Elon Musk’s initial fortune did not come from Tesla, SpaceX, or any of his now-famous ventures. Instead, it came from the internet boom of the 1990s and early 2000s. Here’s a brief overview of how he originally made his money:
How Did Elon Musk Make His Money Originally
- Zip2 Corporation (1995-1999):
- Early Days: In 1995, after dropping out of a PhD program at Stanford University after just two days, Elon co-founded Zip2, a software company, with his brother Kimbal Musk. The company provided business directories and maps for newspapers.
- Sale: In 1999, Compaq (which later merged with HP) acquired Zip2 for approximately $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options. From this sale, Elon received $22 million for his 7% stake in the company.
- X.com and PayPal (1999-2002):
- Founding of X.com: After selling Zip2, Musk used part of the money he made from that sale to co-found X.com in March 1999. X.com was an online payment company.
- Merger & Rebranding: X.com merged with Confinity, another online payments company that had a money-transfer service called PayPal. Musk was briefly the CEO but after internal disagreements, he was replaced. Nevertheless, X.com was rebranded as PayPal after the merger.
- Sale to eBay: In 2002, eBay acquired PayPal in a stock deal valued at $1.5 billion. Elon Musk, who was the largest shareholder of PayPal, received $165 million from this sale.
After these ventures, Elon Musk used the money he made to fund and start his subsequent companies like SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and others. While these companies have since increased his wealth exponentially, it was Zip2 and PayPal that provided him with the initial fortune.
