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Blaster
Before he popularized electric cars and began planning the colonization of Mars, Musk was a kid who liked video games. So, at the age of 12, he made his own. That’s impressive enough, but Musk being Musk, he sold the game to a magazine for roughly $770 AUD. -
Web-based phone calls
Back in 1997, Musk had an idea about allowing computers to call land lines (something he secured a patent for in 2001). The idea was a bit less intricate than what we use today with Skype, though. Instead, the idea went, users could click on a company’s contact information online and then calls would be routed to the company via a call center. -
PayPal
In late 1998, Musk co-founded a company called X.com, which focused on financial services and email payments. A year later, X.com merged with Confinity and adopted the name of that company’s best-known service, PayPal. The two technologies created a powerhouse that led the way in online payments, which was eventually bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Musk pocketed $165 million from that deal. -
SpaceX
Musk’s aerospace company may be just as famous as his automobiles. Founded in 2002 to help reduce the cost of space transportation and enable the colonization of Mars, SpaceX’s Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets are designed to be reusable. The privately owned company did suffer a setback earlier this year when one of its rockets exploded after liftoff. It has since suspended flights, giving it time to redesign the two-foot metal bar that failed and according to Musk, caused the explosion. -
Tesla Motors
These days, it’s impossible not to think of Musk without quickly thinking of Tesla, the publicly traded electric-car company whose stock has increased nearly 700 percent in the last 2.5 years to just under $213 a share at press time. Despite reporting third-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations, the company boasts revenues of $1.24 billion and claims strong guidance for future deliveries. There’s plenty of demand but the company continues to struggle with manufacturing enough cars -
SolarCity
Co-founded in 2006 by Musk and his cousins, SolarCity has since grown to become the second-largest provider of solar-power systems in the country, with revenues of $159.1 million in the most recent quarter. It’s in the process of creating storage systems letting people tap into power produced by solar panels at night. The company is also working with Tesla to offer free solar-powered charging stations to owners of the vehicles traveling Route 101 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. -
Hyperloop
This transportation system, introduced in 2013 and still in the formulative stages, aims to allow commuters to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 35 minutes or less — faster than a commercial flight. The rail system would work in a tube with extremely low air pressure, which would theoretically reduce drag and enable higher speeds at up to 1287 kmh with lower power consumption. The company’s first venture is scheduled to begin construction next year, with a 8 km loop.
