Ministerul Educației și Cercetării

Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu

Facultatea de Științe Economice

Mind Blowing Facts about Elon Musk

Student: Catana Darius Sorin

Disciplina: Business English
Specializare: Management, Anul 1, Grupa 1
Profesor coordonator: VINTEAN ADRIANA

1 Catana Darius Sorin

 Ministerul Educației și Cercetării
Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Facultatea de Științe Economice

In my
opinion Elon Musk is arguably one of the most influential figures
to emerge in the 21st century. Despite being near bankrupt on
numerous occasions and all of his companies suffering initial
failures, Musk has proven that through hard work and
dedication, his companies' ability to grow has been more than
possible. He has shown that it is possible to create viable
alternatives to the use of fossil fuels, which have greatly
affected the health and future of the planet.

20 Fascinating Facts About Elon Musk

1. His mother was a finalist for Miss South Africa.

2. He read through two whole encyclopedias as a kid.

He “churned through two sets of encyclopedias — a feat that did

little to help him make friends. The boy had a photographic
memory, and the encyclopedias turned him into a fact factory.”
(33)

3. As a kid, and sometimes as an adult, he would drift off into

his mind, ignoring the outside world like Ben Stiller does
in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

“‘He goes into his brain, and then you just see he is in another
world,’ Maye said. ‘He still does that. Now I just leave him be
because I know he is designing a new rocket or something.’”

2 Catana Darius Sorin

 Ministerul Educației și Cercetării
Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Facultatea de Științe Economice

Can’t you picture Elon standing

somewhere in public, staring off into space, imagining he is on
Mars trying to figure out how to design a space colony? I know I
can.

4. His classmates from high school didn’t think he was all that
special and were surprised by his success.

5. He was severely bullied growing up.

“They went so far as to beat up a boy that Musk considered his

best friend until the child agreed to stop hanging out with Musk.
‘Moreover, they got him — they got my best fucking friend — to
lure me out of hiding so they could beat me up,’ Musk said. ‘And
that fucking hurt.’ While telling this part of the story, Musk’s
eyes welled up and his voice quivered.”

The above fact is sad. He was beaten up multiple times

throughout his childhood, and it had such a negative impact on
his physical body that he had to have the below fact done.

6. Had a nose job done because of “lingering effects” from a

beating he took from bullies.

7. Dropped out of his first college (the University of Pretoria in

South Africa) after five months because he put little effort forth
in his studies.

8. After he left South Africa for Canada, he decided to go

back to college. He chose Queen’s University “over the

3 Catana Darius Sorin

 Ministerul Educației și Cercetării
Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Facultatea de Științe Economice

University
of Waterloo because he felt there were more good-looking
women at Queen’s.”

9. Him and his college roommates (after he had transferred to

the University of Pennsylvania) would turn their large rented
house into a nightclub on weekends.

10. Musk once said to a venture capitalist

11. Elon and his brother Kimbal would get into fistfights while
working on their first startup Zip2.

12. At the wedding reception of his first marriage (to Justine

Wilson), he “pulled Justine close while they danced, and
informed her, ‘I am the alpha in this relationship.’”

13. He almost died in January 2001 after returning from

vacation in South Africa because he had contracted malaria
while there.

14. During the early stages of his exploration of the space

industry, he tried to buy three ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic
missile) from Russia.

15. He is known for graphic rants when he is angry where he

will “talk of people’s balls being chopped off and other violent
or sexual acts.” It is also mentioned at the start of the book
that he is a fan of the word “fuck.”

16. He was not part of the founding of the original startup that
was called Tesla Motors when it was incorporated

4 Catana Darius Sorin

 Ministerul Educației și Cercetării
Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Facultatea de Științe Economice

A short time after it was incorporated, he did come on as an

investor and immediately became “the largest shareholder of
Tesla and the chairman of the company.”

Elon is now known as a co-founder of Tesla. The reason

is because after one of the original founders, Martin
Eberhard, sued him in 2009 over things that occurred
at Tesla, a settlement was reached, and part of the
settlement was that Eberhard had to say in a statement,
“As co-founder of the company, Elon’s contributions to
Tesla have been extraordinary.”

17. Was a producer on the movie Thank You For Smoking

18. Was part of the “inspiration for Downey’s interpretation of

Tony Stark”

Robert Downey, Jr. visited with Elon Musk in Hawthorne, CA at

his SpaceX facilities and was given a tour. After the movie came
out, the director Jon Favreau talked up Musk’s role as the
“inspiration for Downey’s interpretation of Tony Stark.” There is
even a Tesla Roadster on display in the first Iron Man movie in
Tony Stark’s workshop, something that Downey asked Favreau
to put in.

19. He almost lost his companies and all of his wealth in

2008.

5 Catana Darius Sorin

 Ministerul Educației și Cercetării
Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Facultatea de Științe Economice

Elon Musk, in his own words, felt “like a pile of shit,” during this
time. The year 2008 was during the height of the economic
downturn, and Tesla and SpaceX were already struggling, so the
downturn made things worse. On top of that, Musk was going
through a divorce.

He didn’t think his companies would make it through and

“thought things were probably fucking doomed.” He was so
stressed out during this period that he would scream in his sleep
while having nightmares.

At one point, near the end of 2008, Tesla was a few

hours away from going bankrupt. 

20. SpaceX has been a profitable company since it almost

died in 2008 and Tesla reported its first profit of $11 million in
May 2013.

One fascinating fact about Tesla becoming profitable is that, a

few weeks earlier before the report, things had been dire and
Musk had talked with Larry Page and Google about buying the
company. A few weeks of stellar Tesla sales saved him from
having to sell.

It is also interesting that another car company, Daimler

(company that builds Mercedes Benz), acquired a ten percent
stake in Tesla in 2009.

6 Catana Darius Sorin