Elon Musk turns 50: Why the Tesla, Space X, Neuralink, Hyperloop billionaire is so successful

Billionaire techpreneur Elon Musk turned 50 on June 28. His mum, Maye Musk, surprised him with a nostalgic snap of him as a baby being cuddled by her. “Happy birthday @elonmusk,” wrote the Canadian author and model as she tweeted the photo. “Thank you for this wonderful day 50 years ago. You have brought me great joy. Lots of love,” she added.

Musk is at the helm of several companies, all of which are focused on the future. Among Elon’s businesses are Tesla, SpaceX and OpenAI.

Between space rockets, electric automobiles, solar batteries, and the billions he’s amassed, it hasn’t always been easy for Musk. As a kid, he was bullied and lonely -- that is until he discovered computers and business.

Did you know, Musk created Ad Astra School in one of SpaceX’s factories as an experimental school to provide an education to his own children? It’s a new type of school where flamethrowers and robots are preferred over traditional classes.

Musk is essentially a real-life Tony Stark; he reportedly was the inspiration behind actor Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of the character in the 2008 Marvel film ‘Iron Man’. Oh, and he had a cameo in ‘Iron Man 2.’

Musk’s tweets have always been controversial. So much so that they even effect the stock market. Do you recall Tesla’s breakup with Bitcoin? After that, Musk hinted that Dogecoin would be a good replacement, and the price of Dogecoin skyrocketed. When he tweeted about ‘Baby Shark’ (yes, the kids’ song) and got the shareholder Samsung Publishing’s shares to rise by 10 per cent.

Musk only receives a $1 (Dh3.67) annual salary from Tesla, with the majority of his wealth coming from his stock holdings. However, there was a point when Elon couldn’t make ends meet and had to buy hot dogs and oranges in bulk for $1.

Among the many projects Musk has in the pipeline is a planned cargo flight to Mars aboard the modified BFR in 2022. In an effort to reduce the cost of space travel, the new reusable rocket could become the standard for SpaceX missions.

The Neuralink, Musk’s attempt to integrate the human brain with AI, is another project that is still in its early phases of development. Musk aims to send the first crewed expedition to Mars in 2024, two years later. SpaceX may also launch a new type of city-to-city transit aboard an earth-to-earth variant of the BFR sometime between 2022 and 2024.

With many projects in the pipeline, the tech giant is definitely in for a busy few years. Here’s wishing him all the best on his birthday!