The founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk is a popular name in the American industrial sector. He is an engineer and entrepreneur who co-created Paypal and established his own company SpaceX which deals with aerospace transportation. He was one of the first investors of Tesla, a startup that manufactures electric automobiles. Today, the company is doing really well and Elon Musk is not just a popular face of Tesla but also its Chief Executive Officer. Elon Musk counts among the richest people across the world who is worth $70.5 billion. His hard work and dedication are an inspiration for many but there are several aspects of his life that people are not familiar with. Listed below are some unknown facts about Elon Musk that will surprise you.
Elon Musk created a video game at the age of 12
When he was 12, Elon Musk created a video game named “Blastar” which was similar to Space Invaders. The games computer code created by Musk was based on a science fiction theme. Later a South African company purchased the source code from Musk for $500 and published the game.
Elon Musk own a submarine car
A car which you can drive underwater is known as a submarine car and this rare machine is owned by Musk. This car goes by the name of “Wet Nellie” and was featured in the James Bond film “The Spy who loved me” from the 1970’s.
Elon Musk does not get a salary at Tesla
One of the most mind blowing unknown facts about Elon Musk is that he refuses to accept his $56000 minimum wage at Tesla. The company had declared in 2018 that it will not pay Musk for the next 10 years until the business reached a market cap of hundred billion dollars.
He attended Stanford University for 2 days
Elon Musk was accepted as a student of PhD in energy physics/ material science. However, he only went to the university for 2 days and later quite the course to start a city guide software called Zip2. Zip2 provided business directories and maps to newspapers and was sold to Compaq for 307 million dollars.
Elon Musk has appeared in Hollywood movies and sitcoms
Certain segments of popular television series such as The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and South Park feature Elon Musk in a cameo role. He has also made an appearance opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2.
Elon Musk’s PayPal made him the man he is today
PayPal, founded in 1999, was Elon’s successful venture that made him wealthy. PayPal was acquired by Ebay for 1.5 billion dollars out of which Musk was given 165 million dollars’ worth stocks.
He was the inspiration for the 2008 Iron man film
The actor Robert Downey Jr. took inspiration from Elon Musk to play his character who is ardent lover of technology and relentlessly tries to push its boundaries to create something extra ordinary.
Elon Musk is a citizen of three countries
Elon Musk possesses the citizenship of United States of America, Canada and South Africa. He enjoys a triple nation nationality.
Elon Musk has reduced the cost of travelling to space
Musk believes that the survival of the human race depends on its ability to become a multi planetary species and therefore he invested his own money to start SpaceX, the developments in which have reduced the cost of space travel from 1 billion dollars to 60 million dollars.
Elon Musk almost sold Tesla to Google
In 2013, when Tesla’s future was looking bleak, Musk had reached out to Google to takeover Tesla for 11 billion dollars. The deal was cancelled at the last minute because the sales started picking up.