One thing most people know Elon Musk for is his trolling on Twitter and the fact that he is the world’s richest man. Recent happenings, however, between him and the Twitter board of directors have made his fame a bit more widespread. His recent Twitter snub is one of the most dramatic events on the tech scene in a while. But, that is not his first flunk flick.
Elon Musk and PayPal
PayPal as you may know happens to be an idea of Musk in his early days of fame. After one of his first companies Zip2 which was purchased some years after its inception, the now billionaire founded X.com. This company grew to become PayPal.
After X.com’s inception (of which Elon was a cofounder), it merged with one of its biggest rivals in the then self-service online bank market, Confinity. This merger brought the likes of Max Levchin and Peter Thiel on board. These characters had a role to play in Elon’s exit from the company.
Clashes regarding Elon’s capabilities in handling issues the company began to face after it gained popularity ensued. In a statement, Levchin claimed that working for or with Musk was difficult. In 2000, Musk would get a sack letter from PayPal leaving Max Levchin and Peter Thiel to take control of PayPal and making it what it is today.
Elon Musk and his wild dream, “Hyperloop”
Thinking wild isn’t farfetched for the Tesla CEO. He has a lot of eccentric ideas and aspirations to his name. One of his daring yet futuristic thoughts is Hyperloop. This wild transportation dream came in the year 2013 while Tesla and SpaceX were at the early stages of making waves.
The dream Musk had for Hyperloop was; a high-speed rail system which would use a pod to carry 28 passengers through a distance of 350 miles. This pod or futuristic rail system according to the Tesla CEO could travel at a speed of 760 miles per hour. Shockingly that is almost the speed of sound.
That was a wild claim or vision from the billionaire, and it didn’t live past the boundaries of hearsay. The estimate for producing this high-speed rail system was around $6 billion. Elon said that he didn’t have time for it, as he was joggling Tesla and SpaceX at their primes. Just like that, project Hyperloop went into total oblivion.
Conclusion
Although these failed ideas or attempts do not affect his net worth, they throw a bit of light on Musk’s personality. This is more evident with Hyperloop, as it proves that the world’s richest man is ready to go where only a few people dare to go. We can also see his drive for humans to live on Mars which in itself sounds delusional but shows his adventurous side.
At the moment, the South African still stands as the world’s richest man, with over $230 billion to his name. This wealth comes from a series of his business ventures, some of which are currently facing stiff competition like his electric car brand, Tesla. The company is getting it hot from the non-stop inflow of cars from Chinese EV manufacturers.
Twitter and its board of directors might also pose a threat to Elon Musk, as they plan to take him to court. The businessman might have to buy the media company or compensate the board for any inconveniences. If neither of the two occur after the court hearing, we can then add Twitter to the list of companies the controversial businessman dropped out off.