Every startup he touches turns to gold, and makes him billions of dollars. There is little doubt that Elon Musk is one of the most prolific serial entrepreneurs of the past decade, injecting his money and resources into one startup, then using the profits to leap right into the next.
With all his inventions, it’s rumoured that Musk is the inspiration behind the character of comic superhero/engineer Tony Stark of the Iron Man franchise.
The South African-born, Canada American Musk has repeatedly shown that he prefers spending his money on turning his passion projects into companies that change the world to a life of leisure.
“I could either watch it happen or be part of it”
Here are the many startups that made Musk a rock star of the startup world:
1983: A businessman in the making
At just aged 12, Musk who taught himself to code, sells the computer code for his first video game for $500. He would go on to make an career out of buying and selling businesses.
1999: The first of many millions
This is the year that Musk made his first millions following Compaq Computers’ acquisition of Zip2, a company that Musk founded together with his brother. Zip2 provided maps and directories to online publications. The deal earned the pair $22 million.
2000: Paypal – The big break
A year after selling Zip2, Musk’s second startup X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company that he co-founded in 1999, acquired what came to be known as PayPal. Just two years later, he sells PayPal – of which he had an 11.7% stake – to eBay for $1.5 billion.