How Elon Musk Turned a PayPal Paycheck Into a Multibillion-Dollar Empire
Before he became a trailblazing entrepreneur whose companies were synonymous with innovation and species-wide betterment, and then later, a polarizing and controversial political provocateur who used his astronomical wealth to purchase unprecedented access to the levers of power, Musk was a Stanford dropout who hit the ground running just as the nascent internet era was poised to mint a new generation of industry titans.
Here's how he used a successful startup called PayPal as a springboard for building a personal fortune that Forbes measures at over $400 billion.
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Midway through the 20th century's final decade, Musk and his brother used a loan from their father to co-found Zip2, a company that created online city guides for newspapers. Four years later, Musk partied like it was 1999 when Compaq bought Zip2 for $307 million.
According to Inc., the acquisition transformed Musk from a struggling, aspiring founder who sometimes slept on floors to a self-made millionaire at the age of 27. More importantly, it provided him with the capital to fund the endeavor that would ultimately bring him fame and a much greater fortune.
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Musk wasted no time putting his Compaq windfall to work, using it to finance his next startup, an online payment company called X.com. He would later rename Twitter and call one of his children 'X.' The next year, X.com became PayPal when it merged with Confinity. Two years later, in 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion, turning Elon Musk into a centimillionaire and a transformative figure of the digital age.
With rising clout, a string of successes and substantial capital now at his disposal, Musk directed his growing resources and tireless ambition to turning his childhood passions into the basis of his future empire.
In 2002, he launched the space exploration company SpaceX.
In 2004, he became an early investor and board member with Tesla, which he would later helm as CEO. The electric vehicle maker would become the centerpiece of his public persona and provide the foundation for his massive fortune.
In 2006, Musk conceptualized and financed SolarCity, a solar energy company that Tesla would later buy.
According to Inc., Elon Musk's net worth surpassed $1 billion when he was 41 years old.
Musk co-founded the artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI in 2015. The very next year, he launched the brain computer company Neuralink and a tunnel-digging firm called The Boring Company.
All three endeavors fit the Musk mold — innovative, aspirational and high-tech companies with mission statements focused on advancing the human species and the technologies that drive its progress.
However, that year's presidential election signaled the start of the Trump era — and the beginning of the end of Musk's nearly universal appeal as an apolitical immigrant success story and self-made business magnate whose fortune was built on his ability to manifest grandiose ideas about bettering and eventually leaving the planet. He's now one of the most divisive public figures on Earth and reviled in many circles — but he's still plenty rich.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Elon Musk Turned a PayPal Paycheck Into a Multibillion-Dollar Empire
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