He essentially did with Tesla in 2008 only some 11th-hour financing, a US Department of Energy loan guarantee, and equity stakes from Daimler and Toyota enabled the company to avoid bankruptcy and build its first all-original vehicle, the Model S sedan. Musk couldn't have picked two better ways to lose all his money. But space exploration had previously required the resources of large nations, while the perceived wisdom in the auto industry, pre-Tesla, was that starting a new car company was impossible. Musk's view was that he had a chance to move the needle on global warming with Tesla - electric vehicles emit no greenhouse gases - and also pursue a "backup-biosphere" plan for Earth by using SpaceX as a way to colonize Mars, making humanity "multiplanetary," in his words. He has rarely been a seller more often, he borrows more money to buy additional shares.īefore you get mad, it's worth noting that Musk has this option only because he took the approximately $180 million he made when eBay bought PayPal - which was cofounded by Musk - in 2002 and sunk all his winnings into Tesla and SpaceX, which were at the time considered to be monumentally risky investments. It adds up to $1 billion in stock, but don't expect Musk to turn it into cash. With Tesla's market capitalization at nearly $150 billion - it's worth more than General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles combined - this isn't an issue, and Musk recently qualified for the first tranche of a big equity payday that the Tesla board approved several years ago. ![]() ![]() So Musk lives off credit: About $550 million is his current burden, owed to a trio of banks and backed by his Tesla shares. ![]() As Tim Higgins pointed out in The Wall Street Journal, Musk's 20% stake in Tesla makes him worth about $40 billion - but he can't sell any of those shares without relinquishing some control over the company or provoking a sell-off that could damage investors. That's because he's a multibillionaire, to a degree. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is sometimes accused of caring about only money, but the truth is that money is almost meaningless to him. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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