Elon Musk, born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971, showed an early interest in computers and technology. He taught himself programming at the age of 12 and sold his first software, a game called Blastar. This early success was just the beginning of a career marked by pushing boundaries. Musk’s journey from South Africa to the United States was driven by a belief that it was a place where great things were achievable, where his ambitions to make a significant impact on the world could be fulfilled.
1.PayPal
PayPal is a payment platform with both a website and a phone app that facilitate online money transfers. Customers create a PayPal account and link it to a checking account, a credit card, or both. After verifying identification and the payment method, users can send or receive payments online or make purchases using PayPal as an intermediary. Millions of small and large retailers accept PayPal payments both online and in person.
2. SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently produces and operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon, and Starship as a hybrid between a rocket and a spacecraft. The company offers internet service via its Starlink subsidiary, which became the largest-ever satellite constellation in January 2020 and, as of April 2024, comprised more than 6,000 small satellites in orbit. Meanwhile, the company is developing Starship, a human-rated, fully-reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary and orbital spaceflight. On its first flight in April 2023, it became the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. The rocket fully completed its test flight on its fourth flight by reaching space and returning both stages for a controlled splashdown in June 2024. SpaceX is the first private company to develop a liquid-propellant rocket that has reached orbit; to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station; and to send astronauts to the International Space Station. It is also the first organization of any type to achieve a vertical propulsive landing of an orbital rocket booster and the first to reuse such a booster. The company’s Falcon 9 rockets have landed and flown again more than 300 times. As of June 2024, SpaceX has around US$200 billion valuation.
3. Tesla
Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It designs, manufactures, and sells battery electric vehicles, stationary battery energy storage devices (from home to grid-scale), solar panels, solar shingles, and related products and services.
4. Neuralink Corp
Is an American neurotechnology company that has developed, as of 2024, implantable brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and is based in Fremont, California. Founded by Elon Musk and a team of seven scientists and engineers, Neuralink was launched in 2016 and was first publicly reported in March 2017.
5. The Boring Company
The Boring Company is an American infrastructure, tunnel construction services, and equipment company founded by Elon Musk. TBC was founded as a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2017 and was spun off as a separate corporation in 2018.
Sources: ExO Insight, Wikipedia
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