockets to the International Space Station.

4. He is regarded as a Controversial Figure

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Aside from being one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world today, Elon Musk also has a reputation for being a highly controversial figure.  He has been accused of making controversial comments touching on politics, technology, and even world health issues.

With over 100 million Twitter followers as of November 2022, Musk has sometimes provoked controversy with his posts on his social media platforms. One example is when he compared Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler while supporting the 2022 Canadian convoy protests.

He was also accused of spreading false information related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when he claimed that COVID-19 death statistics were being inflated.

5. He is Politically Moderate

Although he does not shy away from speaking his mind on issues related to politics, Elon Musk is known to be politically moderate. Many political analysts consider him a libertarian, or a person who does not identify himself with any particular side of the political divide.

In fact, Musk is known to have donated money to both Democrats and Republicans, especially in states where he has a vested business interest. 

6. He acquired Twitter in 2022

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Ellon Musk expressed his interest to buy Twitter back in 2017 but started to buy the company’s shares in January 2022.  He became its largest shareholder in April after he acquired 9% of its ownership. 

Musk launched a bid to take full ownership of the company on April 13, 2002, after he offered to buy all its stock at $54.20 per share which amounted to $43 billion. He however temporarily stopped the deal following a report that 5 % of Twitter’s daily active users were spam accounts.

He renewed his bid in July 2022 and the takeover was officially completed three months later on October 27 at a cost of $44 billion. Musk immediately sacked all top executives including the CEO Parag Agrawal, whom he replaced as the CEO.

7. He runs a Private Foundation

Away from business, Musk is the president of the Musk Foundation, a non-profitable organization that he co-founded with his brother in 2002. The brothers are its only officers with Elon Musk serving as the president and board director while his brother is its secretary, treasurer, and board director. 

According to its website, the foundation’s sole purpose is to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster-affected areas, fund research programs, and support science and engineering educational efforts. 

Since 2002, the foundation has made over 350 donations most of which went to scientific research and non-profitable educational organizations. In 2021, Musk announced he has donated $5.7 billion of Tesla’s shares to charity, though no charity organization has publically acknowledged receiving any money from him.

8. He released a Rap Song in 2019

Elon Musk at Ted 2017 – Photo by Steve Jurvetson From

In 2019, Musk surprised many people by releasing a rap track” RIP Harambe”, through Emo G Records on SoundCloud. The track, which refers to the killing of Harambe, the gorilla, was performed by Yung Jake, written by Yung Jake and Caroline Polachek, and produced by BloodPop.

He also released an EDM track, “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe”, the following year. The track features his own lyrics and vocals and its video doubles up as an advert for his car-making enterprise Tesla.

9. He was accused of Sexual Misconduct

In May 2022, Musk was faced with an allegation of sexual misconduct against an unnamed SpaceX flight attendant. The incident was said to have happened back in 2016 during a massage session.

According to the report, Musk allegedly exposed himself to the flight attendant, touched her leg without consent, and offered to buy her a gift in exchange for a more erotic encounter. The report also alleged that the attendant was paid $250,000 in exchange for her silence over the matter.

However, Musk denied the allegations claiming that they were politically motivated.  When he was asked to comment about the allegation, he replied, “If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light”, he said.

10. He is a Father of 10 Kids

Elon Musk is the father of 10 children, who include pair of twins and a set of triplets. His first kid with his former wife Justine Wilson was born in 2002 but died of sudden infant death syndrome 10 weeks later. Following his death, the couple decided to use IVF to continue their family and they had twins in 2004 followed by triplets in 2006.

In 2018, Musk revealed he was dating Grimes, who is a Canadian musician. She gave birth to their first child in May 2020 and their second child, born through surrogacy, in December 2021. In July 2022, it was revealed that Musk had had twins with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, in November 2021.