Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is an entrepreneur and business magnate. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; early-stage investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI. With an estimated net worth of around US$243 billion as of February 2022,[2] Musk is the wealthiest person in the world according to both the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and the Forbes real-time billionaires list.[3][4]

Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father, and raised in PretoriaSouth Africa. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada at age 17 to avoid conscription. He was enrolled at Queen’s University and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later, where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics and physics. He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but decided instead to pursue a business career, co-founding the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal. The startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. The same year, Musk co-founded online bank X.com, which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal. The company was bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, of which he is CEO and Chief Engineer. In 2004, he joined electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.) as chairman and product architect, becoming its CEO in 2008. In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy services company that was later acquired by Tesla and became Tesla Energy. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that promotes friendly artificial intelligence. In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces, and founded The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. Musk has proposed the Hyperloop, a high-speed vactrain transportation system.

Musk has been criticized for unorthodox and unscientific stances and highly publicized controversial statements. In 2018, he was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for falsely tweeting that he had secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla. He settled with the SEC, temporarily stepping down from his chairmanship and agreeing to limitations on his Twitter usage. In 2019, he won a defamation trial brought against him by a British caver who advised in the Tham Luang cave rescue. Musk has also been criticized for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and for his other views on such matters as artificial intelligencecryptocurrency, and public transport.

Contents

Early life[edit source]

Childhood and family[edit source]

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa.[5] His mother is Maye Musk (née Haldeman), a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada,[6][7][8] but raised in South Africa. His father is Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a half owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika.[9][10] Musk has a younger brother, Kimbal (born 1972), and a younger sister, Tosca (born 1974).[8][11] His maternal grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian,[12][13] and Musk has British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.[14][15] The family was very wealthy in Elon’s youth; Errol Musk once said, “We had so much money at times we couldn’t even close our safe”.[10][16] After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk mostly lived with his father in Pretoria and elsewhere,[14] a choice he made two years after the divorce and subsequently regretted.[17] Musk has become estranged from his father, whom he describes as “a terrible human being… Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.”[17] He has a half-sister and a half-brother on his father’s side.[12][18] Elon attended an Anglican Sunday school in his youth.[19]

Around age 10, Musk developed an interest in computing and video games and acquired a Commodore VIC-20.[20][21] He learned computer programming using a manual and, at age 12, sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.[22][23] An awkward and introverted child,[24] Musk was bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs.[17][25] He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.[26]

Education[edit source]

Musk graduated from Pretoria Boys High School in South Africa.

Aware that it would be easier to enter the United States from Canada,[27] Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother.[28][29] While awaiting the documentation, he attended the University of Pretoria for five months; this allowed him to avoid mandatory service in the South African military.[30] Musk arrived in Canada in June 1989, and lived with a second-cousin in Saskatchewan for a year,[31] working odd jobs at a farm and lumber-mill.[32] In 1990, he entered Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.[33][34] Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics.[35][36][37][38]

In 1994, Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley during the summer: at energy storage startup Pinnacle Research Institute, which researched electrolytic ultracapacitors for energy storage, and at the Palo Alto-based startup Rocket Science Games.[39] In 1995, he was accepted to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in materials science at Stanford University in California.[40] Musk attempted to get a job at Netscape but never received a response to his inquiries.[28] He dropped out of Stanford after two days, deciding instead to join the Internet boom and launch an Internet startup.[41]

Business career[edit source]

Zip2[edit source]

Main article: Zip2

External video
video icon Musk speaks of his early business experience during a 2014 commencement speech at USC on YouTube

In 1995, Musk, Kimbal, and Greg Kouri founded web software company Zip2 with funds from angel investors.[17] They housed the venture at a small rented office in Palo Alto.[42] The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry, with maps, directions, and yellow pages.[43] Musk says that before the company became successful, he could not afford an apartment and instead rented an office and slept on the couch and showered at the YMCA, and shared one computer with his brother. According to Musk, “The website was up during the day and I was coding it at night, seven days a week, all the time.”[42] The Musk brothers obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune,[44] and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch.[45] Musk’s attempts to become CEO, a position held by its Chairman Rich Sorkin,[46] were thwarted by the board.[47] Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999,[48][49] and Musk received $22 million for his 7-percent share.[50][51]

X.com and PayPal[edit source]

Main articles: X.comPayPal, and PayPal Mafia

In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company.[52] The startup was one of the first federally insured online banks, and, in its initial months of operation, over 200,000 customers joined the service.[53] The company’s investors regarded Musk as inexperienced and had him replaced with Intuit CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year.[54] The following year, X.com merged with online bank Confinity to avoid competition.[42][54][55] Founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel,[56] Confinity had its own money-transfer service, PayPal, which was more popular than X.com’s service.[50][57] Within the merged company, Musk returned as CEO. Musk’s preference for Microsoft software over Linux created a rift in the company and caused Thiel to resign.[58] Due to resulting technological issues and lack of a cohesive business model, the board ousted Musk and replaced him with Thiel in September 2000.[59][note 2] Under Thiel, the company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001.[61][62] In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk—the largest shareholder with 11.7% of shares—received over $100 million.[63][64]

In 2017, Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount, explaining it has sentimental value.[65][66]

SpaceX[edit source]

Main article: SpaceXMusk explains the planned capabilities of SpaceX Starship to NORAD and Air Force Space Command in 2019

In 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society. He was inspired by plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars and discussed funding the project himself.[67] In October 2001, Musk traveled to Moscow with Jim Cantrell and Mike Griffin to buy refurbished Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could send the greenhouse payloads into space. He met with companies NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras; however, Musk was seen as a novice and was even spat on by one of the Russian chief designers. The group returned to the United States empty-handed. In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs. They had another meeting with Kosmotras and were offered one rocket for $8 million, which Musk rejected. Musk instead decided to start a company that could build affordable rockets.[68] With $100 million of his early fortune,[69] Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., traded as SpaceX, in May 2002.[70] As of 2021, he remains the company’s CEO and also holds the title of Chief Engineer.[71]

SpaceX attempted its first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2006,[72] and although the rocket failed to reach Earth orbit, it was awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program contract from NASA later that year.[73] After two more failed attempts, which reportedly caused Musk so much stress that he was “waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain,”[74] SpaceX succeeded in launching the Falcon 1 into orbit in 2008, making it the first private liquid-fuel rocket to do so.[75] Later that year, SpaceX received a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services program contract from NASA for 12 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle after its 2011 retirement.[76] In 2012, the Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS, a first for a private enterprise.[77] Working towards its goal of reusable rockets, in 2015, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9.[78] Landings were later achieved on an autonomous spaceport drone ship, an ocean-based recovery platform.[79] In 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy; the inaugural mission carried Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload.[80][81] In 2017, SpaceX unveiled its next-generation launch vehicle and spacecraft system, Big Falcon Rocket, later renamed to Starship, which would support all SpaceX launch service provider capabilities.[82] In 2018, SpaceX announced a planned 2023 lunar circumnavigation mission, a private flight called dearMoon project.[83] In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place a person into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS.[84]

SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites in 2015 to provide satellite Internet access,[85] with the first two prototype satellites launched in February 2018. A second set of test satellites and the first large deployment of a piece of the constellation occurred in May 2019, when the first 60 operational satellites were launched.[86] The total cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation is estimated by SpaceX to be about $10 billion.[87][note 3]

The company has attracted criticism from astronomers who say Starlink’s satellites are blocking the view of the skies, and from experts arguing that they risk colliding and causing dangers in space.[90][91] Musk rejected the criticism, stating that the impact of satellites is “nothing” and that “space is just extremely enormous, and satellites are very tiny.”[90]

Tesla[edit source]

Main article: Tesla, Inc.Musk next to a Tesla Model S at the Tesla Fremont Factory in 2011

Tesla, Inc.—originally Tesla Motors—was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who financed the company until the Series A round of funding.[92] Both men played active roles in the company’s early development prior to Musk’s involvement.[93] Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested $6.5 million, became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla’s board of directors as chairman.[94][95] Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations.[96] Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.[97][98] Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008.[99] A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others.[100][101] As of 2019, Elon Musk was the longest tenured CEO of any automotive manufacturer globally.[102] In 2021, Musk nominally changed his title to Technoking while retaining his position as CEO.[103]

Tesla first built an electric sports car, the Roadster, in 2008. With sales of about 2,500 vehicles, it was the first serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells.[104] Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan in 2012;[105] a cross-over, the Model X was launched in 2015.[106][107] A mass market sedan, the Model 3, was released in 2017.[108][109] As of March 2020, it is the world’s best-selling electric car, with more than 500,000 units delivered.[110] A fifth vehicle, the Model Y crossover, was launched in 2020.[111] The Cybertruck, an all-electric pickup truck, was unveiled in 2019.[112] Under Musk, Tesla has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle subassembly factories, such as Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and Gigafactory 3 in China.[113][114][115]Musk at the 2019 Tesla annual shareholder meeting

Since its initial public offering in 2010,[116] Tesla stock has risen significantly; it became the most valuable carmaker in summer 2020,[117][118] and it entered the S&P 500 later that year.[119][120] In October 2021 it reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion, the sixth company to do so in U.S. history.[121] On November 6, 2021, Musk proposed on Twitter selling 10% of his Tesla stock, since “much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance”.[122][123] After more than 3.5 million Twitter accounts supported the sale, Musk sold $6.9 billion of Tesla stock in the week ending November 12,[122] and a total of $16.4 billion by year end, reaching the 10% target.[124]

SEC lawsuit[edit source]

In September 2018, Musk was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)[125] for a tweet claiming funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private.[126][note 4] The lawsuit claimed that discussions Musk held with foreign investors in July 2018 did not confirm key deal terms and thus characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies.[126][130][131] Musk called the allegations unjustified and claimed he had never compromised his integrity.[132] Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO.[133][134]

Musk has stated in interviews he does not regret posting the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation.[135][136] On February 19, 2019, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019.[137] The SEC reacted to Musk’s tweet by filing in court, initially asking the court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of a settlement agreement with such a tweet, which was disputed by Musk. This was eventually settled by a joint agreement between Musk and the SEC clarifying the previous agreement details.[138] The agreement included a list of topics that Musk would need preclearance before tweeting about.[139] In May 2020, a judge prevented a lawsuit from proceeding that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price (“too high imo“) violated the agreement.[140][141] FOIA released records showing that the SEC itself concluded Musk has subsequently violated the agreement twice by tweeting regarding “Tesla’s solar roof production volumes and its stock price”.[142]

SolarCity and Tesla Energy[edit source]

Main articles: SolarCity and Tesla EnergySolarCity solar-panel installation vans in 2009

Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive co-founded in 2006.[143] By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.[144] In 2014, Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo, New York, triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States.[145] Construction on the factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017. It operated as a joint venture with Panasonic until early 2020 when Panasonic departed.[146][147]

Tesla acquired SolarCity for over $2 billion in 2016 and merged it with its battery energy storage products division to create Tesla Energy. The announcement of the deal resulted in a more than 10% drop in Tesla’s stock price. At the time, SolarCity was facing liquidity issues; however, Tesla shareholders were not informed.[148] Consequently, multiple shareholder groups filed a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla’s directors, claiming that the purchase of SolarCity was done solely to benefit Musk and came at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders.[149][150] During a June 2019 court deposition, Musk acknowledged that the company reallocated every possible employee from the solar division to work on the Model 3, and, according to Musk, “as a result, solar suffered.” This had not previously been disclosed to shareholders. Court documents unsealed in 2019 have confirmed that Musk was also aware of the company’s liquidity issues.[148] Tesla directors settled the lawsuit in January 2020, leaving Musk the sole remaining defendant.[151][152]

Main article: NeuralinkMusk discussing a Neuralink device during a live demonstration in 2020

In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are embedded in the human brain to facilitate its merging with machines. The devices will also reconcile with the latest improvements in artificial intelligence to stay updated. Such improvements could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software more effectively.[153][154]

At a live demonstration in August 2020, Musk described one of their early devices as “a Fitbit in your skull” that could soon cure paralysis, deafness, blindness, and other disabilities. Many neuroscientists and publications criticized these claims;[155][156][157] MIT Technology Review described them as “highly speculative” and “neuroscience theater”.[155]

The Boring Company[edit source]

Main article: The Boring CompanyMusk during the 2018 inauguration of the Boring Test Tunnel in Hawthorne, California

In 2016, Musk founded The Boring Company to construct tunnels.[158] In early 2017, the company began discussions with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide, 50-foot (15 m) long, and 15-foot (4.6 m) deep “test trench” on the premises of SpaceX’s offices as it required no permits.[159] A tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021.[160] Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system.[161]

As a merchandising and publicity stunt, The Boring Company sold 2,000 novelty flamethrowers in 2018.[162][163] The idea was allegedly inspired by the Mel Brooks-directed film Spaceballs (1987).[164][165]

Managerial style and treatment of employees[edit source]

See also: Criticism of Tesla, Inc. § Workplace culture issues

Musk’s managerial style and treatment of his employees have been heavily criticized.[166][167][168][169][170][171] One person who worked closely with Musk said he exhibits “a high level of degenerate behavior” such as paranoia and bullying.[167] Another described him as exhibiting “total and complete pathological sociopathy”.[167] Business Insider reported that Tesla employees were told not to walk past Musk’s desk because of his “wild firing rampages”.[172] The Wall Street Journal reported that, after Musk insisted on branding his vehicles as “self-driving”, he faced criticism from his engineers, some of whom resigned in response, with one stating that Musk’s “reckless decision making… ha[d] potentially put customer lives at risk”.[173] The 2021 book Power Play contains multiple anecdotes of Musk berating employees.[174]

Other activities[edit source]

Hyperloop[edit source]

Main articles: Hyperloop and Hyperloop pod competition

In 2013, Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain (or vacuum tube train), assigning a dozen engineers from Tesla and SpaceX to establish the conceptual foundations and create initial designs.[175] On August 12, 2013, Musk unveiled the concept, which he dubbed the Hyperloop.[176] The alpha design for the system was published in a whitepaper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs.[177] The document scoped out the technology and outlined a notional route where such a transport system could be built between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area at an estimated total cost of $6 billion.[178] The proposal, if technologically feasible at the costs he has cited, would make Hyperloop travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances.[179]

In June 2015, Musk announced a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track in a 2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition. The track was used in January 2017, and Musk also announced that the company started a tunnel project with Hawthorne airport as its destination.[180] In July 2017, Musk claimed that he had received “verbal government approval” to build a hyperloop from New York City to Washington, D.C., stopping in both Philadelphia and Baltimore.[181] Mention of the project for the DC to Baltimore part were removed from the Boring Company website later in 2021.[182]

OpenAI[edit source]

Main article: OpenAI

In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company aiming to develop artificial general intelligence intended to be safe and beneficial to humanity.[183] A particular focus of the company is to “counteract large corporations [and governments] who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence systems”.[184][17] In 2018, Musk left the OpenAI board to avoid possible future conflicts with his role as CEO of Tesla as the company increasingly became involved in AI through Tesla Autopilot.[185]

Tham Luang cave rescue and defamation case[edit source]

Further information: Tham Luang cave rescueRescue personnel and equipment at the cave entrance

In July 2018, Musk arranged for his employees to build a small rescue pod to assist the rescue of children stuck in a flooded cavern in Thailand.[186] Richard Stanton, leader of the international rescue diving team, urged Musk on in construction of the mini-submarine as a back-up, in case flooding worsened.[187] Named “Wild Boar” after the children’s soccer team,[188] its design was a five-foot (1.5 m)-long, 12-inch (30 cm)-wide sealed tube weighing about 90 pounds (41 kg) propelled manually by divers in the front and back with segmented compartments to place diver weights to adjust buoyancy,[189][190] intended to solve the problem of safely extracting the children. Engineers at SpaceX and The Boring Company built the mini-submarine out of a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen transfer tube[191] in eight hours and personally delivered it to Thailand.[189] By this time, however, eight of the 12 children had already been rescued using full face masks and oxygen under anesthesia; consequently Thai authorities declined to use the submarine.[192] Elon Musk was later one of the 187 people who received various honors conferred by the King of Thailand in March 2019 for involvement in the rescue effort, e.g. the Order of the Direkgunabhorn.[193][194]

Vernon Unsworth, a British recreational caver who had been exploring the cave for the previous six years and played a key advisory role in the rescue, criticized the submarine on CNN as amounting to nothing more than a public relations effort with no chance of success, and that Musk “had no conception of what the cave passage was like” and “can stick his submarine where it hurts”. Musk asserted on Twitter that the device would have worked and referred to Unsworth as “pedo guy”.[195] He subsequently deleted the tweets, along with an earlier tweet in which he told another critic of the device, “Stay tuned jackass.”[195] On July 16, Unsworth stated that he was considering legal action.[196][197]

Two days later, Musk issued an apology for his remarks.[198][199] Then, on August 28, 2018, in response to criticism from a writer on Twitter, Musk tweeted, “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me?”[200] The following day, a letter dated August 6 from L. Lin Wood, the rescuer’s attorney, emerged, showing that he had been making preparations for a libel lawsuit.[201][202]

Around this time, James Howard-Higgins emailed Musk claiming to be a private investigator and with an offer to “dig deep” into Unsworth’s past, which Musk accepted; Higgins was later revealed to be a convicted felon with multiple counts of fraud.[203][204] On August 30, using details produced during the alleged investigation,[205] Musk sent a BuzzFeed News reporter who had written about the controversy an email prefaced with “off the record“, telling the reporter to “stop defending child rapists, you fucking asshole” and claiming that Unsworth is a “single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years… until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.” On September 5, the reporter tweeted a screenshot of the email, saying that “Off the record is a two-party agreement,” which he “did not agree to.”[206][207][208]

In September, Unsworth filed a defamation suit in Los Angeles federal court.[209][210] In his defense, Musk argued that in slang usage “‘pedo guy’ was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up… synonymous with ‘creepy old man’ and is used to insult a person’s appearance and demeanor.”[211] The defamation case began in December 2019, with Unsworth seeking $190 million in damages.[212] During the trial Musk apologized to Unsworth again for the tweet. On December 6, the jury found in favor of Musk and ruled he was not liable.[213][214]

2018 Joe Rogan podcast appearance[edit source]

On September 6, 2018, Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and discussed various topics for over two hours. One of the highest-profile and most controversial aspects of the program was Musk’s sampling a single puff from a cigar consisting, Joe Rogan claimed, of tobacco laced with cannabis. The Washington Post observed that, “In the media’s hands, it became a story about Musk’s growing instability.”[215]

Tesla stock dropped after the incident, which coincided with the confirmation of the departure of Tesla’s vice president of worldwide finance earlier that day.[216][217] Fortune wondered if the cannabis use could have ramifications for SpaceX contracts with the United States Air Force, though an Air Force spokesperson told The Verge that there was no investigation and that the Air Force was still processing the situation.[218][219] In a 60 Minutes interview, Musk said of the incident: “I do not smoke pot. As anybody who watched that podcast could tell, I have no idea how to smoke pot.”[220][221]

Music ventures[edit source]

On March 30, 2019, Musk released a rap track, “RIP Harambe”, on SoundCloud as Emo G Records. The track, which is an allusion to the killing of Harambe, a gorilla in a Cincinnati zoo, and the subsequent “tasteless” Internet sensationalism surrounding the event, was performed by Yung Jake, written by Yung Jake and Caroline Polachek, and produced by BloodPop.[222][223] On January 30, 2020, Musk released an EDM track, “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe”, featuring his own lyrics and vocals.[224] While The Guardian critic Alexi Petridis described it as “indistinguishable… from umpteen competent but unthrilling bits of bedroom electronica posted elsewhere on Soundcloud”,[225] TechCrunch said it was “not a bad representation of the genre”.[224]

Donations and non-profits[edit source]

Musk is president of the Musk Foundation,[226] which states its purpose is to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas as well as to support research and development, advocacy, and educational goals.[227][228] Since 2002, the foundation has made over 350 contributions. Around half were to scientific research or education nonprofits. Notable beneficiaries include the Wikimedia Foundation, his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, and Kimbal’s Big Green.[229] Vox described the foundation as “almost entertaining in its simplicity and yet is strikingly opaque”, noting that its website was only 33 words in plain-text.[230] The foundation has been criticized for the relatively small amount of wealth donated.[231] From 2002 to 2018, it gave out $25 million directly to non-profits, nearly half of which went to Musk’s OpenAI,[230] which was at the time a non-profit organization.[232] In 2012, Musk took the Giving Pledge, thereby committing to give the majority of his wealth to charitable causes either during his lifetimes or in his will.[233] In 2020, Forbes still gave Musk a philanthropy score of 1, because he had given away less than 1% of his net worth.[229]

Musk has endowed prizes at the X Prize Foundation, including $15 million to encourage innovation in addressing illiteracy and $100 million to reward improved carbon capture technology.[234][235][236][237] In November 2021, Musk donated $5.7 billion of Tesla’s shares to charity.[238]

Wealth[edit source]

Musk’s net worth from 2012 to 2021 as estimated by Forbes magazine

Musk made $165 million when PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002.[239] He was first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, with a net worth of $2 billion.[240]

At the start of 2020, Musk had a net worth of $27 billion.[241] By the year’s end his net worth had increased by $150 billion, largely driven by his ownership of around 20% of Tesla stock.[242] During this, Musk’s net worth was often volatile. For example, it dropped $16.3 billion in September, the largest single-day plunge in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[243] In November of that year, Musk passed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to become the third-richest person in the world; a week later he passed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the second-richest.[244] In January 2021, Musk, with a net worth of $185 billion, surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world.[245] Bezos reclaimed the top spot the following month.[246] On September 27, 2021, Forbes announced that Musk had a net worth of over $200 billion, and was the richest person in the world, after Tesla stock surged.[247] In November 2021, Musk became the first person with a net worth over $300 billion.[248]

Around three-quarters of Musk’s wealth derives from Tesla.[244] Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla; he agreed in 2018 to a compensation plan with the board that ties his personal earnings to Tesla’s valuation and revenue.[242] The deal stipulated that Musk only receives the compensation if Tesla reaches certain market values.[249] It was the largest such deal ever done between a CEO and board.[250] In the first award, given in May 2020, he was eligible to purchase 1.69 million TSLA shares (about 1% of the company) at below-market prices, which was worth about $800 million.[250][249]

Musk has repeatedly described himself as “cash poor“,[251][252] and has “professed to have little interest in the material trappings of wealth”.[251] In 2012, Musk signed The Giving Pledge and, in May 2020, Musk pledged to “sell almost all physical possessions”.[252][253] In 2021, Musk defended his wealth by saying he is “accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary [and] extend the light of consciousness to the stars”.[254] In the early 2000s, Musk was a private pilot, his favorite aircraft then being the L-39 Albatros, though he decided to stop piloting by 2008.[255][256] He uses a private jet owned by SpaceX[257][258] and acquired a second jet in August 2020.[259] The jet’s heavy use of fossil fuels—it flew over 150,000 miles in 2018—has received criticism.[257][260] According to ProPublica, Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018.[261]

Views[edit source]

Main article: Views of Elon Musk

Politics[edit source]

Musk with then US Vice President Mike Pence in 2020 at the Kennedy Space Center shortly before SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch

In 2015, Musk stated he was a “significant (though not top-tier) donor to Democrats” but that he also gives heavily to Republicans. Musk said that political contributions are a requirement to have a voice in the United States government.[262] Musk criticized Donald Trump for his stance on climate change[263] and after joining Trump’s two business advisory councils,[264][265] Musk resigned from both in June 2017 in protest against Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.[266] In the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Musk endorsed candidate Andrew Yang and expressed support for his proposed universal basic income;[267] he endorsed Kanye West‘s independent campaign in the general election.[268] Musk has stated that he thinks a theoretical government on Mars should be direct democracy.[269] In September 2021, following the adoption of Texas’ strict abortion restrictions, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated that Musk and SpaceX supported Texas’ “social policies”. In response, Musk stated, “In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people, and, when doing so, should aspire to maximize their cumulative happiness. That said, I would prefer to stay out of politics.”[270] Regarding Democratic proposals for increased taxes on billionaires, Musk’s responses have included critical policy remarks and lashing out at proponents such as Senator Ron Wyden.[271][272]

In July 2020, Musk tweeted “Pronouns suck” to significant backlash on Twitter, including from his partner Grimes.[273][274][275] The tweet has been perceived by some as transphobic and an attack on non-binary identities.[276] In a series of December 2020 tweets, Musk again mocked the use of pronouns. The Human Rights Campaign, which had previously given Tesla the number one ranking on its Corporate Equality Index, criticized his tweets and called for an apology.[277][278]

Musk has stated that he does not believe the U.S. government should provide subsidies to companies; instead they should use a carbon tax to discourage poor behavior.[279][280] Musk says that the free market would achieve the best solution, and that producing environmentally unfriendly vehicles should come with its own consequences.[281] His stance has been called hypocritical as his businesses have received billions of dollars in subsidies.[282][283] In addition, Tesla made large sums from government-initiated systems of zero emissions credits offered in California and the United States federal level, which enabled improved initial consumer adoption of Tesla vehicles, as the tax credits given by governments enabled Tesla’s battery electric vehicles to be price-competitive, in relative comparison with existing lower-priced internal combustion engine vehicles.[284] Notably, Tesla generates a sizeable portion of its revenue from its sales of carbon credits granted to the company, by both the European Union Emissions Trading System and the Chinese national carbon trading scheme.[285][286][287][288]Musk with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NSA Ajit Doval

Musk, a longtime opponent of short-selling, has repeatedly criticized the practice and argued it should be illegal.[289][290] Musk’s opposition to short-selling has been speculated to stem from how short-sellers often organize and publish opposition research about the companies that they believe are currently overvalued.[291] In early 2021, he encouraged the GameStop short squeeze.[292][293] Musk has also regularly promoted cryptocurrencies, stating that he supports them over traditional government-issued fiat currencies.[294] Given the volatile effects that his tweets about them have,[295] his statements around cryptocurrencies have been viewed as market manipulations by critics such as Nouriel Roubini.[296]

In November 2021, Musk was criticized after mocking U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Twitter. Sanders posted a message on Twitter saying “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.” Musk then replied: “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.”[297][298][299]

Musk has voiced concerns about human population decline,[300][301] saying that “Mars has zero human population. We need a lot of people to become a multiplanet civilization.”[302] Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council session in December 2021, Musk stated that declining birth rates and population is one of the biggest risks to human civilization.[303]

In an interview with Christian conservative satirical website The Babylon Bee in December 2021, after selling “enough stock” to reach his goal of selling 10% of his shares in Tesla (then the world’s most valuable car company) and relocating his personal and Tesla’s tax residence from California to Texas in order to avoid state income tax, he lamented that it was “increasingly difficult to get things done” in California. In his own remarks, Musk said that “California used to be the land of opportunity and now it is… becoming moreso the land of sort of overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation.”[304] In the same interview, he stated, “At its heart wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people… a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.”[305]

COVID-19[edit source]

Elon MuskTwitter
@elonmusk

Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April

March 19, 2020[306]

Musk was criticized for his public comments and conduct related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[307][308] He spread misinformation about the virus, including promoting chloroquine and assuming that death statistics were manipulated.[309][310][311][312][313] At the start of the pandemic, he claimed that children “are essentially immune” to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.[314][315] Twitter determined that, given the “overall context and conclusion of the Tweet”, it did not break their rules on COVID-19 commentary; the decision was described as “irresponsible” by The Verge.[316] Musk also called “the coronavirus panic…dumb”.[317][318][319] Musk repeatedly criticized lockdowns and violated local orders by re-opening the Tesla Fremont factory.[320][321][322] In March 2020, commenting on a New York Times report that China had reported no new cases of domestic spread of the novel coronavirus, Musk predicted that there would be “probably close to zero new cases in US by the end of April”.[323][324] Politico later labeled this statement one of “the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications [of 2020]”.[325] In November 2020, the phrase “Space Karen” trended on Twitter in connection with Musk after he tweeted misinformation about the effectiveness of COVID-19 testing.[316][326][327][328]

Also in March 2020, Musk offered to donate ventilators which Tesla would build or buy from a third party.[329] Multiple hospitals noted that the devices eventually donated were BiPAP and CPAP machines, not the much more expensive and sought-after invasive mechanical ventilator (IMV) machines, but the devices could still be used to free up ventilators for the sickest patients.[330][331][332] Invasive ventilators can cost up to $50,000 whereas CPAP machines can be purchased for around $500.[333]

In 2021, findings of an antibody-testing program that SpaceX worked with doctors and academic researchers to create were published in Nature Communications with Musk listed as a co-author.[334][335]

Artificial intelligence, metaverse, and public transit[edit source]

Musk has frequently spoken about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), repeatedly calling it the greatest threat to humanity.[336][337] Musk’s opinions about AI have provoked controversy.[338] Consequently, according to CNBC, Musk is “not always looked upon favorably” by the AI research community.[339] Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed on the issue, with Zuckerberg calling his warnings “pretty irresponsible”.[340][341][342] Musk’s claims that humans live in a computer simulation have also been criticized.[343][344]

In December 2021, when prompted for his opinion about the virtual reality (VR) driven metaverse, Musk said that he was “unable to see a compelling metaverse situation” and further remarked that “I think we’re far from disappearing into the metaverse. This sounds just kind of buzzword-y.”[345][346]

“Sure you can put a TV on your nose. I’m not sure that makes you ‘in the metaverse’.” “I don’t see someone strapping a frigging screen to their face all day and not wanting to ever leave. That seems — no way.”

Despite his companies’ dealing in various areas of transportation, Musk has criticized public transportation,[347][348] a stance that has been called elitist, as public modes of transportation provide service for all persons, while cars can be used only by those who own or rent and can drive them.[349][350]

In December 2017, in response to an audience question about his take on public transit and urban sprawl, at a Tesla event on the sidelines of the Neural Information Processing Systems Conference in Long Beach, California, Musk remarked:[351][352]

“There is this premise that good things must be somehow painful. I think public transport is painful. It sucks. Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn’t leave where you want it to leave, doesn’t start where you want it to start, doesn’t end where you want it to end? And it doesn’t go all the time.”

“It’s a pain in the ass, that’s why everyone doesn’t like it. And there’s like a bunch of random strangers, one of who might be a serial killer, OK, great. And so that’s why people like individualized transport, that goes where you want, when you want.”

When the audience member responded that public transportation seemed to work in Japan, Musk shot back, “What, where they cram people in the subway? That doesn’t sound great.”

His comments have sparked widespread criticism from both transportation and urban planning experts, which have pointed out that public transportation in dense urban areas is more economical, more energy efficient and requires much less space than private cars.[353][354][350]

Personal life[edit source]

Musk met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, while attending Queen’s University, and they married in 2000.[355] He contracted malaria in 2000 while on vacation in South Africa, and almost died.[356] In 2002, their first child, son Nevada Alexander Musk, died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at the age of 10 weeks.[357] After his death, the couple decided to use IVF to continue their family.[358] Twins Xavier and Griffin were born in April 2004, followed by triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian in 2006.[358] The couple divorced in 2008 and share custody of their five sons.[355][359][360]

In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley, and in 2010, the couple married. In 2012, he announced a divorce from Riley.[361][362][363] In 2013, Musk and Riley remarried. In December 2014, he filed for a second divorce from Riley; however, the action was withdrawn.[364] A second divorce was finalized in 2016.[365] Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017;[366][367] he had reportedly been pursuing her since 2012.[367] Musk was later accused by Johnny Depp of having an affair with Heard while she was still married to Depp.[368][369][370] Musk and Heard both denied the affair.[371]

In May 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes revealed that they were dating.[372][373][374] Grimes gave birth to their son in May 2020.[375][376] According to Musk and Grimes, his name was “X Æ A-12”; however, the name would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet,[377][378] and was then changed to “X Æ A-Xii”. This drew more confusion, as Æ is not a letter in the modern English alphabet.[379] The child was eventually named “X AE A-XII” Musk, with “X” as a first name, “AE A-XII” as a middle name, and “Musk” as surname.[380] Musk confirmed reports that the couple are “semi-separated” in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single.[381][382][383]

From the early 2000s until late 2020, Musk resided in California where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded and where their headquarters are still located.[384] In 2020, he moved to Texas, stating that California had become “complacent” with its economic success.[384][385]

During his hosting of Saturday Night Live in May 2021, Musk stated that he has Asperger syndrome.[386]

Public recognition[edit source]

Main article: Elon Musk in popular culture

Musk has had multiple cameos and appearances in films such as Iron Man 2 (2010),[387] Why Him? (2016),[388] and Men in Black: International (2019).[389] Television series on which he has appeared include The Simpsons (“The Musk Who Fell to Earth“, 2015),[390] The Big Bang Theory (“The Platonic Permutation“, 2015),[391] South Park (“Members Only“, 2016),[392][393] Rick and Morty (“One Crew over the Crewcoo’s Morty“, 2019),[394][395] and Saturday Night Live (2021).[396] He has contributed interviews to the documentaries Racing Extinction (2015) and the Werner Herzog-directed Lo and Behold (2016).[397][398]

In China, Elon Musk has become a “trademark phenomenon” according to SCMP, with over 270 different companies having registered trademarks using his English name or Chinese transliteration, for a multitude of products including printing, restaurants, textiles, and design.[399]

Accolades[edit source]

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Elon Musk

Musk was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2018.[400] In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate in engineering and technology at Yale,[401] and IEEE Honorary Membership.[402] Awards for his contributions to the development of the Falcon rockets include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award in 2008,[403] the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal in 2010,[404] and the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal in 2012.[405] He was listed among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010,[406] 2013,[407] 2018,[408] and 2021.[409] In 2021, Musk was selected as Time‘s “Person of the Year“. Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote that “Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too”.[410][411]

Notes and references[edit source]

Notes[edit source]

  1. ^ One child is deceased.[1]
  2. ^ Musk remained on the board and served as an advisor.[60][61]
  3. ^ SpaceX received nearly $900 million in Federal Communications Commission subsidies for Starlink.[88][89]
  4. ^ Musk stated he was considering taking Tesla private at a price of $420 a share, an alleged reference to marijuana.[127] Members of Tesla’s board and rapper Azealia Banks alleged that Musk may have been under the influence of recreational drugs when he wrote the tweet.[128][129]

References and citations[edit source]

  1. ^ Petter, Olivia (July 26, 2020). “‘There’s Not Much I Can Do’: Elon Musk Admits Grimes Does Majority Of Childcare For Two-month Old Son”The IndependentArchived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  2. ^ “Elon Musk”Forbes. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
  3. ^ “Bloomberg Billionaires Index”www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  4. ^ “Real Time Billionaires”Forbes. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  5. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 23, 31.
  6. ^ His biography author Ashlee Vance interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network, discussion of his family starts around the 15th minute
  7. ^ Vargas, Chanel (March 6, 2018). “11 Things to Know About Stunning 69-Year-Old Model Maye Musk”Town & CountryArchived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  8. Jump up to:a b Usborne, Simon (February 21, 2018). “Meet the Musks: who’s who in Elon’s extended family?”The GuardianISSN 0261-3077Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  9. ^
  10. Jump up to:a b Smith, Adam (June 28, 2021). “50 years of Elon Musk’s huge wealth, from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla”The Independent. Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  11. ^ “The Musk of Romance”WiredISSN 1059-1028Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  12. Jump up to:a b Hull, Dana; May, Patrick (April 10, 2014). “2014: Rocket Man: The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk”The Mercury NewsArchived from the original on September 6, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  13. ^ Keating, Joseph C. Jr. (September 1995). “Joshua N Haldeman, DC: the Canadian Years, 1926–1950”. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic AssociationPMC 2485067.
  14. Jump up to:a b Hall, Dana (April 11, 2014). “Rocket Man: The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk”San Jose Mercury NewsArchived from the original on April 14, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  15. ^ Elliott, Hannah (March 26, 2012). “At Home With Elon Musk: The (Soon-to-Be) Bachelor Billionaire”ForbesArchived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  16. ^ Vance, Ashlee (May 19, 2015). Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. HarperCollins. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-06-230123-9.
  17. Jump up to:a b c d e Strauss, Neil (November 15, 2017). “Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow”Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  18. ^ Crilly, Rob (March 25, 2018). “Elon Musk’s father has baby with step-daughter he has known since she was four”The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  19. ^ “Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s plan to be at the forefront of a self-driving-car revolution — and why he wants to be buried on Mars”Business Insider.
  20. ^ Grubb, Jeff (April 7, 2015). “How games helped make Elon Musk the real-life Tony Stark”VentureBeat. San Francisco, California. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  21. ^ Vance (2015), p. 38.
  22. ^ O’Kane, Sean (June 9, 2015). “Play the PC game Elon Musk wrote as a pre-teen”The Verge. New York City: Vox. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  23. ^ Belfiore (2007), pp. 166–95.
  24. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 33–34.
  25. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 40–41.
  26. ^ Mak, Aaron (December 4, 2019). “Elon Musk Says “Pedo Guy” Was a Common Insult in His Youth. We Checked With His Schoolmates”Slate. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020.
  27. ^ Junod, Tom (November 15, 2012). “Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will”Esquire. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  28. Jump up to:a b Clifford, Catherine (June 12, 2018). “Multi-billionaire Elon Musk: ‘I arrived in North America at 17 with $2,000′”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  29. ^ Vance (2015), p. 44.
  30. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 43–44.
  31. ^ Vance (2015), p. 45.
  32. ^ Vance (2015), p. 46.
  33. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 46–47.
  34. ^ Locke, Taylor (December 20, 2019). “Elon Musk’s college pal: This is what ‘differentiates Elon from the rest of humanity'”CNBCArchived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  35. ^ Hull, Dana (April 11, 2014). “Timeline: Elon Musk’s accomplishments”Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  36. ^ Zanerhaft, Jaron (2013). “Elon Musk: Patriarchs and Prodigies”CSQ. C-Suite Quarterly. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  37. ^ Meisenzahl, Elizabeth. “SpaceX, founded by Penn graduate Elon Musk, launches U.S. astronauts into space”thedp.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  38. ^ Machajewski, Sarah (July 15, 2017). Breakout Biographies – Elon Musk: Engineer and Inventor for the FutureISBN 9781508160540. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  39. ^ “How internships helped Elon Musk figure out his future”CNBC. July 16, 2018. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  40. ^ Vance (2015), p. 368.
  41. ^ Maidment, Paul (March 15, 2016). “7 college dropouts who made millions”CNBC. Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  42. Jump up to:a b c Huddlestone, Tom Jr. (June 19, 2018). “Elon Musk slept on his office couch and ‘showered at the YMCA’ while starting his first company”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  43. ^ Chafkin, Max (December 1, 2007). “Entrepreneur of the Year, 2007: Elon Musk”IncArchived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  44. ^ “Zip2 Founder Launches 2nd Firm: Readies Financial Supersite. – Free Online Library”www.thefreelibrary.comArchived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
  45. ^ Kidder (2013), pp. 224–228.
  46. ^ Cooper, Charles. “CitySearch, Zip2 to merge in $300 million deal”ZDNetArchived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  47. ^ Vance (2015), p. 67.
  48. ^ Vance (2015), p. 14.
  49. ^ Junnarkar, Sandeep (February 16, 1999). “Compaq buys Zip2”CNETArchived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  50. Jump up to:a b Hartmans, Matt Weinberger, Avery. “How billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk went from getting bullied as a child to becoming one of the most successful and provocative men in tech”Business InsiderArchived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  51. ^ Vance (2015), p. 109.
  52. ^ Vance (2015), p. 78.
  53. ^ Vance (2015), p. 84.
  54. Jump up to:a b Vance (2015), p. 86.
  55. ^ Jackson (2004), pp. 40, 69, 130, 163.
  56. ^ Vance (2015), p. 85.
  57. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 85–86.
  58. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 86–87.
  59. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 87–88.
  60. ^ “The PayPal Mafia”Fortune. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  61. Jump up to:a b Vance (2015), p. 89.
  62. ^ Odell, Mark (September 30, 2014). “Timeline: The rise of PayPal”Financial TimesArchived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  63. ^ “SEC 10-K”. PayPal. December 31, 2001. Archived from the original on August 25, 2020.
  64. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 116.
  65. ^ Huang, Echo. “Elon Musk bought a web domain worth millions with “sentimental value” to him”Quartz. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  66. ^ Statt, Nick (July 10, 2017). “Elon Musk now owns X.com, the defunct domain of his second startup”The Verge. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  67. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 99, 102—103.
  68. ^ Vance, Ashlee (May 14, 2015). “Elon Musk’s space dream almost killed Tesla”BloombergL.PArchived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  69. ^ Wayne, Leslie (February 5, 2006). “A Bold Plan to Go Where Men Have Gone Before”The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  70. ^ California Business Search (C2414622 – Space Exploration Technologies Corp)archived from the original on February 23, 2018, retrieved December 13, 2020
  71. ^ Koren, Marina (May 6, 2021). “Elon Musk Is Maybe, Actually, Strangely, Going to Do This Mars Thing”The Atlantic.
  72. ^ Berger, Eric (2021). LiftoffWilliam Morrow and Company. pp. 178–182. ISBN 978-0-06-297997-1.
  73. ^ Dunbar, Brian. “NASA Invests in Private Sector Space Flight with SpaceX, Rocketplane-Kistler”www.nasa.gov (Press release). Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  74. ^ Berger, Eric (2021). LiftoffWilliam Morrow and Company. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-06-297997-1.
  75. ^ Ledur, Júlia (May 1, 2019). “Falcon Flights”ReutersArchived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  76. ^ Chang, Kenneth (May 22, 2012). “Big Day for a Space Entrepreneur Promising More”The New York TimesArchived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  77. ^ Harwood, William (May 31, 2012). “SpaceX Dragon returns to Earth, ends historic trip”CBS News. Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  78. ^ “SpaceX rocket in historic upright landing”BBC News. December 22, 2015. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  79. ^ O’Kane, Sean (May 27, 2016). “SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the third time”The Verge. New York City: Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 27, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  80. ^ Drake, Nadia (February 25, 2018). “Elon Musk’s Tesla in Space Could Crash Into Earth”National GeographicArchived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  81. ^ Chow, Denise (November 6, 2019). “‘Starman’ and the Tesla Roadster that SpaceX launched into orbit have now cruised beyond Mars”NBC NewsArchived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  82. ^ “Starship Update”YouTube. September 28, 2019. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  83. ^ “Elon Musk Says SpaceX Will Send Yusaku Maezawa (and Artists!) to the Moon”Wired. September 18, 2018. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  84. ^ Wattles, Jackie (May 30, 2020). “SpaceX and NASA launch Crew Dragon in Florida: Live updates”CNN. Archived from the original on August 29, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  85. ^ Johnson, Eric M.; Roulette, Joey (October 31, 2018). “Musk shakes up SpaceX in race to make satellite launch window: sources”ReutersArchived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  86. ^ Hall, Shannon (June 1, 2019). “After SpaceX Starlink Launch, a Fear of Satellites That Outnumber All Visible Stars – Images of the Starlink constellation in orbit have rattled astronomers around the world”The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  87. ^ Shepardson, David; Roulette, Joey (July 30, 2020). “Taking on SpaceX, Amazon to invest $10 billion in satellite broadband plan”ReutersArchived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  88. ^ Sheetz, Michael (December 7, 2020). “SpaceX’s Starlink wins nearly $900 million in FCC subsidies to bring internet to rural areas”CNBCArchived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  89. ^ Wattles, Jackie (December 8, 2020). “SpaceX gets almost $900 million in federal subsidies to deliver broadband to rural America”CNNArchived from the original on December 18, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  90. Jump up to:a b Griffin, Andrew (December 30, 2021). “Elon Musk rejects criticism that his satellite fleet is dangerous”The Independent. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  91. ^ “Elon Musk rejects claims that his satellites are hogging space”BBC News. December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  92. ^ Burns, Matt (October 8, 2014). “A Brief History of Tesla”TechCrunchArchived from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  93. ^ Nordqvist, Joseph (February 12, 2014). “Tesla Motors Inc. – Company Information”. Market Business News. Archived from the original on February 12, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  94. ^ Vance (2015), pp. 153–154.
  95. ^ Burns, Matt (October 8, 2014). “A Brief History of Tesla”TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015. Tesla was founded not by Elon Musk, but rather by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in July 2003. The two bootstrapped the fledgling auto company until Elon Musk led the company’s US$7.5 million Series A financing round in February 2004.
  96. ^ Vance (2015), p. 159.
  97. ^ Schilling, Melissa (2018). Quirky: The remarkable story of the traits, foibles, and genius of breakthrough innovators who changed the world. PublicAffairs.
  98. ^ Morrison, Chris (October 15, 2008). “Musk steps in as CEO”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  99. ^ “Elon Musk: The Story of a Maverick”interestingengineering.com. August 13, 2020. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  100. ^ LaMonica, Martin (September 2009). “Tesla Motors founders: Now there are five”CNET. Retrieved April 17, 2020. Tesla Motors and co-founder Martin Eberhard announced an agreement over who can claim to be a founder of the company on Monday.
  101. ^ Schwartz, Ariel (September 21, 2009). “Tesla Lawsuit Drama Ends as Five Company Founders Emerge”Fast Company. Retrieved April 14, 2020. Eberhard and Musk have reached a rather unexpected resolution–instead of agreeing to share the title of “founder”, the pair has designated five people as company founders, including Musk, Eberhard, JB Straubel, Mark Tarpenning, and Ian Wright.
  102. ^ Royse, Dave (July 8, 2019). “Industry Shift: With Four Departures This Year, Who Is The Longest-Tenured Automotive CEO?”Yahoo.
  103. ^ Shead, Sam (March 15, 2021). “Elon Musk has officially been made the ‘Technoking of Tesla'”CNBC. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  104. ^ Wilson, Kevin A. (March 15, 2018). “Worth the Watt: A Brief History of the Electric Car, 1830 to Present”Car and DriverArchived from the original on March 17, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  105. ^ Boudreau, John (June 22, 2012). “In a Silicon Valley milestone, Tesla Motors begins delivering Model S electric cars”San Jose Mercury NewsArchived from the original on November 24, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  106. ^ Ruddick, Graham (September 30, 2015). “Tesla’s Model X electric car spreads falcon wings at U.S. launch”The GuardianArchived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  107. ^ “Tesla Model X: Not a model launch”FortuneArchived from the original on November 12, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  108. ^ Vlasic, Bill (July 29, 2017). “In Pivotal Moment, Tesla Unveils Its First Mass-Market Sedan”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  109. ^ Gibbs, Samuel (July 31, 2017). “Tesla Model 3 doesn’t have a key – and seven other things we learned”The GuardianArchived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  110. ^ Holland, Maximilian (March 10, 2020). “Tesla Passes 1 Million EV Milestone & Model 3 Becomes All Time Best Seller”CleanTechnicaArchived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  111. ^ O’Kane, Sean (March 16, 2020). “Tesla Model Y deliveries begin in the US”The VergeArchived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  112. ^ Huddleston, Tom Jr. (November 22, 2019). “This is the James Bond sports car Elon Musk bought for nearly $1 million that inspired Tesla Cybertruck”CNBCArchived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  113. ^ “Does Musk’s Gigafactory Make Sense?”. April 14, 2019. Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  114. ^ “Inside Tesla’s Gigafactory: A Crazy Idea Takes Shape In Nevada”Forbes. July 27, 2016. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  115. ^ “Tesla’s Musk says Shanghai factory breaking ground”. ABC news. January 7, 2019. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020.
  116. ^ “With First Share Offering, Tesla Bets on Electric Car’s Future”The New York Times. Associated Press. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  117. ^ “Tesla overtakes Toyota to become world’s most valuable carmaker”BBC News. July 1, 2020. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  118. ^ Boudette, Neal E. (July 2, 2020). “Tesla Shines During the Pandemic as Other Automakers Struggle”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  119. ^ Li, Yun (December 20, 2021). “Tesla shares fall 6% as it enters the S&P 500 with 1.69% weighting, fifth largest”CNBCArchived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  120. ^ “Tesla Stock Joins the S&P 500: A Game Changer”The Wall Street Journal. December 21, 2020. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  121. ^ Chris Isidore. “Tesla is now worth more than $1trillion”CNN. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  122. Jump up to:a b Haselton, Todd (November 13, 2021). “Elon Musk sold about $6.9 billion in Tesla stock this week”CNBC. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  123. ^ “Elon Musk Twitter profile”Twitter. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  124. ^ Jin, Hyunjoo (December 30, 2021). “Tesla’s Musk exercises all of his stock options expiring next year”Reuters.
  125. ^ “SEC.gov | Elon Musk Charged With Securities Fraud for Misleading Tweets”www.sec.gov. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  126. Jump up to:a b Goldstein, Matthew (September 27, 2018). “S.E.C. Sues Tesla’s Elon Musk for Fraud and Seeks to Bar Him From Running a Public Company”The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  127. ^ Choudhury, Saheli Roy (September 28, 2018). “SEC says Musk chose $420 price for Tesla shares because it’s a pot reference”CNBC. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  128. ^ Swisher, Kara (August 23, 2018). “How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High”The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  129. ^ Woodyard, Chris (August 30, 2018). “Elon Musk’s tweet on taking Tesla private now dogged by drugs claim from rapper Azealia Banks”USA Today. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  130. ^ Patnaik, Subrat; Kalia, Shubham (September 28, 2018). “Factbox – ‘Funding secured’: SEC gives timeline surrounding tweet from Tesla’s Musk”Reuters. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  131. ^ O’Kane, Sean; Lopatto, Elizabeth (September 27, 2018). “Elon Musk sued by SEC for securities fraud”The Verge. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  132. ^ “SEC Sues Elon Musk for Tweets About Taking Tesla Private, Seeks to Remove Him as CEO”Slate. September 27, 2018. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  133. ^ “Elon Musk forced to step down as chairman of Tesla, remains CEO”The Verge. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  134. ^ “SEC.gov | Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges; Tesla Charged With and Resolves Securities Law Charge”www.sec.gov. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  135. ^ “Tesla’s Elon Musk says tweet that led to $20 million fine ‘Worth It'”Reuters. October 27, 2018. Archived from the original on May 22, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  136. ^ Youn, Soo; Katersky, Aaron (October 11, 2018). “Elon Musk commits to SEC settlement despite mocking tweets”ABC News. Archived from the original on October 23, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  137. ^ Ohnsman, Alan. “Elon Musk’s Tesla Tweet Puts CEO Role At Risk Again”Forbes. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  138. ^ Wattles, Jackie (April 27, 2019). “Elon Musk and SEC reach an agreement over tweeting”CNN Business. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  139. ^ Marino-Nachison, David (April 26, 2019). “Tesla CEO Elon Musk Gets a Long Do-Not-Tweet List From the SEC”Barrons. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  140. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (May 1, 2020). “Tesla shares tank after Elon Musk tweets the stock price is ‘too high'”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  141. ^ “Court Rules That No One Can Stop Elon Musk From Tweeting Tesla News—For Now”Observer. May 20, 2020. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  142. ^ Elliott, Dave; Michaels, Rebecca (June 2, 2021). “WSJ News Exclusive: Tesla Failed to Oversee Elon Musk’s Tweets, SEC Argued in Letters”The Wall Street JournalISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  143. ^ Kanellos, Michael (February 15, 2008). “Newsmaker: Elon Musk on rockets, sports cars, and solar power”CNET. Archived from the original on January 29, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  144. ^ “2013 Top 250 Solar Contractors”Solar Power World. September 13, 2013. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  145. ^ Smith, Aaron (June 17, 2014). “Elon Musk’s sunny plans for Buffalo”CNNMoneyArchived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  146. ^ Kolodny, Lora (February 26, 2020). “Tesla, Panasonic will reportedly stop joint solar cell production at Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  147. ^ “The highs, lows and legacy of Panasonic’s doomed project in Buffalo”www.bizjournals.comArchived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  148. Jump up to:a b Kolodny, Lora (October 28, 2019). “Tesla’s Elon Musk knew SolarCity faced a ‘liquidity crisis’ at time of 2016 deal, legal documents show”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  149. ^ Strong, Michael (March 16, 2020). “Shareholder $2.2B Lawsuit Against Tesla CEO Musk Halted After Trial Postponed Due to Coronavirus”The Detroit Bureau. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  150. ^ Mitchell, Russ (September 23, 2019). “Elon Musk knew SolarCity was going broke before merger with Tesla, lawsuit alleges”Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  151. ^ Hals, Tom (January 30, 2020). “Tesla directors settle, isolating Musk as SolarCity trial looms”Reuters. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  152. ^ Chase, Randall (August 17, 2020). “Judge OKs $60M settlement over Tesla buyout of SolarCity”ABC. Archived from the original on August 25, 2020. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  153. ^ “Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI”The Verge. March 27, 2017. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  154. ^ Winkler, Rolfe (March 27, 2017). “Elon Musk Launches Neuralink to Connect Brains With Computers”The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  155. Jump up to:a b Regalado, Antonio (August 30, 2020). “Elon Musk’s Neuralink is neuroscience theater”MIT Technology ReviewArchived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  156. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (September 1, 2020). “Is Elon Musk over-hyping his brain-hacking Neuralink tech?”BBC News. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  157. ^ Rogers, Adam (September 4, 2020). “Neuralink Is Impressive Tech, Wrapped in Musk Hype”Wired. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  158. ^ “The Not So Dull Future Of The Boring Company”HotCars. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  159. ^ Heathman, Amelia. “Elon Musk’s boring machine has already built a ‘test trench’ in LA”Wired UKArchived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  160. ^ “Boring Co. underground loop to be put to the test”Las Vegas Review-Journal. May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  161. ^ McBride, Sarah (December 16, 2020). “Elon Musk’s Proposed Vegas Strip Transit System Advanced by City Council Vote”BloombergArchived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  162. ^ “Flamethrower – The Boring Company”boringcompany.com. boringcompany.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  163. ^ “Elon Musk’s Boring Company is now raising money by selling flamethrowers”CNN. January 28, 2018. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  164. ^ “Elon Musk Loves This ’80s Comedy So Much He Keeps Dropping Hidden Quotes”. December 4, 2017. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  165. ^ Kooser, Amanda (January 26, 2018). “Can you crack the password for Elon Musk’s flamethrower?”Cnet. Archived from the original on March 17, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  166. ^ Duhigg, Charles (December 13, 2018). “Dr. Elon & Mr. Musk: Life Inside Tesla’s Production Hell”WIREDArchived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  167. Jump up to:a b c Bilton, Nick (November 10, 2020). “Elon Musk’s Totally Awful, Batshit-Crazy, Completely Bonkers, Most Excellent Year”Vanity FairArchived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  168. ^ Mckay, Tom (November 11, 2020). “Report: Elon Musk Is Kind of a Dick”GizmodoArchived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  169. ^ Vance, Ashley (2015). Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Harper Collins USA. p. 147. ISBN 9780062301239Elon’s worst trait by far, in my opinion, is a complete lack of loyalty or human connection. Many of us worked tirelessly for him for years and were tossed to the curb like a piece of litter without a second thought. Maybe it was calculated to keep the rest of the workforce on their toes and scared; maybe he was just able to detach from human connection to a remarkable degree. What was clear is that people who worked for him were like ammunition: used for a specific purpose until exhausted and discarded.
  170. ^ Eadicicco, Lisa (May 16, 2015). “Why Tesla employees fear Elon Musk, as told by one of the company’s cofounders”Business InsiderArchived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  171. ^ Julia Carrie Wong (June 13, 2018). “Tesla workers say they pay the price for Elon Musk’s big promises”The GuardianArchived from the original on March 23, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021. The CEO is known for outsized claims and ambitious goals. But numerous factory workers say he doesn’t follow through – and that his leadership sets a troubling tone.
  172. ^ Isobel Asher Hamilton (December 13, 2018). “Tesla employees were reportedly told not to walk past Elon Musk’s desk because of his wild firing rampages”Business InsiderArchived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021. One Gigafactory manager told Wired that they had stopped employees from walking too close to Musk’s desk for fear that a word out of place might end up in their getting fired. The manager called the outbursts “Elon’s rage firings.”
  173. ^ Dugan, Ianthe Jeanne; Spector, Mike (August 24, 2017). “Tesla’s Push to Build a Self-Driving Car Sparked Dissent Among Its Engineers”The Wall Street JournalArchived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  174. ^ Mitchell, Charlie. “Sweary tirades and abrupt firings under Elon Musk, new book claims”The TimesISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  175. ^ “Hyperloop Update: Elon Musk Will Start Developing It Himself”Forbes.comArchived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  176. ^ “Beyond the hype of Hyperloop: An analysis of Elon Musk’s proposed transit system”Gizmag.com. August 22, 2013. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  177. ^ Kirschen, Philippe; Burnell, Edward (April 6, 2021). “Hyperloop System Optimization”. arXiv:2104.03907 [cs.CE].
  178. ^ Vance, Ashlee“Revealed: Elon Musk Explains the Hyperloop, the Solar-Powered High-Speed Future of Inter-City Transportation”Bloomberg BusinessWeekArchived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  179. ^ Ranger, Steve. “What is Hyperloop? Everything you need to know about the race for super-fast travel”ZDNetArchived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  180. ^ Mazza, Sandy (January 29, 2017). “Hyperloop competition brings new mass-transit technology to life in Hawthorne”. Daily Bulletin. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  181. ^ “Elon Musk Says He Has ‘Verbal’ OK To Build N.Y.-D.C. Hyperloop”NPR.org. Archived from the original on August 31, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  182. ^ “Elon Musk’s Boring Company removes D.C.-Baltimore tunnel from list of projects on website”The Washington PostISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  183. ^ Markoff, John (December 11, 2015). “Artificial-Intelligence Research Center Is Founded by Silicon Valley Investors”The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  184. ^ Levy, Steven (December 11, 2015). “How Elon Musk and Y Combinator Plan to Stop Computers From Taking Over”Backchannel on MediumArchived from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  185. ^ Novet, Jordan (February 2, 2018). “Elon Musk, who has sounded the alarm on AI, leaves the organization he co-founded to make it safer”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 30, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  186. ^ Jordan, Dearbail (July 6, 2018). “Elon Musk offers to help Thai cave rescue”BBC NewsArchived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  187. ^ “Richard Stanton email correspondence”TwitterArchived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  188. ^ Browne, Ryan (July 10, 2018). “Elon Musk takes submarine to Thai cave, but rescue chief reportedly calls it ‘not practical'”CNBC. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  189. Jump up to:a b “Tested for Thailand, SpaceX’s makeshift mini-sub could serve as space escape pod”GeekWire.com. July 8, 2018. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  190. ^ McKay, Tom. “Elon Musk Says He’s Building a Tiny ‘Submarine’ to Rescue Thai Soccer Team Trapped in Cave”GizmodoArchived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  191. ^ Ferris, Robert (July 10, 2018). “Elon Musk says his ‘mini-submarine’ can be used for other things”CNBCArchived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  192. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (July 10, 2018). “Thai official: Elon Musk’s submarine “not practical for this mission” [Updated]”Ars TechnicaArchived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  193. ^ “Thai king confers awards on two Australian divers for rescue of cave boys”Reuters. April 19, 2019. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  194. ^ ราชกิจจานุเบกษา (March 21, 2019). “ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์อันเป็นที่สรรเสริญยิ่งดิเรกคุณาภรณ์ให้แก่บุคคลที่ช่วยเหลือผู้ประสบภัยในถ้ำหลวง วนอุทยานถ้ำหลวง-ขุนน้ำนางนอน จังหวัดเชียงราย” (PDF) (in Thai). Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  195. Jump up to:a b Levin, Sam (July 15, 2018). “Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue a ‘pedo’ in baseless attack”The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  196. ^ “British caver ‘could sue’ Elon Musk”BBC News. July 16, 2018. Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  197. ^ Safi, Michael; Levin, Sam (July 16, 2018). “British cave diver considering legal action over Elon Musk’s ‘pedo’ attack”The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  198. ^ Browne, Ryan (July 18, 2020). “Elon Musk apologizes to British cave diver following baseless ‘pedo guy’ claim”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  199. ^ Chang, Charis (July 18, 2018). “Elon Musk apologises for calling Thai rescue diver a ‘pedo'”news.com.auArchived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  200. ^ Krisher, Tom (September 17, 2018). “Diver who helped with Thai cave rescue sues Elon Musk”Associated PressArchived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  201. ^ Castillo, Michelle (August 29, 2018). “Cave explorer Elon Musk called a ‘pedo guy’ is preparing a lawsuit”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  202. ^ Wattles, Jackie (August 29, 2018). “Lawyer: We’re ‘finalizing’ a libel lawsuit against Elon Musk over ‘pedo’ tweet”CNN Money. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  203. ^ Marshall, Aarian (October 8, 2019). “Elon Musk’s Mouth, and Tweets, Land Him in Trouble Again”Wired. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  204. ^ McNamara, Audrey (October 3, 2019). “Elon Musk Hired PI With a Criminal Record to Investigate Cave Rescuer He Called a ‘Pedo Guy’: Report”The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  205. ^ “Musk says calling diver ‘pedo’ was not an accusation of pedophilia”Deutsche Welle. September 17, 2019. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  206. ^ Levin, Sam (September 5, 2018). “Elon Musk calls Thailand diver ‘child rapist’ in latest baseless attack”The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  207. ^ Mac, Ryan; Di Stefano, Mark; Paczkowski, John (September 4, 2018). “In A New Email, Elon Musk Accused A Cave Rescuer Of Being A “Child Rapist” And Said He “Hopes” There’s A Lawsuit”Buzzfeed News. Archived from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  208. ^ “Elon Musk Spent a Weird 4 Hours Defending His ‘Pedo Guy’ Tweet in Federal Court”www.vice.comArchived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  209. ^ “Elon Musk sued for libel by British Thai cave rescuer”BBC News. September 17, 2018. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  210. ^ Rawlinson, Kevin (September 17, 2018). “British diver sues Elon Musk for $75,000 over ‘pedo’ claim”The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  211. ^ Mak, Aaron (December 4, 2019). “Elon Musk Says “Pedo Guy” Was a Common Insult in His Youth. We Checked With His Schoolmates”Slate. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  212. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (December 4, 2019). “Elon Musk: pedo guy insult was ‘not classy’ but not meant literally”The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020.
  213. ^ Kolodny, lora (May 10, 2019). “Elon Musk found not liable in ‘pedo guy’ defamation trial”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  214. ^ Groom, Nichola; Parsons, Rachel (December 6, 2019). “Tesla boss Elon Musk wins defamation trial over his ‘pedo guy’ tweet”Reuters. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  215. ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (September 7, 2018). “Analysis – YouTubers might be just the renewable resource that Elon Musk needs”The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  216. ^ “Tesla exodus: Another executive exits as Elon Musk struggles to build mainstream automaker”USA Today. Archived from the original on August 25, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  217. ^ Stewart, Emily (September 8, 2018). “Elon Musk’s week of pot smoking and wild emails, explained”Vox. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  218. ^ “Elon Musk’s Pot-Smoking Podcast Appearance Could Open an Air Force Investigation into SpaceX”Fortune. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  219. ^ “The Air Force is determining ‘the appropriate process’ for Elon Musk smoking pot”The Verge. Archived from the original on August 25, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  220. ^ Donaghey, River (December 7, 2018). “Elon Musk Has ‘No Idea’ How to Smoke Weed, Says Elon Musk”Vice. Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  221. ^ Gottsegen, Gordon (December 7, 2018). “Despite infamous hit, Elon Musk says he has ‘no idea how to smoke pot'”Cnet. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  222. ^ Arcand, Rob (March 31, 2019). “Elon Musk Drops Surprise Rap Single “RIP Harambe””SpinArchived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  223. ^ Fitzgerald, Trent (March 31, 2019). “Elon Musk Randomly Shares Rap Song Dedicated to Harambe”XXLArchived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  224. Jump up to:a b “Elon Musk just dropped an EDM track on SoundCloud”TechCrunchArchived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  225. ^ Petridis, Alexis (January 31, 2020). “Elon Musk’s new EDM single reviewed – ‘Bringing erectile dysfunction to the masses!'”The GuardianISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  226. ^ “Musk Foundation”ProPublica.
  227. ^ Harris, Mark (January 23, 2019). “How Elon Musk’s secretive foundation hands out his billions”The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  228. ^ “Musk Foundation”muskfoundation.orgArchived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  229. Jump up to:a b Cuccinello, Hayley C. (September 8, 2020). “Elon Musk Has Promised To Give At Least Half His Fortune To Charity. Here’s How Much He’s Donated So Far”ForbesArchived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  230. Jump up to:a b Schleifer, Theodore (January 11, 2021). “The big decision before Elon Musk, now the richest person in the world”VoxArchived from the original on February 17, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  231. ^ Coren, Michael J. “All the causes Elon Musk’s foundation has donated money to since 2002”QuartzArchived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  232. ^ “OpenAI shifts from nonprofit to ‘capped-profit’ to attract capital”Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  233. ^ “Pledge Signatories”The Giving Pledge. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  234. ^ Feloni, Richard (March 21, 2018). “Silicon Valley could help the last people you’d expect — and Elon Musk has given $15 million to a contest that will prove it”Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 19, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  235. ^ Popken, Ben (January 22, 2021). “Elon Musk to donate sliver of net worth for carbon capture”NBC NewsArchived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  236. ^ Clifford, Catherine (January 22, 2021). “Elon Musk is donating a $100 million prize for carbon capture technology — here’s what that means”CNBCArchived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  237. ^ Chappell, Bill (February 8, 2021). “Elon Musk Funds $100 Million XPrize For Pursuit Of New Carbon Removal Ideas”NPR. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  238. ^ “Elon Musk Makes Biggest Donation in History”www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  239. ^ Klebnikov, Sergei (August 8, 2017). “8 Innovative Ways Elon Musk Made Money Before He Was a Billionaire”MoneyArchived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  240. ^ Melby, Caleb (March 12, 2012). “How Elon Musk Became A Billionaire Twice Over”Forbes. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  241. ^ Frank, Robert (January 7, 2021). “Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Jeff Bezos”CNBCArchived from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  242. Jump up to:a b O’Kane, Sean (January 7, 2021). “Elon Musk passes Jeff Bezos to become the richest person on Earth”The Verge. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  243. ^ Pitcher, Jack (September 8, 2020). “Elon Musk Loses Record $16.3 Billion With Wild Wealth Swings”BloombergArchived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  244. Jump up to:a b Neate, Rupert (November 14, 2020). “Elon Musk overtakes Bill Gates to become world’s second-richest person”The GuardianArchived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  245. ^ “Elon Musk becomes world’s richest person as wealth tops $185bn”BBC News. January 7, 2021. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  246. ^ Palmer, Annie (February 16, 2021). “Jeff Bezos overtakes Elon Musk to reclaim spot as world’s richest person”CNBCArchived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  247. ^ Cai, Kenrick. “Elon Musk Eclipses $200 Billion To Become Richest Person In The World Again”Forbes. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  248. ^ Haverstock, Eliza (November 2, 2021). “Elon Musk Is The First Person Worth More Than $300 Billion”Forbes. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  249. Jump up to:a b Sorkin, Andrew Ross (January 23, 2018). “Tesla’s Elon Musk May Have Boldest Pay Plan in Corporate History”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  250. Jump up to:a b O’Kane, Sean (May 28, 2020). “Elon Musk reaches first Tesla compensation award worth nearly $800 million”The VergeArchived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  251. Jump up to:a b Pendeleton, Devon (January 6, 2021). “Elon Musk Surpasses Jeff Bezos to Become World’s Richest Person”BloombergArchived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  252. Jump up to:a b Higgins, Tim (May 8, 2020). “Elon Musk, Tech’s Cash-Poor Billionaire”The Wall Street JournalArchived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  253. ^ Popken, Ben (January 22, 2021). “Musk to donate sliver of net worth for carbon capture”NBC NewsArchived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  254. ^ Woodward, Alex (March 22, 2021). “Bernie Sanders responds to Elon Musk’s space travel plans with call for progressive taxes”The IndependentArchived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  255. ^ Mosher, Dave. “Elon Musk used to fly ‘a Russian fighter jet’ while founding SpaceX and Tesla and raising his kids”Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  256. ^ “Which jets do Jeff Bezos and other tech billionaires own?”South China Morning Post. March 15, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  257. Jump up to:a b Geuss, Megan (January 30, 2019). “Elon Musk’s private jet appears to make frivolous flights, per Washington Post”Ars TechnicaArchived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  258. ^ Harris, Mark (July 5, 2020). “Would You Pay $7,500 to Educate Your Kid Like Elon Musk’s?”The Daily BeastArchived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  259. ^ Rapier, Graham. “Elon Musk now has another lavish Gulfstream private jet in his arsenal”Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  260. ^ Harwell, Drew (January 29, 2019). “Elon Musk’s highflying 2018: What 150,000 miles in a private jet reveal about his ‘excruciating’ year”The Washington Post. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  261. ^ Mangan, Dan (June 8, 2021). “Bezos, Buffett, Bloomberg, Musk, Icahn and Soros pay tiny fraction of wealth in income taxes, report reveals”CNBC. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  262. ^ “Elon Musk, SpaceX Founder, Battles Entrenched Rivals Over NASA Contracts”The Huffington Post. February 20, 2013. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  263. ^ Roth, Madeline (September 29, 2020). “Elon Musk says he may vote for Trump, despite climate crisis”The IndependentArchived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
  264. ^ Bhuiyan, Johana (December 14, 2016). “Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick are joining Donald Trump’s strategic and policy forum”VoxArchived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  265. ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (December 15, 2016). “Donald Trump has asked for Elon Musk’s help”Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  266. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (June 1, 2017). “Elon Musk has cut ties with Trump over his Paris decision”Vox. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  267. ^ Maria Jose Valero (August 10, 2019). “Elon Musk Says He Supports 2020 White House Hopeful Andrew Yang”Bloomberg. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  268. ^ Kirkpatrick, Emily. “Elon Musk Supports Kanye West’s Run for President…Again”Vanity FairArchived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  269. ^ Grush, Loren (May 11, 2020). “Elon Musk thinks the best government for Mars is a direct democracy”The Verge. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  270. ^ Breuninger, Lora Kolodny,Kevin (September 2, 2021). “Elon Musk declines to address Texas abortion law directly after Gov. Greg Abbott’s comments”CNBC. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  271. ^ Levin, Bess (October 27, 2021). “Elon Musk Throws a S–t Fit Over the Possibility of Being Taxed His Fair Share”Vanity Fair Blogs-US. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  272. ^ “Elon Musk Tweets Vulgar Crack at Sen. Ron Wyden”The Daily Beast. November 8, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  273. ^ Langford, Jackson (July 25, 2020). “Grimes tells Elon Musk that she ‘cannot support hate’ after he tweets ‘pronouns suck'”NMEArchived from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  274. ^ Kirkpatrick, Emily (July 27, 2020). “Grimes Told Elon Musk to Turn Off His Phone After Tweeting That “Pronouns Suck””Vanity FairArchived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  275. ^ O’Connor, Roisin (July 25, 2020). “Grimes tells Elon Musk ‘turn off your phone’ after Tesla CEO’s gender pronouns tweet”The IndependentArchived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  276. ^ “Elon Musk’s Transphobia on Twitter Is Not a Joke”Observer. July 28, 2020. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  277. ^ Kolodny, Lora (December 17, 2020). “Elon Musk should apologize for mocking gender pronouns, says group that gave Tesla top LGBTQ-friendly rating”CNBCArchived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  278. ^ Harevy, Josephine (December 16, 2020). “Elon Musk Skewered For Tweet Complaining About Pronouns In Bios”The Huffington PostArchived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  279. ^ Kolodny, Lora (October 8, 2021). “Elon Musk endorses a carbon tax, downplays concerns about methane”CNBC. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  280. ^ Clifford, Catherine (February 12, 2021). “Elon Musk: ‘My top recommendation’ for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a carbon tax”CNBC. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  281. ^ Werber, Cassie. “Elon Musk says tax-free carbon is “the dumbest experiment in history””Quartz. Archived from the original on August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  282. ^ “Taxpayer Subsidies Helped Tesla Motors, So Why Does Elon Musk Slam Them?”Mother Jones. Archived from the original on June 16, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  283. ^ Lalljee, Jason (December 15, 2021). “Elon Musk is speaking out against government subsidies. Here’s a list of the billions of dollars his businesses have received”Business Insider. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  284. ^ Plumer, Brad (July 8, 2017). “When Will Electric Cars Go Mainstream? It May Be Sooner Than You Think”The New York TimesISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  285. ^ Kharpal, Arjun (May 18, 2021). “What ‘regulatory credits’ are — and why they’re so important to Tesla”CNBC. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  286. ^ “In struggle to meet EU rule, automakers turn to Tesla for credits”Nikkei Asia. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  287. ^ “Fiat Chrysler to pay Tesla for CO2 emissions credits”www.euractiv.com. April 8, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  288. ^ “Volkswagen to buy CO2 credits from Tesla in China”electrive.com. April 5, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  289. ^ Stewart, Jack (October 6, 2018). “What Are Shorts and Why Does Elon Hate Them?”WiredArchived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  290. ^ Graziosi, Graig (January 29, 2021). “Elon Musk lashes out at short sellers during GameStop market war”The IndependentArchived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  291. ^ “What Are Shorts and Why Does Elon Musk Hate Them?”WiredISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  292. ^ Levine, Matt (February 4, 2021). “Who’s Winning the GameStop Game?”BloombergArchived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  293. ^ Gelles, David (January 29, 2021). “Elon Musk Becomes Unlikely Anti-Establishment Hero in GameStop Saga”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  294. ^ “Musk says he supports crypto in battle with fiat money”Reuters. May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  295. ^ Ante, Lennart (February 3, 2021). “How Elon Musk’s Twitter Activity Moves Cryptocurrency Markets”. SSRN 3778844.
  296. ^ “SEC Should Monitor Tesla’s Elon Musk for Market Manipulation: Roubini”finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  297. ^ Pengelly, Martin (November 14, 2021). “Elon Musk targets Bernie Sanders over tax: ‘I keep forgetting you’re still alive'”The Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  298. ^ Maruf, Ramishah. “‘I keep forgetting you’re still alive:’ Elon Musk trolls Bernie Sanders on Twitter”CNN. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  299. ^ Lenthang, Marlene (November 15, 2021). “Elon Musk targets Sen. Bernie Sanders over tax tweet: ‘I keep forgetting that you’re still alive'”NBC News. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  300. ^ “Elon Musk doubled down on his theory that the world population is headed for collapse”Business Insider. June 21, 2019.
  301. ^ “Population decline and smaller families good news for climate, says former head of FSA”The Independent. October 18, 2021.
  302. ^ “Elon Musk claims population collapse ‘potentially the greatest risk to the future of civilization'”CambridgeshireLive. July 29, 2021.
  303. ^ “Elon Musk says there aren’t ‘enough people,’ birthrate could threaten human civilization”USA Today. December 7, 2021.
  304. ^ Jin, Hyunjoo (December 22, 2021). “Tesla’s Musk says he sold ‘enough stock’; slams California for ‘overtaxation'”Reuters. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  305. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKhNBSNoGbQ ‘Elon Musk says woke culture wants to outlaw comedy’. December 24, 2021|access-date=January 1, 2022|
  306. ^ Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (March 19, 2020). “Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April” (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  307. ^ Kolodny, Lora (March 17, 2020). “Tesla factory is still open for business as Musk tells employees ‘I will personally be at work'”CNBCArchived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  308. ^ Koren, Marina (May 10, 2020). “The Cult of Elon Is Cracking”The AtlanticArchived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  309. ^ “Elon Musk claims he tested positive and negative for coronavirus on the same day after four tests”Evening Standard. November 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  310. ^ Brandom, Russell (April 29, 2020). “Elon Musk is dangerously wrong about the novel coronavirus”The VergeArchived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  311. ^ McFall-Johnsen, Morgan (November 25, 2020). “Elon Musk promoted coronavirus misinformation for months. Then his own infection kept him out of SpaceX’s astronaut launch”Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  312. ^ Walsh, Joe. “Elon Musk’s False Covid Predictions: A Timeline”Forbes. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  313. ^ Ritschel, Chelsea (July 2, 2020). “Elon Musk ‘mansplains’ coronavirus to infectious disease expert”The Independent. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  314. ^ “Coronavirus: Elon Musk ‘child immunity’ tweet will stay online”BBC News. March 20, 2020. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  315. ^ Fried, Ina (March 20, 2020). “Twitter lets Musk’s coronavirus misinformation stand”AxiosArchived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  316. Jump up to:a b O’Kane, Sean (March 20, 2020). “Twitter won’t remove irresponsible Elon Musk tweet about coronavirus”The Verge. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  317. ^ Cooper, Gael Fashingbauer (March 6, 2020). “Elon Musk draws ire after calling panic over coronavirus epidemic ‘dumb'”Cnet. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  318. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (March 6, 2020). “Elon Musk says ‘the coronavirus panic is dumb’ as tech peers shift to remote work”CNBC. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  319. ^ Boudette, Neal E.; Flitter, Emily (May 9, 2020). “Elon Musk Lashes Out at Officials Keeping Tesla Plant Closed Over Virus”The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  320. ^ “Tesla Plan to Keep Factory Open Thrown Up in Air by Sheriff”Bloomberg News. March 18, 2020. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  321. ^ U.S. Department of Homeland Security (December 4, 2018). “Critical Manufacturing Sector”Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  322. ^ Tiku, Nitasha; Siddiqui, Faiz (April 30, 2020). “Elon Musk mobilizes tech elites behind reopening society”The Washington PostArchived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  323. ^ Darby, Luke (May 12, 2020). “After Predicting “Close to Zero New Cases” by the End of April, Elon Musk Defies Public Health Orders and Reopens Tesla Factory”GQArchived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  324. ^ Koren, Marina (May 20, 2020). “The Cult of Elon Is Cracking”The AtlanticArchived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  325. ^ Stanton, Zack (December 29, 2020). “The Worst Predictions of 2020”PoliticoArchived from the original on December 29, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  326. ^ Andrews, Travis M. (November 17, 2020). “A scientist’s viral tweet called Elon Musk ‘Space Karen’ — as a way to defend science”The Washington PostArchived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021. On Sunday, that misinformation came from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who tweeted about rapid antigen tests to his more than 40 million followers. “Something extremely bogus is going on,” Musk wrote.
  327. ^ Pesce, Nicole Lyn (November 21, 2020). “Why Elon Musk is being called ‘Space Karen’ on Twitter”Market WatchArchived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  328. ^ Cuthbertson, Anthony (November 16, 2020). “Elon Musk Forced to Watch Historic SpaceX Launch from Home and Mocked as ‘Space Karen’ After Catching COVID”The IndependentArchived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  329. ^ “We will give away all our ventilators, whether we buy them or build them”TwitterArchived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  330. ^ Johnson, Martin (April 17, 2020). “California hospitals say Elon Musk sent them BiPAP, CPAP machines, not ventilators”The HillArchived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  331. ^ Carville, Olivia; Hull, Dana (April 17, 2020). “Elon Musk’s ‘Ventilators’ Arrived at Hospitals — With Some Assembly Required”BloombergArchived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  332. ^ Walter, J. M.; Corbridge, T. C.; Singer, B. D. (2018). “Invasive Mechanical Ventilation”Southern Medical Journal111 (12): 746–753. doi:10.14423/SMJ.0000000000000905PMC 6284234PMID 30512128.
  333. ^ “Researchers Modify Sleep Apnea Machines to Ease Ventilator Shortage”AJMC. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  334. ^ Krouse, Sarah (February 20, 2021). “Elon Musk Got 4,000 SpaceX Workers to Join a Covid-19 Study. Here’s What He Learned”The Wall Street JournalArchived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  335. ^ Bartsch, Yannic C.; Fischinger, Stephanie; Siddiqui, Sameed M.; Chen, Zhilin; Yu, Jingyou; Gebre, Makda; Atyeo, Caroline; Gorman, Matthew J.; Zhu, Alex Lee; Kang, Jaewon; Burke, John S.; Slein, Matthew; Gluck, Matthew J.; Beger, Samuel; Hu, Yiyuan; Rhee, Justin; Petersen, Eric; Mormann, Benjamin; de St Aubin, Michael; Hasdianda, Mohammad A.; Jambaulikar, Guruprasad; Boyer, Edward W.; Sabeti, Pardis C.Barouch, Dan H.; Julg, Boris D.; Musk, Elon R.; Menon, Anil S.; Lauffenburger, Douglas A.; Nilles, Eric J.; Alter, Galit (February 15, 2021). “Discrete SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers track with functional humoral stability”Nature Communications12 (1): 1018. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.1018Bdoi:10.1038/s41467-021-21336-8PMC 7884400PMID 33589636.
  336. ^ Gibbs, Samuel (October 27, 2014). “Elon Musk: artificial intelligence is our biggest existential threat”The GuardianArchived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  337. ^ “Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking think we should ban killer robots”The Washington Post. July 28, 2015. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  338. ^ Shead, Sam (May 13, 2020). “Elon Musk has a complex relationship with the A.I. community”CNBCArchived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  339. ^ Shead, Sam (May 13, 2020). “Elon Musk has a complex relationship with the A.I. community”CNBCArchived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  340. ^ Clifford, Catherine (July 24, 2017). “Mark Zuckerberg: Elon Musk’s doomsday AI predictions are irresponsible”CNBCArchived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  341. ^ Solon, Olivia (July 25, 2017). “Killer robots? Musk and Zuckerberg escalate row over dangers of AI”The GuardianArchived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  342. ^ Metz, Cade (June 9, 2018). “Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and the Feud Over Killer Robots”The New York TimesArchived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  343. ^ “We are living in a computer simulation, Elon Musk says”The Independent. June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  344. ^ Tobak, Steve (October 21, 2016). “The Chances That Life Is Really a Computer Simulation”FOX BusinessArchived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  345. ^ GmbH, finanzen net. “Elon Musk says the metaverse seems more like a marketing buzzword right now than a reality”markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  346. ^ Vincent, James (December 22, 2021). “Elon Musk: metaverse isn’t ‘compelling’ and Web3 ‘more marketing than reality'”The Verge. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  347. ^ Hunt, Elle (December 21, 2017). “‘I met my wife on a train platform’: Twitter responds to Elon Musk with positive public transport stories”The GuardianISSN 0261-3077Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  348. ^ Marshall, Aarian (December 14, 2017). “Elon Musk Really Doesn’t Like Mass Transit Systems He’s Trying to Build”Wired. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  349. ^ Brown, Mike (December 15, 2017). “Elon Musk Sparks Heated Twitter Debate Over Boring Company’s Vision”Inverse. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
  350. Jump up to:a b Vuchic, Vukan R. (April 26, 2012). “Ensuring Sustainability Through Mass Transit”Urban Public Transportation System. pp. 483–489. doi:10.1061/40717(148)42ISBN 9780784407172.
  351. ^ Marshall, Aarian. “Elon Musk Really Doesn’t Like Mass Transit Systems He’s Trying to Build”WiredISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  352. ^ Sampson, Rich. “What Elon Musk doesn’t understand about public transit hurts everyone”Quartz. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  353. ^ LeVine, Steve (December 28, 2017). “Elon Musk’s mean Twitter persona”AxiosArchived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  354. ^ Hunt, Elle (December 21, 2017). “‘I met my wife on a train platform’: Twitter responds to Elon Musk with positive public transport stories”The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  355. Jump up to:a b Durand Streisand, Elizabeth. “A Look at Elon Musk’s Rocky Romantic History”Yahoo. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
  356. ^ Locke, Taylor (November 2, 2019). “Why Elon Musk says taking ‘vacations will kill you'”CNBC. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  357. ^ Vance (2015), p. 117.
  358. Jump up to:a b Crowley, James (September 14, 2021). “Elon Musk’s Kids: Meet His 6 Kids From Oldest To Youngest, & Their Moms”Holywood Life. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  359. ^ Musk, Justine (September 10, 2010). “”I Was a Starter Wife”: Inside America’s Messiest Divorce”Marie Claire. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  360. ^ Musk, Elon (July 8, 2010). “Elon Musk: Correcting The Record About My Divorce”Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  361. ^ Elliott, Hannah (March 3, 2012). “At Home With Elon Musk: The (Soon-to-Be) Bachelor Billionaire”ForbesArchived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  362. ^ Lai, Jennifer (January 19, 2012). “Elon Musk Divorce: Announces Split From Talulah Riley On Twitter”The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  363. ^ “Elon Musk Divorce: Announces Split From Talulah Riley On Twitter” Archived November 18, 2017, at the Wayback MachineThe Huffington Post, January 19, 2012.
  364. ^ “Elon Musk and Talulah Riley divorce for a second time”The Daily Telegraph. October 22, 2016. ISSN 0307-1235Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  365. ^ Kimble, Lindsay (November 18, 2016). “Elon Musk and Talulah Riley Are Divorced for a Second Time”PeopleArchived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  366. ^ Jensen, Erin (April 24, 2017). “Amber Heard, Elon Musk make ‘Cheeky’ public debut together”USA TodayArchived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  367. Jump up to:a b Sigel, Tatiana (December 6, 2018). “Amber Heard on Her Secret Passion, Elon Musk and a Splashy New Role”The Hollywood ReporterArchived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  368. ^ Holden, Michael (July 21, 2020). “Actress Heard denies Depp claim of affair with Elon Musk”ReutersArchived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  369. ^ Bradley, Laura (July 18, 2020). “Amber Heard Accused of Having Late-Night Meetups With Elon Musk in Johnny Depp Trial”The Daily BeastArchived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  370. ^ Brown, David (February 12, 2021). “Johnny Depp drags Elon Musk into Amber Heard libel saga”The TimesISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  371. ^ Holden, Michael (July 21, 2020). “Actress Heard denies Depp claim of affair with Elon Musk”Reuters. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  372. ^ “Grimes is dating Elon Musk”Consequence of Sound. May 7, 2018. Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  373. ^ Darville, Jordan (March 20, 2019). “Grimes talks new music, Elon Musk, plans to publicly execute her musical persona”The FaderArchived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  374. ^ Antonelli, William (December 14, 2019). “Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at one of the biggest gaming events of the year to support his girlfriend, Grimes”Business Insider (in German). Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  375. ^ Kiefer, Halle (May 4, 2020). “Grimes and Elon Musk’s Baby Has Arrived, Just As Legend Foretold”VultureArchived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  376. ^ Trepany, Charles (May 5, 2020). “Elon Musk shares first photo of his and Grimes’ new baby boy: ‘Mom and baby all good'”USA TodayArchived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  377. ^ Schwedel, Heather (May 5, 2020). “What Does Elon Musk and Grimes’ Baby Name Actually Mean?”Slate MagazineArchived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  378. ^ Lerman, Rachel (May 8, 2020). “Elon Musk’s baby name isn’t just weird, it may be against California regulations”The Washington PostArchived from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  379. ^ Guy, Jack (May 25, 2020). “Elon Musk and Grimes have changed their baby’s name. A bit”CNNArchived from the original on May 25, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  380. ^ Cooper, Gael Fashingbauer (June 16, 2020). “Elon Musk and Grimes saved a surprise for son X Æ A-12’s birth certificate”CNETArchived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  381. ^ Ivie, Devon (September 24, 2021). “Elon Musk and Grimes Took the Red Pill and Broke Up”VultureArchived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  382. ^ “Elon Musk says he and partner Grimes are semi-separated”BBC News. September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  383. ^ Hartmans, Avery. “Elon Musk says he’s single and basically living in a ‘technology monastery’ following his split with Grimes”Business Insider. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  384. Jump up to:a b “Musk Relocates to Texas, Criticizes ‘Complacent’ California”BloombergNews. December 8, 2020. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  385. ^ Somerville, Heather (December 8, 2020). “Elon Musk Moves to Texas, Takes Jab at Silicon Valley”The Wall Street JournalArchived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  386. ^ Yahr, Emily (May 8, 2021). “Elon Musk reveals he has Asperger’s syndrome during SNL monologue”The Washington PostISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  387. ^ Tate, Ryan (September 20, 2012). “10 Awkward Hollywood Cameos by Tech Founders”WiredArchived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  388. ^ Bova, Dan (December 21, 2016). “‘Why Him?’ Director on Elon Musk’s Amazing ‘I Can’t Come to Work Today’ Excuse”Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on August 26, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  389. ^ Alexander, Bryan (June 17, 2019). “Which celebrities are revealed as space aliens in ‘Men in Black: International’? (spoilers)”USA TodayArchived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  390. ^ “Elon Musk SpaceX Tesla on the Simpsons”Business Insider. January 27, 2015. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  391. ^ “Tesla CEO Elon Musk To Appear on Upcoming Episode of the Big Bang Theory”CBSArchived from the original on February 23, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  392. ^ The Mercury News (November 25, 2016). “Elon Musk uses ‘South Park’ to fire back at trolls”The Denver PostArchived from the original on July 2, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  393. ^ Kurp, Josh (November 18, 2016). “Elon Musk Joins The Short List Of ‘South Park’ Guest Stars To Voice Themselves”Yahoo NewsArchived from the original on November 19, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  394. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (November 25, 2019). “Elon Musk’s Rick and Morty Cameo Finally Explains His ‘Elon Tusk’ Twitter Joke”IGN.com. IGN. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  395. ^ Cooper, Gael Fashingbauer (November 25, 2019). “Elon Musk shows up on Rick and Morty as Elon Tusk, head of Tuskla”Cnet. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  396. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (May 9, 2021). “Elon Musk Hosts a Mother’s Day Episode of ‘Saturday Night Live'”The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  397. ^ Field, Kyle (December 2, 2015). “Tesla Stars In “Racing Extinction” Documentary”. CleanTechnica. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  398. ^ Ladan, Tanja M. (August 24, 2016). “Werner Herzog Hacks the Horrors of Connectivity in ‘Lo and Behold'”Vice. Archived from the original on February 4, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  399. ^ “Forget world’s richest man, Elon Musk is a hot Chinese trademark icon”South China Morning Post. October 28, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  400. ^ “Elon Musk elected as Fellow of the Royal Society”Sky News. May 9, 2018. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  401. ^ “SEAS Celebrates Class of 2015, Honors Innovators Elon Musk and Dean Kamen”. Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science. May 18, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  402. ^ “IEEE Honorary Membership Recipients” (PDF). IEEE. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  403. ^ “George M. Low Space Transportation Award”www. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  404. ^ “Barron Hilton and Elon Musk honoured with the highest FAI awards”. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. December 16, 2010. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  405. ^ “2012 RAeS Gold Medal”. Archived from the original on November 28, 2012.
  406. ^ Favreau, Jon (April 29, 2010). “Elon Musk”TimeArchived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  407. ^ Branson, Richard (April 18, 2013). “Elon Musk”TimeArchived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  408. ^ Milner, Yuri. “Elon Musk”TimeArchived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  409. ^ “Elon Musk: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021”Time. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  410. ^ Flynn, Kerry (December 13, 2021). “Time Person of the Year: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, named most influential of 2021”CNN. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  411. ^ Felsenthal, Edward (December 13, 2021). “Time 2021 The choice Elon Musk”Time. Retrieved December 13, 2021.

Works cited[edit source]

  • Belfiore, Michael (2007). Rocketeers. New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-114902-3.
  • Jackson, Erik (2004). The PayPal Wars: Battles with EBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth. Los Angeles: World Ahead Publishing. ISBN 9780974670102.
  • Kidder, David; Hoffman, Reid (2013). The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest Growing Start-Ups from the founding Entrepreneurs. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1-4521-0504-8.
  • Vance, Ashlee (2015). Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future. HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978-0-7535-5563-7.

Elon Muskat Wikipedia’s sister projects

showvteElon Musk
showvteSpaceX
showvteTesla, Inc.
showArticles related to Elon Musk
showAuthority control 

Latest Posts