Welcome to The Rich Rabbit.
In a few minutes,
you will be watching a short documentary
video about the life of Elon Musk,
The World's Most
Innovative Billionaire.
Elon is a multi-talented
and focused man,
a frontline for many
groundbreaking inventions
and technologies
that shook the world.
He is an inventor,
astute businessman,
and investor in various industries.
He is a stakeholder in
multiple business ventures,
a man of high reputation,
and standing in the science
and space technology industry.
In one of his statements,
he said he would only be happy
when humans on Earth have
colonized and escaped Mars.
This is quite thrilling indeed!
If you've seen the
movie "Iron Man,"
you'll see that Elon Musk is
like Tony Stark in real-life.
He has produced space
rockets, electric cars,
solar batteries, and robots,
earning him billions.
He also displayed
his political prowess
and niche as an industry leader
when he assumed the
role of an adviser
in President Donald
Trump's administration.
In this video,
we will discuss Elon's entire managerial
and entrepreneurial career in detail.
And this is an exciting piece as you learn
from one of the most charismatic leaders
in the science and
technology industry.
If you enjoy this
short documentary film,
please give us a thumbs up
and subscribe to our channel.
Born in Pretoria, South
Africa, on June 28, 1971,
Elon Musk is the oldest
of three children,
with his brother Kimbal
and sister Tosca.
Elon's father, Errol,
was a wealthy South African engineer,
and the mother, Maye,
was a Canadian nutritionist,
model and the oldest star
for a CoverGirl campaign.
As a child, Elon was one of the
kids we can classify as unique.
He was always so consumed in
his inventions and daydreams
that his parents and doctors had a test
done to check his hearing abilities.
In his father's opinion,
Elon was a thinker who
often kept to himself.
In a gathering with lots of
people enjoying a great party,
you'll notice Elon in
the host's library,
reading their books
and going through their magazines.
When Elon Musk was 10,
his parents got divorced.
Elon lived with his father following
his parents' divorce in 1979.
He soon developed an interest in
computers and electronic devices,
teaching himself programming
and related things.
By the time he was 12,
he created a game called Blaster,
his first software,
which he later sold for $500.
Not bad for a 12 year old.
Elon was introverted and short.
His early years were lonely and traumatizing
as he was bullied by his peers.
He later learned to defend himself
using wrestling and karate.
Elon attended the Waterkloof
House Preparatory School
and later graduated from Pretoria Boys
High School in Pretoria, South Africa.
He moved to Canada in 1989 to attend
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario,
and skipped compulsory service
in the South African military.
There, Elon attained Canadian
citizenship in the same year,
because he saw it as an avenue to get
American citizenship through his mother.
Elon later left Canada after two years
to the University of Pennsylvania,
where he studied two majors,
Physics and business.
He graduated with a
degree in economics
and went on to acquire another
bachelor's degree in physics.
When Elon left Pennsylvania, he moved
to Stanford University, California,
pursuing a Ph.D.
in energy physics.
This transition was timely, as this
was the period of the internet boom.
He dropped out of Stanford
to join the internet boom,
thereby launching his first
web software company in 1995,
called Zip2 Corporation.
He established Zip2 with the
help of his brother Kimbal,
which he later sold.
Elon then gained American
citizenship in 2002;
he used the money he got from
selling Zip2 to develop X.com.
This was later merged with
another company, Cofinity,
which then gave birth
to the present PayPal.
Now, let's take a look at how many
businesses Elon formed.
As we've discussed already,
Zip2 Corporation was
his first company,
which Elon started with his
brother, Kimbal Musk in 1995.
It was designed as an online city guide
that provided content for newspapers
such as the Chicago Tribune
and the New York Times.
In 1999, Zip2 was bought by a division
of Compaq Computer Corporation
for $307 million cash value
and $34 million in stocks.
Elon and Kimbal used the money
received from the sale of their company
to develop X.com in 1999.
It was an online payment/financial
services company.
The acquisition of X.com
in the following year
resulted in the formation
of PayPal we all know today.
In 2002,
Elon became a billionaire
when eBay acquired PayPal
for the sum of $1.5
billion in stock.
Before the sale,
Elon owned 11 percent
of shares in PayPal.
In 2002, Elon founded The SpaceX
or Space Exploration
Technologies Corporation.
The SpaceX was developed to build a
spacecraft for commercial space travel.
The company became
well-established by 2008
and was awarded a contract by NASA
to be in charge of cargo transport
for an International
Space station.
This was to handle astronaut
transport later in the future
and replace NASA's
space shuttles.
Since then, SpaceX has been
on many space-related projects
and has slowly become
a household name.
It contracts with private businesses
and the United States government
to get satellites to orbit
and other spacecraft.
On May 22, 2012, history was made when
SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket
unmanned into space.
The missile was sent to the
International Space Station,
carrying 1,000 pounds of supplies
for the astronauts situated there.
This marked the first time
spacecraft were launched
into the International Space
Station by a private company.
Elon was so ecstatic during the launch that
he compared it to winning the Super Bowl.
In December 2013 another Falcon
nine rocket carried a satellite
successfully to
geosynchronous transfer orbit;
this represents the point
where the spacecraft would lock
into an orbital path matching
the Earth's rotation.
In February 2015,
another Falcon 9 was launched.
It was fixed with the Deep Space
Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite,
with specialized programming to
observe the sun's extreme emissions
as it impacts the power grids
and Earth communications systems.
In March 2017,
SpaceX successfully tested flight
Falcon 9 rocket landing made
from reusable parts,
a development that paved the way
for more affordable space travel.
February 2018 recorded
another milestone moment
with the successful test launch
of the Falcon Heavy rocket.
The Falcon Heavy rocket designed
with additional Falcon 9 boosters
can carry mammoth
payloads into orbit
and come handy for
deep space missions.
In July 2018 Space X
SpaceX successfully landed
the new Block 5 Falcon rocket,
which settled on a drone ship less
than 9 minutes after take-off.
Space X hit another milestone as it
launched its ninth Starlink mission,
carrying three SkySats from the
planet and 58 Starlink satellites.
This Starlink satellite
network enables accessibility
of broadband services
to rural areas,
boosting competition in
densely populated areas.
Tesla started in July 2003.
In February next year,
Elon Musk joined the company as
the Chairman board of directors
after conducting a Series A
investment round, which he led.
Elon became more active in its activities
and was a significant contributor
to the Tesla Roadster design.
In 2008,
he rose to the position of CEO and product
architect, which he holds to this day.
At this point, Elon Musk became
the CEO of two companies,
Tesla and SpaceX,
and has made tremendous
achievements since then.
Under his leadership,
Tesla has evolved to being
a world-class invention,
and not just your
regular car company.
The stylish Tesla cars are
mostly electric vehicles,
and they own the world's
largest battery plant.
They have built other power storage
devices like the utility grade power system
and the home Tesla PowerWall.
Tesla owns SolarCity and produces
solar roof tiles and solar panels.
Tesla announced a controversial $2.6
billion payment for Elon Musk in 2018.
Elon's continued
effort in promoting
and advancing products
and sustainable energy
for a broader consumer population
earned a solid $2.6 billion deal
in 2018
in combination with solar energy
companies and his electric cars.
His motor company,
Tesla Motors Inc.,
announced an all-stock
purchase of SolarCity Corp.
This was a company Elon
co-founded with his cousins,
and he is a significant
shareholder in the company.
A combination of the two companies,
solar and storage is outstanding.
As a single entity,
both Tesla (storage)
and SolarCity (solar) can fully
integrate a commercial, residential,
and grid-scale product to enhance
energy generation, storage,
and consumption.
The Boring Company, like other
business ventures owned by Elon,
is more than just
a business concept.
This business idea came to Elon
while he was stuck in traffic
in Los Angeles in December 2016.
His plan was about underground
tunnels that help to ease off traffic
in the infamous
LA highway system.
In January 2017,
he made a move to get tunnel boring
machines, used to excavate tunnels.
Apart from cars and pedestrians,
Elon intends to use the tunnels from the
Boring Company to lift hyperloop vehicles,
another futuristic
business idea of Elon Musk.
Hyperloop refers to a concept
of high-speed transit systems
whereby cars run in
pressurized tubes.
The hyperloop and tunnels
are both under construction
in various areas of
the United States,
either physically
or conceptually.
In August 2013,
Elon Musk brought
about a concept
that can be used in the
form of new transportation,
called "Hyperloop,"
which is a type of innovation
that will bring about commuting
major cities while trying
as much as possible to
cut the traveling time.
This is entirely
resistant to weather,
and it is powered
by renewable energy,
the Hyperloop will push the riders
in pods via a network of tubes
that are low-pressure at a
speed of more than 700mph.
Elon also noted that the Hyperloop
could take 7-10 years to be built
and even ready for use.
He announced that the use of Hyperloop
would be safer than train or planes
and this will cost an
estimate of $6 billion
which is about the
cost of the rail system
that has been designed by
the state of California,
this concept brought about by
Elon has drawn lots of skepticism.
Even though, he only sought to
encourage the growth of the idea.
The maiden hyperloop
pod competition
was done in the SpaceX
facility in January 2017.
In November 2017,
after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel
talked about proposals to operate
and build high-speed rails
that will transport people
from O'Hare Airport to downtown
Chicago in less than 20 minutes,
Elon also tweeted that he was in an
all-competition with The Boring Company.
Elon mentioned that the
idea of the Chicago loop
would be very different
from his Hyperloop;
the relatively short distance will not
require the need for drawing the vacuum
to reduce air friction.
Elon Musk also pursued an interest
in artificial intelligence;
he became the Co-chair of
the non-profit Open AI.
The company was
launched in late 2015
with the mission of making
digital intelligence
advanced to benefit everyone.
In 2017, it was discovered
that Elon was backing a venture
known as Neuralink,
which is designed to create devices that
can be planted into the human brains,
which will help people
combine with software.
Elon recently announced his decision
to step down from the board of OpenAI
in February 2018
to evade any impending conflicts
of interest with Tesla,
which has made signs of progress in
the artificial intelligence field
for its self-driving
car technology.
He also warned AI of
Tesla's massive investment
in self-driving car technology.
In September 2017,
Elon released an updated design
for his BFR (Big Falcon Rocket),
a 31-engine behemoth
capped by a spaceship with the
capacity to carry 100 people or more.
He revealed his company's plan to
unveil the first cargo missions to Mars
with the plan to send
a vehicle in 2022,
as part of his all-encompassing
goal of inhibiting the Red Planet.
In April 2018,
SpaceX announced that it
would build a facility
at the Los Angeles Port to
assemble and house the BFR.
The port facility offered
an ideal location for SpaceX
so that its gargantuan rocket
will only be movable by surge
or ship when completed.
Elon Musk made another
impression on the market
following the unveiling of
the Tesla Semi and Roadster.
The output of the semi-truck
was supposed to begin in 2019,
but this was delayed.
It boasts a 500 miles
range and batteries
and motors designed to
last up to 1 million miles.
The Tesla Semi is an electrical,
battery-powered semi-truck class 8
being developed by Tesla Inc.
The company unveiled
two vehicles in 2021,
with production scheduled
for the same year.
The semi-truck is expected to be
on 500 miles range on full-charge
with its new batteries that
can run as long as 400 miles
after being charged in 30
minutes with solar power,
the Tesla Mega Charger station.
This will also have Tesla autopilot
for semi-autonomous highway driving.
The semi-truck is stipulated
to cost 20 ¢/mi (12 ¢/km) less
than using a diesel truck when
charged at a Mega Charger.
If the semi is not loaded,
it eliminates the
costs of operating it.
There are beliefs that with Tesla
breaking the $100 billion market level,
Elon Musk may just be the
world's first trillionaire.
At the time this
video is produced,
his net worth is estimated
at $38.8 billion,
and he has ranked 31st on the Forbes
list of the world's richest billionaires.
Also, he is recognized globally
as the longest-serving CEO
of an automotive manufacturer.
Elon Musk has contributed
immensely to science,
technology,
and artificial intelligence.
And, he is often seen
as a divisive figure,
probably due to his knack of
speaking his mind frankly.
Elon Musk is quite different,
unlike most CEOs who
meticulously choose their words
to avoid making
controversial statements.
Frequently he is not cautious
and often speaks his mind,
never minding the consequences
he deals with later.
Elon has successfully
courted devotion
and controversy from
his public statements.
The way Elon conducts
himself in the future
will determine the effectiveness
of his leadership role
in steering his company to
rise above his competitors.
Elon's bluntness has won him many
fans and endeared him to customers
who find him more approachable
than other famous executives.
But on the other hand,
some analysts and investors
are also frustrated with this
as they perceive him to be
temperamental and reckless.
Here are 11 inspirational
quotes from Elon Musk:
To some,
Elon Musk is seen as an
entrepreneur and inventor
that have contributed a lot to
our society in several ways.
Elon Musk has been a source of
inspiration to many aspiring scientists
and innovators,
as they have a lot
to learn from him.
This film was
produced to show how
Musk rose from a humble
background, bullied in school,
and lived with his separated parents
to attain the zenith of his career.
Despite the limiting challenges,
Elon Musk persisted until
he achieved success.
Elon Musk isn't perfect,
and he is unapologetic about it,
but he remains true to himself
and keeps striving to be the best.
The world is filled
with great men and women
who have all impacted the world
through different innovations
and service to humanity.
We can all agree that
Elon Musk's story
and achievement is something
to look forward to achieving.
We hope you have learned a few
lessons from the life of Elon Musk
and taken some positives
from this video.
Let us never give
up on our goals.
Cheers!
The Rich Rabbit!
