Elon Musk
Encyclopedia
Elon Musk is an American
engineer
and entrepreneur
heritage best known for co-founding PayPal
, SpaceX
and Tesla Motors
. He is currently the CEO and CTO
of SpaceX, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors
and Chairman of SolarCity
. Musk is best known for having created the first viable production electric car of the modern era (Tesla Roadster), for designing a private successor to the Space Shuttle (F9/Dragon) and creating the world's largest Internet payment system (PayPal).
, the son of a South African engineer and a Canadian mother who worked as a nutritionist
and model. Musk bought his first computer at age 10 and taught himself how to program; by the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software for about $500, a space game called Blastar.
After matriculating at Pretoria Boys High School
he left home in 1988 at the age of 17, without his parents' support and in part because of the prospect of compulsory service in the South African military
: "I don't have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn't seem like a really good way to spend time." He wanted to move to the US, saying: "It is where great things are possible."
His mother was born in Regina, Saskatchewan
, Canada, and many of his relatives reside in western Canada, so Musk immigrated there in June 1989.
He left Canada in 1992 after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania
. From the University of Pennsylvania
's Wharton School, he received an undergraduate degree, and stayed on another year to finish a second bachelor's degree in physics. His undergraduate degrees behind him, and drawing inspiration from innovators such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, Musk then considered three areas he wanted to get into that were "important problems", as he said later, "One was the Internet
, one was clean energy
, and one was space
.". Musk's fortune was estimated at US$328 million in 2005.
which provided online content publishing software for news organizations. In 1999, Compaq
's AltaVista
division acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options.
, operator of the then largest auction payments service PayPal. The combined company at first adopted X.com as the corporate name, but in February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal Inc. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay
for US$1.5 billion in stock. Before its sale, Musk, the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.
),
of which he is currently the CEO
and CTO
. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicle
s, with an emphasis on low cost and high reliability. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1
and Falcon 9
rockets and its first spacecraft is Dragon.
On 23 December 2008, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion NASA contract for 12 flights of their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011. Initially, Falcon 9/Dragon will replace the cargo transport function of the Shuttle and astronaut transport will be handled by the Soyuz
. However, SpaceX has designed Falcon 9/Dragon with astronaut transport in mind and the Augustine commission
has recommended that astronaut transport be handled by commercial companies like SpaceX.
Musk views space exploration as an important step in expanding—if not preserving—the consciousness of human life. Musk has said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against threats to the survival of the human species. "An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, catastrophic global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us. Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years atomic weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct." Musk's goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 100. He founded SpaceX with $100 million of his early fortune. He remains chief executive officer and chief technology officer of the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company.
In seven years, SpaceX has designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles and the Dragon multi-purpose spacecraft from the ground-up. In September 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth orbit. NASA selected SpaceX to be part of the first program that entrusts private companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. This contract, which has a minimum value of $1.6 billion and a maximum value of $3.1 billion, has become a cornerstone of the Space Station. In addition to these services, SpaceX's goals include simultaneously lowering the price of orbital spaceflight and improving reliability, both by a factor of ten, while creating the first fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. In the coming years, Musk will focus on delivering astronauts to the International Space Station, and even Mars.
Musk provided almost all of the capital for Tesla's first two funding rounds and continued to invest in every subsequent financing round. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and a forced layoff at Tesla, Musk agreed to assume the additional responsibility of CEO.
Tesla Motors currently builds an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster
, and has shipped over 1800 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla expects to be in production with its four door Model S
sedan in 2012 and has said it will unveil its third product the Model X, aimed at the SUV/minivan market, in late 2011.
In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler, for the Smart EV and Mercedes A Class, and Toyota, for the upcoming electric RAV4. Musk was also able to bring in both companies as long term investors in Tesla.
Musk is principally responsible for an overarching business strategy that aims to deliver affordable electric vehicles to mass-market consumers. His vision was to create the Tesla Roadster as a means to that end—a car aimed specifically at affluent early adopters, whose purchase of the sports car would subsidize the research and development costs of lower priced models of electric vehicles. From the start of Tesla, Musk has been a champion of the Model S, a four-door family sedan with an anticipated base price of half that of the Roadster. Musk has also favored building a sub-$30,000 subcompact and building and selling electric vehicle powertrain components so that other automakers can produce electric vehicles at affordable prices without having to develop the products in house. Several mainstream publications have compared him with Henry Ford for his revolutionary work on advanced vehicle powertrains.
, a photovoltaics products and services 2006 startup company where his cousin Lyndon Rive
is the CEO and co-founder. The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming.
and Peter Thiel
.
Halcyon Molecular was founded with the mission to cure diseases, extend lifespan and enhance the quality of life. The Aspiration is to make full genome sequencing a simple yet powerful tool, an essential step towards systems level understanding of life. With this tool, biology and medicine will become data driven information sciences.
, The National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, The Planetary Society
, and Stanford Engineering Advisory Board. Musk is also a member of the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech).
In 2010, Musk began a multi-million dollar program through his foundation to donate solar power systems for critical needs in disaster areas, with preference given to areas where SolarCity has no operations and doesn't intend to establish operations. The reason for doing installations in non-SolarCity markets is to make it clear that this is truly a philanthropic action with no expectation of return.
The first such solar power installation occurred on a hurricane response center in Alabama that had been neglected by state and federal aid. To make it clear that this was not serving Musk's commercial interests, SolarCity noted that it had no present or planned business activity in Alabama.
In 2001, Musk had plans for a "Mars Oasis" project, which would land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith
. He put this project on hold when he came to the conclusion that the fundamental problem preventing humanity from becoming a true spacefaring civilization was the lack of advancement in rocket technology. He has sought to address this by founding SpaceX to create revolutionary new interplanetary rockets.
His long term goal is to help humanity through SpaceX by creating a true spacefaring civilization. Musk's philosophy and description of what is needed to solve the problem are provided in the IEEE podcast "Elon Musk: a founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX" and article "Risky Business."
In February 2011, Forbes listed Musk as one of "America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under".
The world governing body for aerospace records, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
, presented Musk in 2010 with the highest award in air & space, the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit. Prior awardees include Neil Armstrong
, Burt Rutan
of Scaled Composites
and John Glenn
.
Listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 people who most affect the world in 2010. Jon Favreau
, director of the Iron Man movies, describes in his article how Musk was the inspiration for the genius billionaire Tony Stark.
Named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire
magazine.
Recognized as a Living Legend in Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk Foundation for creating the successor to the Space Shuttle (Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft). Other awardees include Buzz Aldrin
and Richard Branson
.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
George Low award for the most outstanding contribution in the field of space transportation in 2007/2008. Musk was recognized for his design of the Falcon 1
, the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit.
National Space Society
's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. Prior recipients include Burt Rutan
and Steve Squyres
.
National Wildlife Federation
2008 National Conservation Achievement award for Tesla Motors and SolarCity. Other 2008 awardees include journalist Thomas Friedman
, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
and Florida Governor Charlie Crist
.
The Aviation Week 2008 Laureate for the most significant achievement worldwide in the space industry.
R&D Magazine Innovator of the Year for 2007 for SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity.
Automotive Executive of the Year (worldwide) in 2010 for demonstrating technology leadership and innovation via Tesla Motors. Prior awardees include Bill Ford Jr, Bob Lutz, Dieter Zetsche and Lee Iacocca. Musk is the youngest ever recipient of this award.
Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007 for his work on Tesla and SpaceX.
2007 Index Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster.
Global Green 2006 product design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.
Honorary doctorate in design from the Art Center College of Design
Musk is a Director of the Planetary Society
, a Trustee of The X-Prize Foundation
and a member of the Stanford University
Engineering Advisory Board. He has previously served as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.
In a 2010 Space Foundation
survey, Musk was ranked as the #10 (tied with rocketry pioneer and scientist Wernher von Braun
) most popular space hero.
In 2010, Musk was elected to the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology
.
In 2011, Musk was honored as a Legendary Leader at the Churchill Club Awards.
The SpaceX factory was used as a shooting location for Iron Man II and Musk has a cameo in the movie.
According to Jon Favreau
, director of the Iron Man
movies, Musk is the inspiration for Favreau's and Robert Downey Jr.
's interpretation of Tony Stark.
Musk owned a McLaren F1
sports car that he purchased for approximately $1 million and sold in 2007 for $1.5 million, and a Czech-built Aero L-39
trainer worth approximately $250,000,. The 1994 model Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft used in the film, Thank You for Smoking (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006) is registered to Musk (N900SX). Musk is listed as an Executive Producer of the film.
, with his wife, actress Talulah Riley
. Riley is best known for playing Annabelle Fritton in St Trinian's
. Musk has five sons with his ex-wife, the Canadian-born author Justine Musk
, whom he met while both were students at Queen's University
and whom he married in 2000.
Musk's sister Tosca is the founder of Musk Entertainment and producer of various movies. Musk himself was the executive producer of her first movie, called Puzzled. His brother Kimbal
is the CEO of a social search company OneRiot and owner of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, Colorado
.
contractor to go through all of the company's email and instant messages, then had a forensic investigator lift fingerprints from a printout discarded near a copier used to leak the email. The email implicated employee Peng Zhou as the source of the company's reported financial status. Zhou had sought to frame other employees at Tesla by claiming in his leaked emails that he was a four-year employee. Musk offered Zhou the option of apologizing to the company and resigning, which he did, rather than face prosecution.
After Zhou separated from Tesla Motors, Musk was reported attempting to catch employees who leaked Tesla Motors corporate secrets, without the prior knowledge of other Tesla Motors executives, by sending each employee a slightly altered version of a memo which Musk expected would be leaked to the media. The plan backfired when general counsel Craig Harding forwarded his own personalized copy of the memo along with a new, stricter nondisclosure agreement mentioned in the memo to other employees, nullifying the plan.
On May 26, 2009, former Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard filed suit in San Mateo County, California against Tesla Motors and Musk for slander, libel and breach of contract. The case hinged on the question of who could rightly be called a "founder" of Tesla. On July 29, 2009, a judge in San Mateo County, Calif., Superior Court struck down a claim by Eberhard, who asked to be declared one of only two founders of the company. Tesla said in a statement that the ruling is "consistent with Tesla's belief in a team of founders, including the company's current CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, and Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who were both fundamental to the creation of Tesla from inception." In early August, Eberhard withdrew the case, and the parties reached a final settlement on September 21. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but the agreement includes a provision that the parties will consider Eberhard, Musk, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright to be the five co-founders.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
heritage best known for co-founding PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
, SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...
and Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...
. He is currently the CEO and CTO
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
of SpaceX, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...
and Chairman of SolarCity
SolarCity
SolarCity is an American provider of solar energy system design, financing, installation and related services and also builds charging stations for electric vehicles....
. Musk is best known for having created the first viable production electric car of the modern era (Tesla Roadster), for designing a private successor to the Space Shuttle (F9/Dragon) and creating the world's largest Internet payment system (PayPal).
Early life
Musk was born and raised in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, the son of a South African engineer and a Canadian mother who worked as a nutritionist
Nutritionist
A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...
and model. Musk bought his first computer at age 10 and taught himself how to program; by the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software for about $500, a space game called Blastar.
After matriculating at Pretoria Boys High School
Pretoria Boys High School
Pretoria Boys High School, also known as Boys High or PBHS, is a public, fee charging, English medium high school for boys located in Brooklyn, Pretoria, in the Gauteng province of South Africa....
he left home in 1988 at the age of 17, without his parents' support and in part because of the prospect of compulsory service in the South African military
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force was the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994. The former Union Defence Force was renamed to the South African Defence Force in the Defence Act of 1957...
: "I don't have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn't seem like a really good way to spend time." He wanted to move to the US, saying: "It is where great things are possible."
His mother was born in Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
, Canada, and many of his relatives reside in western Canada, so Musk immigrated there in June 1989.
He left Canada in 1992 after getting a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. From the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
's Wharton School, he received an undergraduate degree, and stayed on another year to finish a second bachelor's degree in physics. His undergraduate degrees behind him, and drawing inspiration from innovators such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, Musk then considered three areas he wanted to get into that were "important problems", as he said later, "One was the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, one was clean energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
, and one was space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
.". Musk's fortune was estimated at US$328 million in 2005.
Career
In 1995, Musk went on to a graduate program in applied physics and materials science at Stanford, in which he stayed two days before dropping out to start Zip2, with his brother Kimbal MuskKimbal Musk
Kimbal Musk is an entrepreneur who has helped found, advise and invest in several software and technology companies. He is the owner of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, Colorado...
which provided online content publishing software for news organizations. In 1999, Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
's AltaVista
AltaVista
AltaVista is a web search engine owned by Yahoo!. AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but its popularity declined with the rise of Google...
division acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options.
PayPal
In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. One year later, X.com merged with ConfinityConfinity
Confinity Inc. is best known as the creator of PayPal. It was founded in December 1998 by Max Levchin,Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek, initially as a Palm Pilot payments and cryptographycompany...
, operator of the then largest auction payments service PayPal. The combined company at first adopted X.com as the corporate name, but in February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal Inc. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
for US$1.5 billion in stock. Before its sale, Musk, the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.
SpaceX
In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceXSpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...
),
of which he is currently the CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and CTO
Chief technical officer
A chief technology officer is an executive-level position in a company or other entity whose occupant is focused on scientific and technological issues within an organization....
. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicle
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
s, with an emphasis on low cost and high reliability. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...
and Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...
rockets and its first spacecraft is Dragon.
On 23 December 2008, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion NASA contract for 12 flights of their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011. Initially, Falcon 9/Dragon will replace the cargo transport function of the Shuttle and astronaut transport will be handled by the Soyuz
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
. However, SpaceX has designed Falcon 9/Dragon with astronaut transport in mind and the Augustine commission
Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee
The Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee was a group reviewing the human spaceflight plans of the United States...
has recommended that astronaut transport be handled by commercial companies like SpaceX.
Musk views space exploration as an important step in expanding—if not preserving—the consciousness of human life. Musk has said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against threats to the survival of the human species. "An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, catastrophic global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us. Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years atomic weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct." Musk's goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 100. He founded SpaceX with $100 million of his early fortune. He remains chief executive officer and chief technology officer of the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company.
In seven years, SpaceX has designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles and the Dragon multi-purpose spacecraft from the ground-up. In September 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth orbit. NASA selected SpaceX to be part of the first program that entrusts private companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. This contract, which has a minimum value of $1.6 billion and a maximum value of $3.1 billion, has become a cornerstone of the Space Station. In addition to these services, SpaceX's goals include simultaneously lowering the price of orbital spaceflight and improving reliability, both by a factor of ten, while creating the first fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. In the coming years, Musk will focus on delivering astronauts to the International Space Station, and even Mars.
Tesla Motors
Musk is perhaps most well-known for his role as co-founder and head of product design at Tesla Motors, where he led development of the Tesla Roadster, arguably the first viable production electric car of the modern era. Musk's interest in electric vehicles extends long before the creation of Tesla. He originally went to Silicon Valley to do a PhD in Applied Physics and Materials Science at Stanford, where his goal was to create ultracapacitors with enough energy to power electric cars.Musk provided almost all of the capital for Tesla's first two funding rounds and continued to invest in every subsequent financing round. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and a forced layoff at Tesla, Musk agreed to assume the additional responsibility of CEO.
Tesla Motors currently builds an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
, and has shipped over 1800 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla expects to be in production with its four door Model S
Tesla Model S
The Tesla Model S is a full-sized battery electric sedan developed by Tesla Motors. It is an electric car that was initially codenamed WhiteStar during research and preliminary development. Model S was announced in a press release on June 30, 2008...
sedan in 2012 and has said it will unveil its third product the Model X, aimed at the SUV/minivan market, in late 2011.
In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler, for the Smart EV and Mercedes A Class, and Toyota, for the upcoming electric RAV4. Musk was also able to bring in both companies as long term investors in Tesla.
Musk is principally responsible for an overarching business strategy that aims to deliver affordable electric vehicles to mass-market consumers. His vision was to create the Tesla Roadster as a means to that end—a car aimed specifically at affluent early adopters, whose purchase of the sports car would subsidize the research and development costs of lower priced models of electric vehicles. From the start of Tesla, Musk has been a champion of the Model S, a four-door family sedan with an anticipated base price of half that of the Roadster. Musk has also favored building a sub-$30,000 subcompact and building and selling electric vehicle powertrain components so that other automakers can produce electric vehicles at affordable prices without having to develop the products in house. Several mainstream publications have compared him with Henry Ford for his revolutionary work on advanced vehicle powertrains.
SolarCity
He is also the primary investor and chairman of the board of SolarCitySolarCity
SolarCity is an American provider of solar energy system design, financing, installation and related services and also builds charging stations for electric vehicles....
, a photovoltaics products and services 2006 startup company where his cousin Lyndon Rive
Lyndon Rive
Lyndon Rive is a green energy leader and CEO of SolarCity. He has trumpeted SolarCity's use of First Solar panels for residential and business installations since the beginning of 2009. Rive has also said that residential and small business customers will turn to branded installation companies...
is the CEO and co-founder. The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming.
Halcyon Molecular
Another company Musk has invested in is Halcyon Molecular, a biotechnology company founded in 2008 by brothers William and Michael Andregg. In 2010, $20.5m in funding courtesy of Musk swelled Halcyon Molecular's financial resources. He has a seat on the board of directors along with fellow PayPal co-founders Luke NosekLuke Nosek
Luke Nosek is an American entrepreneur of Polish descent.Nosek received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During college in the summer of 1995, he cofounded SponsorNet New Media, Inc., along with fellow UIUC students Max Levchin and Scott Banister...
and Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel
Peter Andreas Thiel is an American business magnate, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. With Elon Musk and Max Levchin, Thiel co-founded PayPal and was its CEO...
.
Halcyon Molecular was founded with the mission to cure diseases, extend lifespan and enhance the quality of life. The Aspiration is to make full genome sequencing a simple yet powerful tool, an essential step towards systems level understanding of life. With this tool, biology and medicine will become data driven information sciences.
Philanthropy
Musk is Chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on science education, pediatric health and clean energy. He is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, promoting renewable energy technologies. He sits on the boards of The Space FoundationSpace Foundation
The Space Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the global space industry through information and education programs. It is a resource for the entire space community - industry, national security organizations, civil space agencies, private space companies and the military around the...
, The National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, The Planetary Society
Planetary Society
The Planetary Society is a large, publicly supported, non-government and non-profit organization that has many research projects related to astronomy...
, and Stanford Engineering Advisory Board. Musk is also a member of the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(Caltech).
In 2010, Musk began a multi-million dollar program through his foundation to donate solar power systems for critical needs in disaster areas, with preference given to areas where SolarCity has no operations and doesn't intend to establish operations. The reason for doing installations in non-SolarCity markets is to make it clear that this is truly a philanthropic action with no expectation of return.
The first such solar power installation occurred on a hurricane response center in Alabama that had been neglected by state and federal aid. To make it clear that this was not serving Musk's commercial interests, SolarCity noted that it had no present or planned business activity in Alabama.
In 2001, Musk had plans for a "Mars Oasis" project, which would land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith
Regolith
Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock. It includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons.-Etymology:...
. He put this project on hold when he came to the conclusion that the fundamental problem preventing humanity from becoming a true spacefaring civilization was the lack of advancement in rocket technology. He has sought to address this by founding SpaceX to create revolutionary new interplanetary rockets.
His long term goal is to help humanity through SpaceX by creating a true spacefaring civilization. Musk's philosophy and description of what is needed to solve the problem are provided in the IEEE podcast "Elon Musk: a founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX" and article "Risky Business."
Awards and recognition
In June 2011, Musk was awarded the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space CommercializationHeinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization
The Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization, generally known as the Heinlein Prize, was founded in 1988 to reward individuals who make practical contributions to the commercialization of space...
In February 2011, Forbes listed Musk as one of "America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under".
The world governing body for aerospace records, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
, presented Musk in 2010 with the highest award in air & space, the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit. Prior awardees include Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
, Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...
of Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
and John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
.
Listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 people who most affect the world in 2010. Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
, director of the Iron Man movies, describes in his article how Musk was the inspiration for the genius billionaire Tony Stark.
Named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine.
Recognized as a Living Legend in Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk Foundation for creating the successor to the Space Shuttle (Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft). Other awardees include Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
and Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
George Low award for the most outstanding contribution in the field of space transportation in 2007/2008. Musk was recognized for his design of the Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...
, the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit.
National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. Prior recipients include Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...
and Steve Squyres
Steve Squyres
Steven W. Squyres is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres is principal...
.
National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over four million members and supporters, and 48 state and territorial affiliated organizations...
2008 National Conservation Achievement award for Tesla Motors and SolarCity. Other 2008 awardees include journalist Thomas Friedman
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times.-Personal...
, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
Patrick Leahy
Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...
and Florida Governor Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...
.
The Aviation Week 2008 Laureate for the most significant achievement worldwide in the space industry.
R&D Magazine Innovator of the Year for 2007 for SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity.
Automotive Executive of the Year (worldwide) in 2010 for demonstrating technology leadership and innovation via Tesla Motors. Prior awardees include Bill Ford Jr, Bob Lutz, Dieter Zetsche and Lee Iacocca. Musk is the youngest ever recipient of this award.
Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007 for his work on Tesla and SpaceX.
2007 Index Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster.
Global Green 2006 product design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.
Honorary doctorate in design from the Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
Musk is a Director of the Planetary Society
Planetary Society
The Planetary Society is a large, publicly supported, non-government and non-profit organization that has many research projects related to astronomy...
, a Trustee of The X-Prize Foundation
X Prize Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit mankind....
and a member of the Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Engineering Advisory Board. He has previously served as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.
In a 2010 Space Foundation
Space Foundation
The Space Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the global space industry through information and education programs. It is a resource for the entire space community - industry, national security organizations, civil space agencies, private space companies and the military around the...
survey, Musk was ranked as the #10 (tied with rocketry pioneer and scientist Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
) most popular space hero.
In 2010, Musk was elected to the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
.
In 2011, Musk was honored as a Legendary Leader at the Churchill Club Awards.
Interests
Musk has described himself as a workaholic who routinely invests 100 hours per week in running Tesla Motors and SpaceX, often flying in a fuel-efficient corporate jet. In his rare free time, he says he plays with his five children.The SpaceX factory was used as a shooting location for Iron Man II and Musk has a cameo in the movie.
According to Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
, director of the Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
movies, Musk is the inspiration for Favreau's and Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
's interpretation of Tony Stark.
Musk owned a McLaren F1
McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a supercar designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. Originally a concept conceived by Gordon Murray, he convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and engaged Peter Stevens to design the exterior of the car...
sports car that he purchased for approximately $1 million and sold in 2007 for $1.5 million, and a Czech-built Aero L-39
Aero L-39
The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer aircraft developed in Czechoslovakia to meet requirements for a "C-39" during the 1960s to replace the L-29 Delfín...
trainer worth approximately $250,000,. The 1994 model Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft used in the film, Thank You for Smoking (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006) is registered to Musk (N900SX). Musk is listed as an Executive Producer of the film.
Family
Musk lives in Bel-Air, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with his wife, actress Talulah Riley
Talulah Riley
Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn is an English actress whose films include Pride and Prejudice, St Trinian's, The Boat That Rocked and St...
. Riley is best known for playing Annabelle Fritton in St Trinian's
St Trinian's (2007 film)
St Trinian's is the sixth in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1980....
. Musk has five sons with his ex-wife, the Canadian-born author Justine Musk
Justine Musk
Justine Musk is the author of BloodAngel, published in 2005 by the ROC imprint of Penguin Books. BloodAngel is a contemporary fantasy novel....
, whom he met while both were students at Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
and whom he married in 2000.
Musk's sister Tosca is the founder of Musk Entertainment and producer of various movies. Musk himself was the executive producer of her first movie, called Puzzled. His brother Kimbal
Kimbal Musk
Kimbal Musk is an entrepreneur who has helped found, advise and invest in several software and technology companies. He is the owner of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, Colorado...
is the CEO of a social search company OneRiot and owner of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
.
Controversies
In October 2008, after Musk had confirmed an earlier report that Tesla Motors had only $9 million in cash, he was reported to have hired an outside ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
contractor to go through all of the company's email and instant messages, then had a forensic investigator lift fingerprints from a printout discarded near a copier used to leak the email. The email implicated employee Peng Zhou as the source of the company's reported financial status. Zhou had sought to frame other employees at Tesla by claiming in his leaked emails that he was a four-year employee. Musk offered Zhou the option of apologizing to the company and resigning, which he did, rather than face prosecution.
After Zhou separated from Tesla Motors, Musk was reported attempting to catch employees who leaked Tesla Motors corporate secrets, without the prior knowledge of other Tesla Motors executives, by sending each employee a slightly altered version of a memo which Musk expected would be leaked to the media. The plan backfired when general counsel Craig Harding forwarded his own personalized copy of the memo along with a new, stricter nondisclosure agreement mentioned in the memo to other employees, nullifying the plan.
On May 26, 2009, former Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard filed suit in San Mateo County, California against Tesla Motors and Musk for slander, libel and breach of contract. The case hinged on the question of who could rightly be called a "founder" of Tesla. On July 29, 2009, a judge in San Mateo County, Calif., Superior Court struck down a claim by Eberhard, who asked to be declared one of only two founders of the company. Tesla said in a statement that the ruling is "consistent with Tesla's belief in a team of founders, including the company's current CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, and Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who were both fundamental to the creation of Tesla from inception." In early August, Eberhard withdrew the case, and the parties reached a final settlement on September 21. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but the agreement includes a provision that the parties will consider Eberhard, Musk, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright to be the five co-founders.
External links
- The Musk Foundation web site
- Elon's ex-wife Justine Musk
- Viral Marketing, MBAs and pesky governments, Elon talks at Stanford (October 8, 2003)
- Statement of Elon Musk at House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearings on the Future Market for Commercial Space (April 20, 2005)
- History of PayPal
Interviews
- Video interview of Elon Musk by Zadi Diaz of EPIC FU, weekly web show that covers online pop culture (June 17, 2008)
- "Uber Entrepreneur: An Evening with Elon Musk" video at the Churchill Club via FORA.TVFORA.tvFORA.tv, Inc. runs a website that gathers a large collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates at universities, think tanks and conferences....
(January 4, 2009) - onInnovation
- An interview at the Founders Showcase. (August 5, 2010)
- An interview on the Kevin Pollak Chat Show. (September 17, 2009)