In 1989, Musk attended school at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He then completed a bachelor’s degree in economics and another in physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his education at the Stanford University, where he started his Ph.D. in energy physics. However, Musk opted to drop out of the program to take advantage of the Internet boom at the time.

After leaving Stanford, Musk started his first company called Zip2 Corporation which was a city guide available online. The success of this venture was later on marked by their collaboration with The New York Times and Chicago Tribune when the two decided to launch their own websites. Musk then sold Zip2 in 1999 to Compaq Computer Corporation for $307 million and stock options worth $34 million.

On the same year, Musk co-created financial services and payment company called X.com. In 2000, this company was acquired and renamed as PayPal. In 2002, eBay went on to acquire the company for $1.5 billion in stock. Prior to this huge sale, Musk held 11 percent of the shares.

Also in 2002, Musk created SpaceX in an effort to take part in the building and development of spacecraft. Ultimately, he envisions making commercial space travel possible. By 2008, this company was awarded a NASA contract that entrusted with cargo transportation for the International Space Station. Part of Musk’s future plans for SpaceX involves landing a NASA agreement that would allow them to handle astronaut transportation, which would see his company providing the spacecraft for future space shuttle exploits. Thus far, the successes of the Falcon 9 Rockets are eyed as precedents of Musk’s eventual dominance in space-related missions.

Meanwhile, Tesla has managed to surpass General Motors and was hailed as the most valued carmaker in the United States in April of 2017. Apart from leading the market in offering reasonably priced electric cars, the company’s strategic collaboration with Toyota has made it one of the most widely recognized vehicle manufacturers today.