Elon Musk at 50: the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire went from getting fired from PayPal, and living in his office, to being one of the world’s most successful and controversial tech CEOs
- Musk boasts a net worth second only to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, leaping ahead of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft’s Bill Gates
- He had a cameo in Marvel’s Iron Man alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr, having inspired Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark
On June 28, 2021, Elon Musk hit another milestone: turning 50.
Over the past five decades, Musk has become the CEO of Tesla, founded SpaceX and The Boring Company, and co-founded OpenAI and Neuralink, all while focused on his long-term goal: escaping Earth and colonising Mars.
In fact, with his space rockets, electric cars, solar batteries and the billions he’s made along the way, Musk is basically a real-life Tony Stark – which is why he served as inspiration for Marvel’s 2008 Iron Man.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Musk. He went from getting bullied in school to becoming a small-time entrepreneur, almost going broke, then inciting lawsuits and government scrutiny as his wealth and influence grew. Today, he is one of the most controversial figures in the world of business.
His South African beginnings
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa.
His father is Errol Musk, a South African engineer, pilot, sailor and property developer.
After their parents divorced in 1979, nine-year-old Elon and his younger brother, Kimbal, decided to live with their father. It wasn’t until after the move that Musk’s now notorious troubled relationship with his dad began to emerge. “It was not a good idea,” Musk said in a Rolling Stone interview about moving in with his father.
