10 Facts About Elon Musk You Might Not Know

Elon Reeve Musk is a man who needs no introduction as he is the wealthiest man on the planet. Although Elon Musk lives a very public life, some facts about him are not that well known. Today we will talk about all things Elon Musk and take a deeper look at the billionaire himself.

He is most famous for being the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk’s ultimate goal is to put a man on Mars and eventually establish a colony on the red planet. However, there is more to the man than meets the eye.

Interesting facts about Elon Musk

1. Bullied as a child

Elon Musk was bullied and beaten up badly as a child by his classmates. This was when he was living in South Africa before moving to America. The situation was bad enough that the bullies pushed him down the stairs, and he lost consciousness.

The beating even left him with a deviated septum. Musk eventually had surgery to fix his septum because breathing became harder as he got older.

2. Supermodel Mom

Maye Musk is the mother of Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk, and Tosca Musk. She is the new face of the beauty brand CoverGirl despite being 74 years old. However, this isn’t something new for the veteran model.

Maye has been a model since she was 17 and has even appeared on boxes of Special K cereal, Revlon ads, and a Beyonce video. She was also recently featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit with four other cover models, including Kim Kardashian.

3. Elon Musk has Asperger’s syndrome

Another intriguing fact about Musk is that he has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. He revealed his diagnosis during his SNL monologue, which set off discussions across social media.

Asperger syndrome is a condition of the autism spectrum disorder. People with this condition have difficulty socializing. Their behavior and thinking patterns can be rigid and repetitive due to their all-absorbing interest in specific topics.

4. Gaming background

One of the most exciting facts about Elon Musk’s early life was that he created a space fighting game called Blastar when he was 12. He sold the video game to a PC and Office Technology magazine for $500. Musk has also worked for a gaming start-up called ‘Rocket Science Games’ in the 1990s. He helped them develop at least three games.

According to him, games helped him build interest in computer programming. He still enjoys playing games despite his busy schedule. During an interview, Musk can also be seen fangirling over the older Dues Ex games. He also mentioned playing Hearthstone, a game his kids play the most.

When asked about his favorite game, he said, “Hard to pick a favorite. I tend to like FPS with a story, like Bioshock, Fallout, or Mass Effect.” He further added that he was also a big fan of Civilisation and Warcraft.

5. Elon Musk ran a nightclub

Musk was a hustler, just like many college students during his university days. He and his roommate Andeo Ressi rented a 10-bedroom house and turned it into a nightclub. The house was big and could hold up to 1000 people from the University of Pennsylvania.

However, Musk spent most of his time playing video games or studying in his room rather than partying. He did this to pay rent and make some money on the side to pay his college tuition. This fact becomes more important if you know that Elon Musk’s family wasn’t that well off financially.

6. Elon Musk runs a school for his kids

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, goes above and beyond for his children’s education is not surprising. The billionaire opened a school at SpaceX headquarters called Ad Astra (Latin for “to the stars”). The non-profit school is attended by Musk’s children as well as children of some SpaceX employees.

He started the school to provide his children with an education that traditional school metrics on all relevant subjects. The children work in groups in the school on unique project-based learning experiences. A strong emphasis is placed on math, science, engineering, and ethics despite the school not having a grading system.

7. Father of seven kids

The fact that Elon Musk is a father to seven kids is not that surprising considering his dating life. Musk has five sons with his ex-wife Justine Wilson. Musk also dated Canadian singer Grimes and the couple gave birth to two kids.

They welcomed their son to the family tree in 2020 and named him X AE A-XII. They also had a daughter via surrogacy in December 2021, named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk. However, according to Grimes, the couple is no longer together.

8. Almost sold Tesla to Google

Elon Musk almost sold Tesla to Google for $11 billion in 2013. According to Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Musk approached Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, and CEO, for a takeover.

At the time, the company wasn’t doing that well, so Elon proposed that Google purchase Tesla for $6 billion. Musk also promised to invest $5 billion in factory expansion. The condition was that Musk would have control over Tesla for the next eight years.

Fortunately, the deal halted as sales of Model S began to pick up. According to Fortune magazine, Tesla’s current market capitalization is around $735 billion. Elon Musk himself is net worth more than $220 billion.

9. Elon Musk’s earlier business ventures

Before SpaceX and Tesla, Musk also founded two other notable companies. The first was Zip2, a company that provided newspapers with maps and business directories. Musk later sold the company to Compaq for $307 million.

Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services, and e-mail payment company. The company was later merged with PayPal. Finally, Paypal was then acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk also received $175.8 million as the largest shareholder with 11.72% of the shares.

10. Space X had a rough launch

The fact that Elon Musk had an interest in space from early on is very well known. He founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in 2002. At the time, rocket launching technologies were too expensive, and due to a lack of funding, Musk had to invest his own money.

Unfortunately, the first three SpaceX rockets failed to launch. Fortunately, the fourth rocket made it to orbit in 2008 (the first private liquid-fuel rocket to do so). After so many years, SpaceX has managed to reduce the cost of traveling to the ISS by 90 percent.

Currently, the company has many notable projects like Starlink satellite internet, Starship, and a 2023 lunar circumnavigation mission.