Happy Birthday Elon Musk: 53 Facts And Figures About Tesla, SpaceX CEO On His 53rd Birthday
Best known as the CEO of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX, Elon Musk is one of the most followed and popular figures in the world, especially to the investing community.
Born as Elon Reeve Musk on June 28, 1971 in South Africa, Musk celebrates his 53rd birthday in 2024.
Known for his use of memes on social media, including mentions of popular jokes involving 69 and 4/20, it might come as a surprise that with a birthday on June 28, Musk was born 69 days after 4/20.
Here is a look at 53 more facts and figures about Musk in honor of his birthday.
1. Daydreams: As a child, Musk often daydreamed about inventions that led to his parents and doctors testing his hearing.
2. Bullied: Musk was bullied in grade school likely as the result of being short and focused on his education. Musk learned karate and wrestling to defend himself.
3. Two Siblings: Musk has a brother, Kimbal Musk, who is involved with Tesla, and a sister, Tosca.
4. Population Collapse: Musk has been sounding the alarm on a potential population collapse at an increasing rate. The CEO points to couples having one or two children, which is below the 2.1 threshold needed on average to maintain the population. Musk has said he has done his part, unlike other billionaires, as he has welcomed twelve children into the world.
5. Relationships: Musk was married to author Justine Wilson for eight years. Musk was also married to actress Talulah Riley. Musk dated musician Claire Elise Boucher, professionally known as Grimes, from 2018 to 2021 and they have three children together.
6. Programming: Musk taught himself how to program at the age of 12, which led to an early interest in computers and creating companies.
7. American Citizen: Musk became an American citizen in 2002 at the age of 31.
8. Moves: Musk moved from South Africa to Canada at the age of 17. Musk attended college in the U.S. and then moved to California. Musk moved the headquarters of Tesla and his own home from California to Texas.
9. Citizenship: Musk obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 as a move to make future American citizenship easier. Musk has citizenship from three countries as a result.
10. College: Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
11. Stanford Dropout: After graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Musk attended Stanford University as part of the graduate school in physics. Musk dropped out two days later.
12. Zip2: One of the first companies Musk created came after dropping out of Stanford was Zip2, which provided maps and business directories for online newspapers. The business was sold for $307 million in 1999.
13. PayPal: Musk co-founded X.com, the online payment company that eventually became PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL). Ebay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) acquired the company for $1.5 billion in stock, including $165 million paid to Musk.
14. Tesla: Musk is the CEO of Tesla Inc, a market-leading electric vehicle company in the U.S.
15. SpaceX: Space company SpaceX was created by Musk and has revolutionized the space market with reusable rockets and a lower cost to launch into space.
16. Humans on Mars: Among the things Musk wants to see happen is the colonization of Mars.
17. Other Companies: Along with Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is also known for creating companies such as The Boring Company, OpenAI, Hyperloop and Neuralink.
18. SolarCity: Musk and Tesla Motors acquired SolarCity Corp in 2016 for $2.6 billion. The company was founded by cousins of Musk in 2006.
19. Loves ‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’: One of Musk's favorite books is “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,” which he used to explain several of his thoughts on philosophy and the meaning of life.
20. Options Package: Musk has an options package that was approved by the Tesla board that pays him based on the share price, market cap, revenue and EBITDA of Tesla. The package was the subject of controversy in 2024 with a Delaware judge voiding the compensation plan. Tesla shareholders re-approved the plan recently and it remains in limbo moving forward.
21. SEC Fine: A tweet from Musk announcing he would take Tesla private led to a $20-million fine for both Musk and Tesla. Musk also stepped down from being the chairman of Tesla for three years as part of the SEC settlement.
22. Musk Doesn't Like Facebook: Musk has spoken out against Facebook, a unit of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META). The billionaire took down the Facebook pages for Tesla and SpaceX.
23. Musk Likes Twitter: Musk is a frequent user of Twitter, where he is also the most followed person. "Some people use their hair to express themselves, I use Twitter," Musk said. A 12-month period in 2020 showed Musk was the most active CEO on Twitter tweeting 3,266 times.
Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022.
24. Musk as Tony Stark: Musk was the inspiration for the Tony Stark portrayal by Robert Downey Jr. in the "Iron Man" movies from Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS) Marvel unit. He made a cameo appearance in "Iron Man 2."
25. Musk Cameos: Musk has appeared in several movies and television shows. He appeared as himself on "The Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon" and also voiced a similar version of himself on an episode of "Rick and Morty."
26. Appearance on Simpsons: Musk played himself in episode 564 of "The Simpsons." The episode called "The Musk Who Fell To Earth" aired on Fox Corp (NASDAQ:FOX)(NASDAQ:FOXA) on Jan. 25, 2015, and featured Mr. Burns trying to assassinate Musk.
27. Hosting SNL: On May 8, 2021, Musk hosted "Saturday Night Live" on NBC, a unit of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA). The episode featured mentions of electric vehicles, space and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).
28. Has Asperger's: On the SNL episode, Musk revealed he has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a developmental disorder marked by social and emotional deficiencies as well as normal or above-average verbal skills and cognitive ability.
29. Musk Sold Video Game Company: At the age of 12, Musk sold a video game company he created, Blastar, for $500.
30. Favorite Video Games: Musk said in an interview that his favorite games are "Deus Ex," "Fallout" and "Bioshock." In 2022, Musk has often tweeted about Elden Ring, a game from Bandai Namco. Lately, Musk has been playing and tweeting about “Diablo IV.”
31. Tesla’s Brush With Bankruptcy: From mid-2017 to mid-2019, Tesla was going through logistics and production hell that led to the company nearly declaring bankruptcy ahead of the Tesla Model 3 launch.
32. Musk Went All In: With Tesla a month away from bankruptcy, Musk put in the last of his own money despite the thought that the company would fail. "It was either that or certain death for Tesla," Musk said.
33. Dogefather: Along with being the CEO of several companies, Musk is well-known as the figurehead of Dogecoin, a meme-based cryptocurrency. A Twitter poll in 2019 appointed Musk as the Dogefather and CEO of Dogecoin.
34. Giving Pledge: Musk is one of several billionaires who have signed the Giving Pledge, which promises to donate the majority of wealth to philanthropic efforts.
35. James Bond Car: The submarine car Wet Nellie featured in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" is owned by Musk.
36. Throwing Parties: Musk has thrown some lavish parties in his lifetime that include renting a castle in England and having guests play hide and seek.
37. Favorite TV Shows: Musk has been asked about which shows he finds time to watch in his busy schedule. Among those mentioned were "Silicon Valley" and "Black Mirror."
38. Favorite Movies: Musk has talked often of being a fan of anime and the movie "Your Name." Other favorites include "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke."
39. Genghis Khan: A fan of documentaries, Musk said in an interview that he had watched a documentary on Khan three times. "You seem to be obsessed with that," his girlfriend Grimes said of Khan and the Mongols.
40. Joe Rogan Podcast: An appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in 2018 lasted over two hours and featured Musk smoking marijuana.
41. Musician: Musk has released rap tracks and EDM tracks that contain lyrics he wrote and feature some of his own vocals. Musk once released a surprise rap song paying tribute to gorilla Harambe.
42. Richest Person: In early 2021, Musk passed Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person. Musk has been the richest person or second richest person in the world for several years, with a wealth of $216 billion at the time of writing, tied with Bezos for first place.
43. Against Short Selling: Musk has been an opponent of the practice of shorting stocks, with Tesla a frequent target of short sellers.
44. Bitcoin and Dogecoin: Musk's tweets about Bitcoin and Dogecoin that include posts and memes often result in heavy moves in the popular cryptocurrencies.
45. Royal Society: In 2018, Musk was elected to the Royal Society, the oldest national scientific institution in the world.
46. Influential Man: Time Magazine has featured Musk as a member of its annual Most Influential People list on several occasions including 2010, 2013 and 2018.
47. Living in $50,000 House: Despite being the richest person in the world, Musk is said to be frugal with his spending. Musk lived in a $50,000 house in Texas and once refused to replace a mattress that had a hole in it.
48. New Biography: Several biographies have been written about Musk and another was released in September 2023. The book was written by Walter Isaacson, who was given access to Musk and got a behind the scenes look at several items related to Tesla and SpaceX and the acquisition of Twitter. Isaacson wrote a biography of Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs that sold over 3 million copies and was turned into a movie.
49. Caffeine Addiction: In the early days of launching his companies, Musk consumed eight cans of Diet Coke and multiple cups of coffee each day to stay awake during his busy schedule.
50. Over 100 Million Twitter Followers: In June 2022, Musk passed 100 million followers on Twitter, making him only the sixth person to accomplish the feat globally. Musk now has over 188 million followers on Twitter.
51. Politics: Musk says he is neither a Republican nor Democrat, instead labeling himself as a moderate. Musk has been active in tweeting about several candidates he endorsed in 2022. Musk also cited politics as being a big reason why he moved Tesla's headquarters from California to Texas.
52. Billionaire Feuds: Musk has had several public call-outs of billionaire Bill Gates, who shorted Tesla stock. Musk also is in an intense battle with Amazon.com and Blue Origin founder Bezos, which has included lawsuits. A rivalry between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may see the billionaires fight out their differences in a cage match.
53. Religion: Musk recalled attending Sunday School at the local church where his mother was a teacher, in the 2023 biography by Isaacson. Musk immediately started questioning stories from the bible, including ones of Moses parting the Red Sea and Jesus feeding the crowd with bread and fish. Musk was then able to stay home and read on Sunday mornings instead of going to church.
In past interviews, Musk has discussed the meaning of life and whether he believes in God. Musk said that something created the universe, whether or not it was God. Musk has also said he's okay with going to hell, if that is his destination.
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.