Elon Musk’s 5 Best Investments

The title of the world’s richest person can change on any given day, depending on corporate share prices—but Elon Musk has held that position many times. Famous for his business prowess, communication style, and role as a tech visionary, Musk has often been hailed as a genius.

In addition to being the owner of privately-held X (formerly Twitter), Musk is Musk the CEO and co-founder of Tesla (TSLA), the electric vehicle company. He’s also the CEO and lead designer of the aerospace company SpaceX. Elon Musk has generated his wealth primarily through companies that he founded, but part of his fortune also comes from passive investments. These make it into the top five.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Musk’s best investments include PayPal, SpaceX, DeepMind Technologies, Tesla, and The Boring Company.
• Elon Musk is an engineer, industrial designer, and technology entrepreneur known for disrupting multiple industries.
• Elon Musk often holds the distinction of being the world’s richest person.

1. PayPal

In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email payment company. A year later, X.com merged with Confinity, which in 2001 was renamed PayPal (PYPL).1

Elon Musk’s involvement with PayPal, though not without its twists, played a key role in the company’s early success.

On Oct. 3, 2002, PayPal was purchased by eBay (EBAY) for $1.5 billion. At the time of the sale, Musk owned 7,109,989 shares of PayPal, which made him the largest shareholder with a stake of 11.7%.23

Musk no longer holds a stake in PayPal. He exited his position after the sale of the company and used his proceeds from the sale to fund investments such as SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity.

2. SpaceX

In 2002, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly known as SpaceX. The company’s founding mission is to revolutionize space technology, including by developing spacecraft that carries humans to Mars and other places in the solar system.45

NASA awarded SpaceX a lucrative contract in 2006. In 2008, SpaceX launched Falcon 1, the first private liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit. In 2010, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station (ISS). In 2012, NASA granted SpaceX a second contract to help shuttle crew members between the ISS and Earth.4

SpaceX has also been heavily involved in NASA’s Artemis program, which seeks to place humans on the moon again, and eventually Mars. The first contract for SpaceX for the Artemis program was inked in 2021 for $2.9 billion. The goal is to transport astronauts aboard its Starship vehicles from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon. Another contract was awarded in 2022 for $1.15 billion.67

3. DeepMind Technologies

This is a leading artificial intelligence (AI) research lab. The artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepMind Technologies was launched in late 2010, with Musk as one of its key angel investors. In Jan. 2014, Google (GOOGL) announced that it had acquired the company for an undisclosed amount.8

$207 Billion

Elon Musk’s reported net worth as of June 8, 2023.9

Musk is famously worried about AI overtaking humans and is reported to have invested in DeepMind not to make money but to stay abreast of how rapidly the technology behind AI is developing.

DeepMind has focused much of its research on deep reinforcement learning, which is an AI technique that combines deep learning—which is primarily for recognizing patterns—with reinforcement learning. DeepMind developed this type of learning based on reward signals, such as a score in a game, and gave the technique its name in a 2013 white paper.10

In 2023, Google combined two of its AI divisions, DeepMind and the Brain team from Google Research into a new group called Google DeepMind. Google has used AI to improve some of its core products, such as Search, YouTube, and Gmail, and continues to make developments in the AI space.11

4. Tesla Motors

Elon Musk was not a founding member of Tesla but led an early round of financing in 2004. In 2008, Musk went from being a board member of Tesla to its CEO, even while still serving as the CEO of SpaceX.12

On June 28, 2010, Tesla launched its initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq with shares of common stock initially available to the public at $17 per share, and its share price has peaked at over $400 since then.1314

Tesla’s mission is to accelerate sustainable transportation by introducing mass-market electric cars to the public. In Nov. 2017, Tesla announced the creation of fully electric tractor-trailer trucks, which were preordered by companies such as United Parcel Service (UPS) and PepsiCo. The company’s electric vehicles include the Model S, the Model X, the Model 3, and the high-end Roadster supercar.1516

Tesla’s Products

• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Tesla is best known for its electric cars. They’ve produced several models including sedans, SUVs, and a pickup truck, with a second-generation Roadster planned. These EVs are known for their long range, performance, and sleek design.
• Battery Storage: Tesla also manufactures battery storage systems for homes, businesses, and even utility grids. This ties into their clean energy mission by allowing for the storage of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.
• Solar Products: Tesla offers solar panels and solar roof tiles, allowing homes and businesses to generate their own clean electricity.

Here are some additional helpful resources:

• Tesla’s website: https://www.tesla.com/
• Tesla on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.

FAST FACT

Musk owns approximately 13% of Tesla.17

5. The Boring Company

Elon Musk founded the infrastructure and tunnel construction company known as The Boring Company in 2017. The company was founded on the premise that traffic is awful but traveling above ground isn’t necessary—traffic woes could be “solved” by using the miles and miles of earth beneath roadways. The company’s goal is to reduce the cost of tunneling while also making production more efficient.18

Tunneling for Transformation:

TBC’s mission is to create a network of tunnels that can alleviate traffic congestion in major cities. Their approach focuses on:

• Faster Tunneling: They aim to develop faster and cheaper tunneling technologies compared to traditional methods. Their machines, like the Prufrock, are designed to dig at significantly higher speeds.
• Reduced Costs: By streamlining the tunneling process, TBC hopes to make underground transportation infrastructure more financially viable for widespread adoption.
• Multi-purpose Applications: The tunnels envisioned by TBC aren’t just for cars. They plan to accommodate a variety of transportation options, including high-speed electric pods and even freight.

In March 2019, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved a $48.6 million proposal from The Boring Company to build an underground tunnel, called the LVCC Loop, that would travel underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center and feature three stations and a pedestrian tunnel.19

In April 2021, The Boring Company officially opened the LVCC Loop. The company has additional projects in Hawthorne, California and Las Vegas.20

Should You Invest Like Elon Musk?

As one of the world’s richest people and founder of more than one company that has disrupted its respective industry, people around the world are interested in Elon Musk and how he’s accumulated such a fortune. Few would deny that Elon Musk is a talented entrepreneur, given the track record of his investments.

You can choose to invest in one or more of Musk’s companies but your investment and business decisions are personal choices that you should customize.

What Companies Does Elon Musk Own?

Elon Musk currently holds leadership positions and ownership stakes in several companies:

• Tesla, Inc. (CEO and Product Architect): A leading manufacturer of electric vehicles and clean energy solutions.
• SpaceX (CEO and Chief Engineer): A private aerospace manufacturer developing rockets and spacecraft for space exploration.
• X (formerly Twitter) (Owner): A social media platform acquired by Musk in 2022 and renamed in 2023.
• The Boring Company (Co-founder): A tunnel construction company aiming to create faster transportation networks.
• Neuralink (Co-founder): A neurotechnology company developing brain-computer interfaces.

Musk is primarily known for his leadership of the electric vehicle company Tesla, although he also leads SpaceX, the neurotechnology company Neuralink, Twitter, and The Boring Company.21

How Much Money Did Elon Musk Make From PayPal?

Elon Musk earned upward of $175 million when PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002, based on the total estimated purchase price of $1.5 billion. As the largest shareholder at the time of the sale, Musk held 7,109,989 shares of PayPal, an 11.7% stake.

The Bottom Line

Elon Musk has founded, led, and invested in many businesses, most of which have become very successful companies, making him one of the richest people in the world, and oftentimes, the richest. Known for his eccentric personality, Musk continues to shape different areas of the world, from electric cars to social media to space exploration.

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