Last week saw the completion ofElon Musk’s much anticipated $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter. With this latest takeover, the billionaire has added the social networking company to the long list of companies under him.
From Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, to The Boring Company, 51-year old Musk, who is currently the world’s richest person, has many companies under his kitty, which he heads and/or co-founded.
And with Twitter being the latest addition to this list, let’s deep dive to learn more about the companies under billionaire Elon Musk’s belt.
1.Tesla
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As the co-founder and CEO of US-based Tesla, Elon Musk has been leading the product design, engineering, and global manufacturing of the company's electric vehicles, battery products, and solar energy products.
Elon Musk initially served as co-founder, investor, and member of Tesla's board of directors, and later took over therole of CEO since 2008.
Since the company’s inception in 2003, Tesla’s mission has been to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla’ highlights include its first product, the Roadster sports car, which debuted in 2008, followed by the Model S sedan, which was introduced in 2012, and the Model X SUV, which launched in 2015.
In 2016,Teslabecame the world’s first vertically-integrated sustainable energy company with the acquisition of SolarCity, the leading provider of solar power systems in the United States, and in 2017 it released Solar Roof, an affordable energy generation product. In 2017, Tesla also began deliveries of the Model 3 and unveiled the Tesla Semi. Then in 2019, Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck as well as the Model Y compact SUV.
Earlier this month, CEO Elon Musk made a bold prediction, mentioning that" I see a path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined." As per the American stock exchange Nasdaq, Tesla is currently at a market value of $716.06 billion, whereas Apple is at $2.5 trillion and Saudi Aramco at $2.03 trillion.
Also Read:South Koreans Show Their Love For Elon Musk By Piling Up Tesla Stocks Worth $15 Billion
2.SpaceX
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SpaceXis a California-headquartered American spacecraft manufacturer, space launch provider, and satellite communications corporation founded by Elon Musk in 2002. As the CEO at SpaceX, Elon oversees the development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets.
In 2008, the SpaceX Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit, and SpaceX made further history in 2017 by re-flying both a Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon spacecraft for the first time. Soon after, Falcon Heavy, the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two, completed its first flight in 2018. The Tesla website mentions that in 2019, SpaceX’s crew-capable version of the Dragon spacecraft completed its first demonstration mission, and the company will fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time in 2020. And by pioneering reusable rockets, Musk’s SpaceX is pursuing the long-term goal of making humans a multi-planet species by creating a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Under SpaceX comes theStarlinksatellite internet constellation. It provides satellite Internet access coverage to various countries and is operated by SpaceX.
3.Neuralink
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Elon Musk is also the co-founder of Neuralink, which is a neurotechnology company developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers.
The San Francisco-based company was co-founded by Elon Musk, Max Hodak, and Paul Merolla in 2016. Neuralink has been creating the future of brain-computer interfaces by building devices now that have the potential to help people with paralysis and inventing new technologies that could expand human abilities, community, and the world.
4.The Boring Company
Another company founded by Elon Musk in 2016 is The Boring Company. The Americaninfrastructure and tunnel construction servicescompany combines fast, affordable tunnelling technology with an all-electric public transportation system in order to alleviate soul-crushing urban congestion and enable high-speed, long-distance travel. Its mission is to solve traffic, enable rapid point-to-point transportation, and transform cities.
As per Tesla’s website,The Boring Company built a 1.15 mile R&D tunnel in Hawthorne, and is currently said to be constructing Vegas Loop, a public transportation system at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It aims to create safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.
5.OpenAI
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In 2015, artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory firm OpenAI conducts research in the field of AI with the stated goal of promoting and developing friendly AI in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.OpenAI wasfounded in San Francisco in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and others, who collectively pledged US$1 billion. OpenAI consists of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc.
In 2019, OpenAI LP received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. Currently, 37-year-old Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI.
6.Zip2
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It was way back in 1995, whenElon Musk, along with his brother Kimbal Musk, founded Zip2, an online business directory, as an online alternative to the standard paper yellow pages. It was one of the first companies to provide internet maps and directions.
But later on, in the year 1999, he sold the company for around $300 million to American information technology company Compaq Computer Corporation.
7.X.Com & PayPal
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X.com was an online bank co-founded by Elon Musk, Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho in 1999 in California.Next year, X.com merged with competitor Confinity Inc., a software company in 2000, as Musk was reportedly attracted to Confinity due to its easy payment system.
Confinity was established by Max Levchin,Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek in December 1998. After a merger with X.com, the merged company changed its name to PayPal. Then, in 2002, shortly after PayPal’s IPO, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion, and in 2015, PayPal was spun off and became an independent company.
8.Twitter
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Last but definitely not the least, Twitter is the latest addition to the list of companies under Elon Musk. The 'Chief Twit' completed the much-anticipatedtakeover of Twitterlast week and kickstarted his tenure by firingmany of the company's top executives, including its (ex) CEO, Parag Agrawal.
The past few days post-Twitter's takeover have seen Musk busy revamping Twitter, with layoffs, extension or killing of the character limit for tweets, content moderation council, etc., being some of the much talked about decisions.
Also Read:Timeline Of ElonMusk-Twitter's$44 Billion Deal
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