How Does Elon Musk Affect The Economy

Elon Musk has been in accuse of Twitter for less than two months just could be on the cusp of stepping down as chief executive.

Since taking control of the social media business firm at the end of October, Mr Musk has certainly put his stamp on the business concern.

Many of his decisions accept proved divisive - which is pretty much what has come up to be expected of the billionaire businessman.

Since bursting onto the Silicon Valley scene more two decades ago, the 50-year-old series entrepreneur has kept the public absorbed with his business antics.

Born in S Africa, Mr Musk showed his talents for entrepreneurship early, going door-to-door with his brother selling homemade chocolate Easter eggs and developing his first computer game at the age of 12.

He has described his childhood as hard, affected by his parents' divorce, bullying at school and his own difficulty picking up on social cues because of Asperger's Syndrome. At the earliest opportunity, he left dwelling for higher, moving to Canada and so the U.s.a., where he studied economics and physics at the Academy of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League college.

In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, his starting time wife, Justine Musk, a writer who met Mr Musk in higher and married him in 2000, wrote that, fifty-fifty before his millions, Mr Musk was "not a man who takes no for an answer".

"The will to compete and boss, that made him so successful in business, did not magically close off when he came dwelling," she recalled, adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding, "I am the blastoff in this relationship."

Afterward being accepted to a physics graduate degree program at Stanford University, Mr Musk quickly dropped out and founded ii engineering start-up companies during the "dotcom boom" of the 1990s. These included a web software house and an online banking company that eventually became PayPal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $ane.5bn.

He ploughed his fortune into a new rocket company, SpaceX - which he aimed to brand a toll-effective alternative to Nasa - and a new electric car company, Tesla, where he chaired the board until condign chief executive in 2008.

The ii firms are credited with upending their industries, fifty-fifty equally they sometimes veered close to financial collapse.

"I'm never hugely convinced that he knows what he wants to do tomorrow," says journalist Chris Stokel-Walker. "He very much leads past instinct."

In a 2015 biography, author Ashlee Vance described Mr Musk equally "a confrontational know-information technology-all" with an "abundant ego". But he besides called him an awkward dancer and diffident public speaker.

Divorced 3 times - twice to the same adult female - Mr Musk is frank nearly his vices, regularly discussing his fondness for marijuana.

In the press, he's been dubbed both a mad genius and Twitter's biggest troll - known every bit much for his lofty ambitions as his niggling fights, not to mention the more serious lawsuits he and his companies have faced from regulators, investors and others over problems such as racial discrimination and the trustworthiness of his claims.

"If yous list my sins, I sound similar the worst person on Globe," Mr Musk said in a contempo TED interview. "But if you put those against the things I've washed right, it makes much more sense."

All those contradictions appears to be office of his appeal - and it certainly hasn't stopped him from amassing a fortune.

Forbes and Bloomberg had ranked him every bit the world'south richest person, with a net worth of near $250bn. However, he has since been knocked off that gilded perch by Bernard Arnault, master executive of French luxury goods group LVMH, possessor of brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.

Still, Mr Musk is non exactly impoverished with a fortune of around $178bn. That's based largely on the value of his shares in Tesla, of which he owns more than thirteen%. The company's stock soared in value - some say unreasonably - in 2020 as the firm'southward output increased and information technology started to deliver regular profits. Nevertheless, the shares have more than than halved this twelvemonth, with some blaming the distraction of the Twitter takeover for the fall.

Mr Musk likewise champions digital currencies and has a hand in several other smaller companies, including tunnel-maker the Dull Company and experimental brain-calculator start-up Neuralink.

Mr Musk, who wears the mantle of a workaholic proudly, has oftentimes said he's not in business simply to make money - claims he repeated recently with regard to his Twitter takeover.

"Elon simply gets involved with things if he feels that they're critically important for some reason... for the sake of club or humanity," says friend and Tesla investor Ross Gerber.

Mr Musk, who became a US citizen in 2002, has resisted efforts to label his politics - calling himself "one-half-Democrat, half-Republican", "politically moderate" and "independent".

That doesn't mean he'due south shied away from political debate.

He has injected himself into some of the world's hottest geopolitical fights - suggesting that China should establish a "special authoritative zone" in Taiwan, and proposing terms to resolve the war in Ukraine that were adamantly rejected by many of the land's height leaders.

In the U.s.a., he moved to Texas, complaining of California's regulations and loftier taxes; has clashed with union organisers; and, in the leap of 2020, decried coronavirus lockdowns every bit "fascist".

He was one of the first business executives to part ways with quondam President Donald Trump, quitting a White Firm business council subsequently Mr Trump withdrew the U.s. from a global climate agreement.

Just he'south as well made information technology clear he's not a fan of President Joe Biden, whom he sees as snubbing Tesla while promoting electric vehicles.

Direct political donations are relatively pocket-sized for a man of his wealth - having donated simply $100,000 since 2004, co-ordinate to Politico - adequately evenly split between the parties, at least in the early years: he gave to quondam President Barack Obama in 2011 and Autonomous candidate Hillary Clinton in 2015, though more recently has focused on Republicans.

The American Ceremonious Liberties Marriage, a Us non-profit organisation known for its title of values such as free speech, has recognised him every bit a top supporter. However, reports advise most of Mr Musk's donations take gone to his ain charitable foundations, which will, eventually, disburse the funds.

He said recently that he sees his businesses as a form of philanthropy, because they are focused on solving major human being issues, such equally climatic change in the instance of Tesla.

Concluding autumn, when the head of the Un World Nutrient Programme chosen on billionaires to make 1-time donations to solve the world's nutrient crisis, Mr Musk responded with scepticism to the claiming.