Did you know that Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who owns SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and social media site X, has a net worth greater than $435 billion, and that the South African–born entrepreneur started his first businesses in the 1990s?

1️⃣ HE WAS ONCE A SOUNDCLOUD RAPPER

In 2019 Musk released the rap song "RIP Harambe" on the music streaming service Soundcloud under his fictional record company, Emo G - or "Emoji." On January 30, 2020, Elon Musk released his second jam on SoundCloud, "Don't Doubt ur Vibe."

2️⃣ HE USED TO LIVE ON A DOLLAR PER DAY

After Musk's parents divorced when he was 8 years old, he lived with his mother, Maye, in various cities throughout South Africa. He dreamed of moving to the United States, but wound up immigrating to Canada alone at 17 years old. The future billionaire stayed with family members and lived on just $1 a day. He saved money by subsisting primarily on oranges and hot dogs.

3️⃣ HE WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR IRON MAN

Iron Man director Jon Favreau needed to make the Tony Stark side of superhero Iron Man seem real. He looked to Elon Musk, a rocket scientist and green energy pioneer, for inspiration. That’s why the character and Elon musk has much more in common when it comes to personality.

4️⃣ HIS MOM THOUGHT HE WAS DUMB

Because he was always daydreaming of building electric cars, his mother thought her son was the dumbest person she had ever seen.

5️⃣ At 12 HE WROTE AND SOLD A CODE FOR A VIDEO GAME

Before Musk even became a teenager, he wrote code for a space-based video game called "Blastar." He was just 12 years old at the time and still living in South Africa. The Tesla CEO pocketed a few hundred dollars by selling the code to a computer magazine. His code was not used in the game, but Musk later published it in his biography.

6️⃣ AT 18 HE TOOK AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS JOB

When Musk moved to Canada as a teenager, he didn't have a place to stay or much money in his pocket. He lived at a second cousin's house in a small town called Swift Current. He worked several odd jobs upon his arrival; Musk was a farm hand and a logger, but he ideally wanted a job that would earn him more money. An unemployment officer guided him to a job cleaning the boiler room of a lumber mill for $18 an hour. Musk took the gig.

7️⃣ DURING COLLEGE, HE TURNED HIS ROOM INTO A CLUB TO MAKE MORE MONEY.

In 1992, Musk transferred from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, to the University of Pennsylvania to study physics and economics. At this time, he befriended future Silicon Valley entrepreneur Adeo Ressi. Eventually, the pair moved from their dorm to a large 10-bedroom house off campus, where they made extra money by turning their house into a makeshift club and party venue on the weekends.

8️⃣ HE WANTS TO COLONIZE MARS BY 2040

In 2018, Musk launched the maiden voyage of his Falcon Heavy rocket. It is just one early step in the process of achieving his not-so-simple goal of colonizing Mars. He has a project in the works called "The Interplanetary Transport System" that he hopes will become the most powerful rocket ever built.

9️⃣ IN 2010, MUSK WAS TOTALLY BROKE.

In 2010 Musk reported that he "ran out of cash" in his divorce court filing, which circulated among the digital community. He had just invested his last $35 million in Tesla, and his split with Justine Musk was expensive. In a post on LiveJournal, Justine Musk posted her requests. She wanted their house, alimony, child support, a portion of Elon's stock in SpaceX and Tesla, as well as a Tesla Roadster. Musk recovered from his financial fall; as of July 2019, he was worth $20.6 billion.

🔟 HE ISN’T THE ORIGINAL FOUNDER OF TESLA

Musk is currently the CEO and product architect at Telsa, and is credited with being a co-founder. However, he wasn't originally involved with the electric car company. Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Telsa Motors in 2003. Their dream for Tesla was to free consumers from oil dependency. Musk entered the picture in 2004 by investing $70 million into the startup. He assumed the role of chairman of the board of directors and helped to design the company's first electric car, the Tesla Roadster.

⏸️ EXTRA

Elon Musk cofounded PayPal. His salary as the CEO of Tesla is $1 per year. He Purchased The Iconic James Bond Car, Wet Nellie, for almost $1 million. He also bought Twitter (now renamed X) for just $44 billion from Jack Dorsey.

Source: X @kvng_baff | Biography

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