With a visionary zeal that knows no bounds, Elon Musk stands as a modern-day titan of industry, a bold pioneer whose insatiable thirst for exploration and advancement has propelled him to the forefront of the global stage.

From the electrifying realms of Tesla, where sleek machines of the future hum with the promise of a sustainable tomorrow, to the outer reaches of space with SpaceX, where rockets soar towards the stars in a daring quest to conquer the final frontier, Musk's influence spans the realms of both earthly marvels and cosmic wonders.

However, Elon Musk is more than just a master of technology; he is a disruptor, a maverick whose daring gambits and audacious endeavors have reshaped our conception of what is possible, challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries of human achievement. For the last few years, people seem to be divided on their opinions on Musk, I guess you either love him, or hate him.

On March 7, observers noticed an increase in Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings reportedly, sparking debate about renewed buying or an accounting error. Tesla's Bitcoin holdings consist of around 11,509 BTC, marking a rise of 1,789 compared to the 9,720 BTC disclosed in the company's previous earnings announcement. The notable acquisition of Bitcoin may be credited to the increasing excitement surrounding the cryptocurrency, fueled by its recent strong upward trend and substantial price surges.

During the peak of the cryptocurrency's bull run in February 2021, Tesla, under the guidance of Elon Musk, grabbed headlines by acquiring $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. The company also announced its plans to accept Bitcoin as payment for its electric vehicles.

But how did he manage to get to where he is today? What exactly did Elon Musk do to garner such massive wealth?

Early Life

Having burst onto the Silicon Valley scene over two decades ago, the 52-year-old serial entrepreneur has continuously fascinated the public with his business endeavors.

Hailing from Pretoria, South Africa, Elon Musk demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills early in life by selling homemade chocolate Easter eggs door-to-door with his brother and creating his first computer game at the age of 12.

Despite facing challenges such as his parents' divorce, bullying in school, and struggles with social cues due to Asperger's Syndrome, Musk described his childhood as tough. Eager to pursue higher education, he left home for college, first in Canada and then in the US, where he studied economics and physics at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania.

In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, his first wife, Justine Musk, a writer whom he met in college and married in 2000, wrote that even before making his millions Mr Musk was "not a man who takes no for an answer".

"The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home," she recalled, adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding, "I am the alpha in this relationship."

Building An Empire

Accepted into a physics graduate program at Stanford University, Musk decided to forgo further studies and instead ventured into entrepreneurship during the tech boom of the 1990s.

PayPal

Elon Musk, along with his brother Kimbal, founded Zip2. Supported by Silicon Valley investors, Zip2 offered city travel guides for newspapers such as The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, as detailed in a Rolling Stone interview with Musk.

During the early days of Zip2, Musk resided in the office and utilized the local YMCA for showers. Musk's dedication bore fruit when Compaq acquired Zip2 for a sum of $341 million in cash and stock, resulting in Musk pocketing $22 million from the deal.

After selling Zip2, Musk used $10 million to start X.com, an online banking company. X.com merged with Confinity to form PayPal. Musk briefly served as PayPal's CEO but faced a disagreement with co-founder Max Levchin over changing servers from Unix to Windows in 2000.

During Musk's journey to Australia for a well-deserved break, PayPal's board dismissed him and appointed Thiel as the new CEO. Musk reflected on his unfortunate trip in late 2000, telling Fortune years later, "That's the downside of taking vacations."

Fortunately for Musk, things took a positive turn — he experienced another financial success when eBay acquired PayPal in late 2002. As PayPal's largest shareholder, he reportedly received $165 million out of the $1.5 billion that eBay paid, as reported by Money.com.

SpaceX

Before the PayPal sale, Musk was already planning his next move, founding SpaceX in early 2002 with $100 million from the sale. SpaceX aimed to reduce spaceflight costs by 10x. Their spacecraft, Dragon, was a jab to skeptics. SpaceX's goal is affordable Mars colonization, with Musk delaying an initial public offering until the "Mars Colonial Transporter" is operational. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, along with the Dragon spacecraft, which has completed multiple missions to the International Space Station.

As of March 2024, SpaceX owns around $560 million worth of Bitcoin (approximately 8,290 BTC) spread across 28 wallet addresses.

On March 5 2024, it was reported that a U.S. labor board judge conducted a hearing in a case where SpaceX was accused of unlawfully terminating eight engineers for criticizing CEO Elon Musk and alleging sexist behavior in a letter to company executives.

The engineers filed complaints accusing SpaceX of sex discrimination and retaliation which SpaceX has refuted these allegations and criticized the labor board's fundamental operations in the legal action it initiated in federal court in Texas. Recently, a judge relocated the case to California, and SpaceX's objection to this move was dismissed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

If SpaceX loses, it may have to reinstate the employees and provide compensation for lost wages and benefits. The ruling by Steckler can be appealed to the five-member board and subsequently to a federal appeals court.

Tesla

In 2004, Musk began investing in Tesla, an electric car company founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Musk played an active role in developing Tesla's first car, the Roadster, based on a Lotus Elise chassis. Musk also conceived SolarCity, a solar energy venture, and provided startup capital to his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive in 2006. The following year, Musk orchestrated a boardroom takeover at Tesla, removing Eberhard entirely from his CEO position and ultimately from the company's board and executive leadership.

In 2008, facing the financial crisis and significant constraints, Musk prevented a Tesla bankruptcy by personally intervening. He injected $40 million into Tesla and extended a $40 million loan to the company. Not coincidentally, he was named CEO the same year.

However, juggling SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, Musk faced near financial ruin. He referred to 2008 as "the worst year of my life" in a 60 Minutes interview. Tesla continued to incur losses, while SpaceX encountered challenges with its Falcon 1 rocket launches. By 2009, Musk was reliant on personal loans for his day-to-day survival.

In late 2008, Musk received two positive developments: SpaceX secured a $1.5 billion contract with NASA for space supply missions, and Tesla attracted additional external investors.

Musk's growing influence extended beyond the business world, as Hollywood also took notice. Director Jon Favreau mentioned on the "Recode Decode" podcast that Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Tony Stark in the "Iron Man" movies was partly inspired by Musk. Musk even made a cameo appearance in "Iron Man 2."

OpenAI

In late 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit focused on AI research and preventing potential risks to humanity. He later decided to step down from the board to prevent conflicts of interest with Tesla, which was advancing AI technology for its self-driving cars. OpenAI is now worth $86 billion, and its relationship with Musk now is rather complicated. It was debated that Elon Musk wanted to save Tesla while having full control of OpenAI and that he pressured its founders Greg Brockman and Sam Altman to raise far more money than they felt they needed to. The duo wanted to start by gathering $100 million from investors, but Musk pushed them to raise $1 billion to compete with megacompanies like Google and Facebook (now Meta).

The emails reveal that by 2017, despite Musk's public statements, the Tesla CEO did not oppose OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit model as long as he could assume control of the company. In February 2018, Musk proposed merging OpenAI with Tesla, suggesting that the automaker could serve as OpenAI's "cash cow" and asserting that Tesla was "the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google.".

It was an extremely aggressive sell to Altman and Brockman — very "come with me if you want to live" vibes. However, it was Tesla that was in dire need of support at the time. Musk recognized OpenAI's potential to attract funding, which coincided with his own urgent financial requirements. It was evident that Musk valued the secrecy of OpenAI's technology, particularly if that secrecy was under his control.

Fast forward to 2024, Elon Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging a breach of their founding agreement. Musk claimed that OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft and its shift towards a closed-source model for profit-making contradicted their initial commitment to operate as a nonprofit and maintain open-source practices.

OpenAI co-founders, on the other hand, stated that Musk wanted to merge OpenAI with Tesla or exert full control, which they opposed to maintain the organization's independence. Email exchanges indicated Musk's desire for OpenAI to benefit Tesla financially, conflicting with OpenAI's nonprofit mission.

Neuralink

In 2017, Elon Musk founded Neuralink to develop brain implant devices enabling tasks through mental commands. The billionaire has described the device as a "Fitbit in your skull" and has said it will allow people to perform tasks using only their mind. The company has experimented with putting the device in pigs and monkeys and won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin human trials in 2023.

Neuralink has been criticised in the past, that the company engaged in testing which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,500 animals, including sheep, monkeys and pigs.

Musk briefly joined Trump's business council but resigned over the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, despite his efforts to dissuade Trump.

Elon Musk also announced on X that Neuralink's debut product will be named Telepathy. This innovation aims to allow users to control phones, computers, and various devices simply by thinking. Initially targeting individuals with limited limb function, Musk envisions a future where communication is faster than even skilled typists or auctioneers, referring to the late British scientist who had motor neurone disease, he added: "Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal."

X

In 2022, Musk began acquiring Twitter shares and declined a board seat in favor of purchasing the platform outright for $44 billion.

Musk tried to retract his bid to acquire Twitter which led Twitter to file a lawsuit against Musk to compel him to proceed with the purchase. Following a tumultuous legal discovery phase, which involved revealing some embarrassing texts, Musk was compelled to finalize the acquisition. By October, he had taken ownership of the platform.

Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter and its transformation into a private entity, the platform has experienced significant upheaval, including verification issues, changes in API access, reversal of bans, substantial layoffs, and notably, a rebranding to X.

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter has taken a messy turn, with four former top executives, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, filing a lawsuit against Musk for a staggering $128 million.

The executives claim they were unfairly terminated following Musk's $44 billion acquisition and allege that Musk has failed to compensate them with the severance they are owed. The lawsuit also suggests that Musk may hold a grudge against these executives for pressuring him to finalize the Twitter purchase after he initially attempted to withdraw. It appears that personal feelings are influencing the situation.

This legal dispute adds to Musk's mounting legal challenges since taking over Twitter. Other employees are also awaiting their severance payments, and reports of eviction notices due to unpaid rent further tarnish X's reputation.

Musk also faced significant backlash for reinstating accounts, including that of former US President Donald Trump, which have been deemed problematic by many users, under the guise of promoting free speech. Trump had been banned from Twitter for inciting the January 6th US Capitol attack and the potential for similar incidents in the future. Rapper and record producer Kanye West's account was reinstated on X in July 2023, despite a history of sharing antisemitic jokes and openly praising Hitler. Consequently, several of his sponsors have already severed ties with him.

Bitcoin & Dogecoin

In the most recent update, Tesla now holds around 11,509 BTC, representing a notable increase of 1,789 BTC compared to the 9,720 BTC disclosed in its previous earnings report. Together with SpaceX, they have a combined total of around 19,800 Bitcoins, according to Arkham. The tokens are worth over $1.4 billion after Bitcoin reached new all-time highs and crossed above the $72,000 level.

This investment has brought in significant profits for SpaceX and Tesla, with SpaceX gaining $276 million and Tesla nearly $500 million. While these amounts are small compared to their operational profits, they are substantial in the realm of investments.

In early 2021, Musk and Tesla started accepting Bitcoin, coinciding with their $1.5 billion investment. By May 2021, Musk halted Tesla vehicle purchases with Bitcoin.

"Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment."

Elon Musk isn't only a fan of Bitcoin but he has also shown fondness towards the most popular meme coin, Dogecoin. Over the past few years, numerous internet users have speculated about Musk's significant involvement in the Dogecoin project. His statements and tweets have greatly impacted the coin's outlook, leading to him being dubbed the "Doge Father."

Earlier in 2023, Musk created a stir by tweeting a single word, causing a frenzy in the Dogecoin community. He was spotted with Rupert Murdoch at the NFL Super Bowl LVII game, sparking speculation about their conversation. Musk later confirmed they were discussing "Dogecoin" in a tweet. This revelation led to a more than 5% increase in DOGE's price, reaching $0.08399. Musk also sported a Dogecoin T-shirt at the Super Bowl.

Following his take-over at Twitter, Musk replaced its iconic 17-year-old "bird" logo with the Dogecoin logo. This swift change caused DOGE's price to surge by more than 16% within an hour. However, this alteration was short-lived, lasting only a few days before the original Twitter logo was reinstated.

Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao expressed surprise at the longevity of the DOGE token since its inception, speculating that Musk most probably have played a role in its sustained presence. Musk's association with DOGE also led to his involvement in a lawsuit related to the memecoin. He was accused of insider trading and market manipulation concerning DOGE, although many consider the lawsuit to be unsubstantiated.

Charity

A report reveals that Elon Musk's Musk Foundation has failed to meet the minimum donation requirement of 5% of its assets annually, risking penalties from tax authorities. In 2021, Musk donated $5.7 billion worth of Tesla shares to his foundation to offset an $11 billion tax bill, boosting its assets to over $7 billion and making it one of the country's largest charitable organizations.

However, tax records obtained by the New York Times indicate that the Musk Foundation, previously led by a Russian professional gambler, failed to meet the minimum donation requirement mandated by law in both 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, the foundation fell short by $41 million, and this shortfall increased to $193 million in the following year. As of the end of 2022, the foundation was $234 million below the required minimum donation threshold. There is no available information on the charity's giving in 2023.

Experts suggest that failing to meet the charitable giving threshold could lead to a 30% penalty tax on the amount needed to meet the requirement.

According to the report, the donations made by Musk through his foundation were directed towards causes that indirectly benefited himself and his business.

For instance, the foundation contributed $5 million to a United Nations program that aids countries in identifying rural schools requiring internet access, with at least two of these countries later becoming customers of Starlink, Musk's satellite internet service.

In another instance in 2021, the Musk Foundation allocated $55 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at the request of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire from Pennsylvania who journeyed into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket. Isaacman utilized the flight to raise funds for the hospital by raffling off a seat on the rocket. When Isaacman fell short of his $200 million fundraising target, Musk pledged $50 million on Twitter, stating, "Count me in for $50M."

Additionally, Musk's foundation allocated funds for establishing the Ad Astra School, which reportedly has a small enrollment of only dozens of students, with half of them being children of SpaceX employees.

Musk's charity made a $10 million contribution to OpenAI, an AI development organization co-founded by Musk and other tech leaders as a nonprofit entity.

Net Worth

Formerly holding the title of the world's wealthiest individual, Musk currently ranks third with a net worth of $189 billion. Louis Vuitton's Bernard Arnault currently leads with a $201 billion net worth, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with $198 billion, which places Elon Musk in third place as of March 2024.

Owning a significant 21% stake in Tesla has been a major driver of Elon Musk's wealth. However, the declining share prices of Tesla have had a notable impact on his net worth. In 2024, Tesla has seen a decrease of over 29% in its net value. Recent challenges for the carmaker include disappointing sales in China and a production halt at its Berlin factory due to sabotage, leading to further declines in share prices. Additionally, Tesla's stock is down approximately 50% from its peak in 2021. Elon Musk has also faced setbacks, such as a court ruling invalidating his $55 billion pay package at Tesla.

Many still seem to be divided on how they feel about this crypto icon, but we can't deny that this man has really put in the work to get to where he is today.