Elon Musk and His Earnings: How Did Musk Become the Richest Man?

Find out staggering information and secrets about the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, and how he made his way through the No. 1 spot.

Elon Musk is the CEO of three companies: Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity. He is a billionaire, self-taught programmer and engineer who has been featured on the covers of Fortune and Time.

In 2013, The Atlantic named him the greatest inventor of the day. Moreover, he was nominated by leaders at Yahoo, Oracle, and Google. Musk is seen as the driving force behind the future of technology due to his brilliance, vision, and ambition.

How Much is Elon Musk Net Worth?

It’s important to note that Elon Musk’s net worth of approximately $198.9 billion is not a sum of money he receives daily. However, it fluctuates with the stock prices of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX. 

As the CEO, his salary is modest, and the real potential for wealth comes from stock options, which grant him the right to purchase company shares at a predetermined price in the future.

Daily Earnings of Elon Musk

Calculating Elon Musk’s daily earnings can be challenging. The reason sits behind oversimplification; some methods simply divide the rise in his net worth over a certain period by the number of days. 

Focusing on the change in net worth may not give an accurate picture. Most importantly, the net worth of the stock assets can fluctuate without a tangible reason just because of market volatility.

Looking at a short-term increase is not a reliable indicator of sustainable daily income, as a single large stock option exercise can significantly inflate the daily figure for that day.

Rather than relying on a single daily number, considering the annualized income, which is a reported figure of approximately $413,220 per hour for Musk, based on his ownership stake, is more informative. However, this figure is spread across working hours, not a guaranteed daily income.

Exercising stock options can bring substantial one-time gains but not a regular daily income. Focusing solely on daily earnings does not completely explain Musk’s motivations. It is likely that his primary drive is not a daily paycheck, and other factors, such as his vision and passion for a better future, may be more relevant.

The idea of Elon Musk earning a fixed amount every 24 hours is a myth, as his wealth is a complex interplay of several factors. Understanding this is crucial to appreciate the bigger picture: a visionary leader driven by the pursuit of a better future, which is not funded by a daily paycheck but by the success of his ambitious endeavors.

Humble Beginnings of Elon Musk

Musk was born in South Africa, and at 17, he moved to Canada. He started his career cleaning the boiler room of a lumber mill and then secured an internship at a bank by cold-calling a top executive. 

After studying physics and economics in Canada and at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he enrolled in a PhD program at Stanford. Still, he dropped out after a couple of days. 

In 1995, he cofounded Zip2, a company that provided an online map of businesses, similar to primitive Google Maps, which meets Yelp. Although Musk was not the most skilled coder, he worked around the clock and slept on a beanbag next to his desk. 

According to an early employee, Musk’s drive was what the VCs saw; he was willing to stake his existence in building out the platform. After Compaq acquired Zip2 in 1999, Musk helped found an online financial services company that eventually became PayPal. 

It was when he began to hone his trademark style of entering a complex business and not letting the fact that he knew very little about the industry’s nuances bother him, as Vance writes in his book. 

The First Success of SpaceX

In 2008, after three unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX launched its first rocket and secured a $1.6 billion contract from NASA for flights to the International Space Station. Today, most of the company’s work and plans involve flights to the ISS, which exists only through public investment. The fundamental technology of space travel heavily depends on NASA-funded work. It does not diminish the company’s innovations, especially in decreasing the cost of rocket launches and making space exploration more accessible to non-billionaires. 

Musk’s Self Credit Tendencies

Musk tends to sell himself as an individual mover of mountains and often dislikes sharing credit for his success. The engineers at SpaceX were infuriated whenever they saw Musk claiming in the media that he had designed the Falcon rocket almost entirely on his own.

Musk heavily relies on people with more technical expertise in rockets and cars and more experience with aeronautics and energy.

One could argue that Martin Eberhard, one of the founders of Tesla and who served as its first CEO, played a more significant role in its engineering accomplishments. However, he had a contentious dispute with Elon Musk and departed from the company several years ago.

Musk’s first Web software company was founded with his brother using money loaned by their father, and it was aimed at helping the newspaper industry put together “city guides” for online users. After considering and ultimately rejecting a merger with CitySearch (IACI), Compaq bought Zip2 for $307 million in 1999, and Musk received $22 million from the sale.

Musk’s enterprises are reliant on public support and timing, a fact that Musk tries to conceal. When he protests against NASA’s regulations or overlooks SpaceX’s interdependence with the agency, he may appear to be delusional. However, considering his downsides and upsides, his success is a great example for his followers.

Summary

Elon Musk, named the greatest inventor of the day by The Atlantic in 2013, is driven by his vision and passion for a better future rather than a daily paycheck. His wealth is a complex interplay of factors, and his success is an excellent example for his followers.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions stated by the author, or any people named in this article, are for informational purposes only. They do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading in stocks, s or related indexes comes with a risk of financial loss.

Ritika Sharma

With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.