How Elon Musk Became the Richest Man in the World

Posted: January 13, 2021

Updated: January 14, 2021

Nowadays, Elon Musk is one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Both Tesla Motors and SpaceX shares have skyrocketed in recent years.
In this article, we will talk about how Elon Musk became the richest man in the world.

Image source: The Royal Society, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nowadays, Elon Musk is one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. His Tesla Motors and SpaceX shares have skyrocketed in recent years. Meanwhile, Musk himself plans to revolutionize the transportation industry. His fortune is estimated at $ 185 billion, a billion more than Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon. In this article, we will talk about how Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. Let’s get it started!

How Elon Musk became the richest man in the world: Early years

Imagine that at the age of 12, Elon Musk created and sold his own video game. The game was called Blastar. Here, you had to destroy alien spaceships. Indeed, Musk has enjoyed computers since childhood and learned to program at the age of nine. He wrote the game in BASIC. When its source code was published in the South African edition of PC and Office Technology, Musk received $ 500. He says of his game that "it was pretty trivial ... but still better than Flappy Bird." In 1988, Elon Musk left South Africa and began looking for work in Canada. First, he tended plants and gathered grain on his cousin's farm in Waldeck. Later he learned how to saw logs in Vancouver. Then Musk went to the employment service and found out what the highest paying job was for him. Thus, he became a cleaner in a boiler room at a sawmill. For this job, Musk received $ 18 an hour. Indeed, it was a good salary for 1989. The future Tesla founder had to deal with grueling work: he crawled into the narrowest parts of the building to clean out the sawdust. In Canada, Elon met with his brother Kimbal Musk. The two aspiring brothers began looking for serious entrepreneurs to meet and discuss business with. Meanwhile, they independently called various businessmen and offered to dine together. Among those they called was Peter Nicholson, a top manager at Bank of Nova Scotia, a major Canadian bank. Elon, the smartest of the Musks, impressed the entrepreneur so much that he became his mentor and offered him a summer internship at a bank. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Check All Elon Musk Special Bets You Can Find Online in the online sportsbooks in the USA.

Student years

While studying at Queen's University, Elon took up a third-party and quite profitable business for that time. He sold computers and parts for them right in his dorm room. Besides, Musk collected computers for fellow students. “I fixed their computers if they weren't working well or were infected with a virus,” Musk said. "I could solve almost any problem." He paid for the study in the room at the expense of a nightclub, which he opened in his house.

In 1992, Elon Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. Together with his friend, he rented a 10-room dormitory for a cheap price. On weekends, this place turned into an illegal underground bar. The windows of the building were covered with black garbage bags. In reality, Musk never enjoyed alcohol, so he didn't drink at parties and kept everything under control. According to Elon, “Bar parties helped pay for college. In one evening I could earn as much money as it would have been enough to pay for a month's rent. " Moreover, once, at one of the big parties, he invited his mother May Musk to work in a bar. Several years later two days after Elon Musk entered Stanford University, he realized that the Internet was the future. He dropped out of school and founded Zip2 with his brother. The latter specialized in maps and navigation for online publications. Moreover, to open a business, the brothers took $ 28,000 from their father's bank account. Four years later, Musk sold the company and became a millionaire. This is how Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. And if you want to enlarge your income, you can check the latest Elon Musk bets in the Bovada Sportsbook.

How Elon Musk became the richest man in the world: Further steps

In 1999, Zip2 was acquired by the startup computer company Compaq. Over time, it became a leading supplier of computer systems. Finally, HP bought it in 2002. The deal for the sale of Zip2 was worth $ 307 million. Besides, Musk received $ 22 million from it. Shortly after the sale of Zip2, Musk poured $ 12 million of his own money into X.com. Moreover, he believed it would shape the future of online payments. In the early 2000s, X.com merged with rival company Confinity, which later changed its name to PayPal. Unfortunately, due to long-term disagreements in the board of directors, they removed Elon Musk from the position of CEO. Moreover, it happened even though Musk owned most of the company's shares. After the merger of Musk X.com with PayPal, Elon's fortune exceeded $ 165 million. In July 2002, PayPal was sold to eBay, although Musk advised against doing so. The deal was worth $ 1.5 billion and Musk received $ 180 million. Online sportsbooks in the USA started to offer bets on Elon from that time.

How rich is Musk today?

The rating of the richest people in the world, compiled by the agency, is updated daily based on the results of stock trading in the USA. The session usually ends at 4:00 pm US East Coast time. A week ago, at the auction, the value of Tesla shares grew by more than 6%. Musk, commenting on the publication that he became the richest man in the world, wrote on Twitter: "How strange." "Well, let's get back to work," he added. Tesla shares rose 5.38% to $ 796.38 at auction on January 7, which allowed one of its largest shareholders, Elon Musk, to overtake Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. This is how Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. His fortune is now estimated at $ 188.5 billion, writes Bloomberg. Back in early 2020, Musk's fortune was estimated at $ 27 billion. At that time the businessman was barely among the top 50 richest people, CNBC notes. However, the meteoric rise in Tesla shares, which rose 743% in 2020 thanks to stable earnings and inclusion in the S&P 500 index, led to an increase in Musk's fortune by more than $ 150 billion. Indeed, it is more than the entire fortune of Bill Gates ($ 132 billion).

Tesla is making a fortune

Musk owns 20% of the shares of the electric car manufacturer, as well as options on Tesla shares worth $ 42 billion, Bloomberg notes. Moreover, the market capitalization of the company exceeds $ 750 billion. In early January 2021, Tesla reported the release of more than 509.7 thousand cars in 2020. Indeed, it was in line with the company's original plans. At the same time, it sold 499.5 thousand cars while lacking only 450 sales to fulfill Musk's promise that in 2020 Tesla can reach the mark of 500 thousand cars sold. The manufacturer will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter later. Chinese Tesla Owners In Car Gambling may play a role in it. Indeed, Bezos has held the title of the richest person on the planet since 2017. His fortune is estimated at $ 184 billion. The official ratings of Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index have not yet been updated. The publications will do so at the end of the trading day. Meanwhile, you can visit the Bovada Sportsbook to Bet on the First Film in Space: American or Russian. Elon Musk is planning to make a movie in space. Now you know how Elon Musk became the richest man in the world. If he could, you should also try. Good luck!

How Elon Musk became the richest man in the world and lost his status

Some famous news tabloids have announced that Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world. Indeed, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla has moved to the second line in the list. Moreover, this is evidenced by the Forbes Real-Time rating updated in real-time. If you believe the rating, then during the day Musk's fortune decreased by $ 13.5 billion (about 7.1%) and now stands at 176.2 billion. On the first line, according to Forbes, is now Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. His fortune is estimated at $ 182.1 billion. True, it also decreased by 3.6 billion (or 1.96%) in a day. However, we should note that according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is still the richest person. In this rating, the entrepreneur's fortune is estimated at $ 194 billion. Bezos, on the other hand, is in second place (183 billion). And while they are still deciding Let’s All Bet On Famous People To Make 2021 More Interesting.