Tesla
What was the name of the employer Elon Musk work for from Apr 2004 to Dec 2015?
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28 , 1971 ) is an entrepreneur and business magnate . He is the founder , CEO , and chief engineer at SpaceX ; early stage investor , CEO , and product architect of Tesla , Inc. ; founder of The Boring Company ; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI . A centibillionaire , Musk is one of the richest people in the world . Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father and raised in Pretoria , South Africa . He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada aged 17 to attend Queens University . He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later , where he received bachelors degrees in economics and physics . He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but decided instead to pursue a business career , co-founding the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal . The startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999 . Musk co-founded online bank X.com that same year , which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal . The company was bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion . In 2002 , Musk founded SpaceX , an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company , of which he is CEO and CTO . In 2004 , he joined electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors , Inc . ( now Tesla , Inc. ) as chairman and product architect , becoming its CEO in 2008 . In 2006 , he helped create SolarCity , a solar energy services company that was later acquired by Tesla and became Tesla Energy . In 2015 , he co-founded OpenAI , a nonprofit research company that promotes friendly artificial intelligence . In 2016 , he co-founded Neuralink , a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces , and founded The Boring Company , a tunnel construction company . Musk has proposed the Hyperloop , a high-speed vactrain transportation system . Musk has been the subject of criticism due to unorthodox or unscientific stances and highly publicized controversies . In 2018 , he was sued for defamation by a diver who advised in the Tham Luang cave rescue ; a California jury ruled in favor of Musk . In the same year , he was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) for falsely tweeting that he had secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla . He settled with the SEC , temporarily stepping down from his chairmanship and accepting limitations on his Twitter usage . Musk has spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and has received criticism from experts for his other views on such matters as artificial intelligence and public transport . Early life . Childhood and family . Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28 , 1971 , in Pretoria , South Africa . His mother is Maye Musk ( ) , a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan , Canada , but raised in South Africa . His father is Errol Musk , a South African electromechanical engineer , pilot , sailor , consultant , and property developer . Musk has a younger brother , Kimbal ( born 1972 ) , and a younger sister , Tosca ( born 1974 ) . His maternal grandfather , Joshua Haldeman , was an American-born Canadian , and Musk has British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry . After his parents divorced in 1980 , Musk mostly lived with his father in Pretoria and elsewhere , a choice he made two years after the divorce and subsequently regretted . Musk has become estranged from his father , whom he has described as a terrible human being.. . Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of , he has done . He has a half-sister and a half-brother on his fathers side . Aged 10 , Musk developed an interest in computing while using the Commodore VIC-20 . He learned computer programming using a manual and , by age 12 , sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500 . An awkward and introverted child , Musk was bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs . He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School . Education . Aware it would be easier to enter the United States from Canada , Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother . While awaiting the documentation , he attended the University of Pretoria for five months ; this allowed Musk to avoid mandatory service in the South African military . Arriving in Canada in June 1989 , Musk failed to locate his great-uncle in Montreal and instead stayed at a youth hostel . He then traveled west to live with a second-cousin in Saskatchewan . He stayed there for a year , working odd jobs at a farm and lumber-mill . In 1990 , Musk entered Queens University in Kingston , Ontario . Two years later , he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania ( UPenn ) ; he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science ( BS ) degree in economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts ( BA ) degree in physics from UPenn School of Arts and Sciences . In 1994 , Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley during the summer : at an energy storage startup called Pinnacle Research Institute , which researched electrolytic ultracapacitors for energy storage , and at the Palo Alto-based startup Rocket Science Games . In 1995 , Musk was accepted to a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) program in materials science at Stanford University in California . Musk attempted to get a job at Netscape but never received a response to his inquiries . He dropped out of Stanford after two days , deciding instead to join the Internet boom and launch an Internet startup . Business career . Zip2 . In 1995 , Musk , Kimbal , and Greg Kouri founded web software company Zip2 with funds from angel investors . They housed the venture at a small rented office in Palo Alto . The company developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry , with maps , directions , and yellow pages . Musk says that before the company became successful , he could not afford an apartment and instead rented an office and slept on the couch and showered at the YMCA , and shared one computer with his brother . According to Musk , The website was up during the day and I was coding it at night , seven days a week , all the time . The Musk brothers obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune , and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger with CitySearch . Musks attempts to become CEO , a position held by its Chairman Rich Sorkin , were thwarted by the board . Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999 . Musk received $22 million for his 7-percent share . X.com and PayPal . In 1999 , Musk co-founded X.com , an online financial services and e-mail payment company . The startup was one of the first online banks to be federally insured , and , within its initial months , over 200,000 customers joined the service . The companys investors saw Musk as inexperienced and had him replaced with Intuit CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year . The following year , X.com merged with online bank Confinity to prevent unnecessary competition . Founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel , Confinity had its own money-transfer service , PayPal , which was more popular than X.coms service . Within the merged company , Musk returned as CEO . Musks preference for Microsoft software over Linux created a rift in the company and caused Thiel to resign . Due to resulting technological issues and lack of a cohesive business model , the board ousted Musk and replaced him with Thiel in September 2000 . Under Thiel , the company focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal in 2001 . In 2002 , PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock , of which Musk—the largest shareholder with 11.7%—received over $100 million . In 2017 , Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount , explaining it has sentimental value . SpaceX . In 2001 , Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society . He was inspired by plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars and discussed funding the project himself . In October 2001 , Musk traveled to Moscow to buy refurbished Intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBMs ) that could send the greenhouse payloads into space . He met with companies NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras ; however , Musk was seen as a novice and was even spat on by one of the Russian chief designers . The group returned to the United States empty-handed . In February 2002 , the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs . They had another meeting with Kosmotras and were offered one rocket for $8 million , which Musk rejected . Musk instead decided to start a company that could build affordable rockets . With $100 million of his early fortune , Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , traded as SpaceX , in May 2002 . As of 2021 , he remains the companys CEO and also holds the title of chief engineer . After three failed launches , SpaceX succeeded in launching the Falcon 1 in 2008 . It was the first private liquid-fuel rocket to reach Earth orbit . Later that year , SpaceX received a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services program contract for 12 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station , replacing the Space Shuttle after its 2011 retirement . In 2012 , the Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS , a first for a private enterprise . Working towards its goal of reusable rockets , in 2015 , SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 . Landings were later achieved on an autonomous spaceport drone ship , an ocean-based recovery platform . In 2018 , SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy ; the inaugural mission carried a Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload . In 2017 , SpaceX unveiled its next-generation launch vehicle and spacecraft system , Big Falcon Rocket ( BFR ) , which would support all SpaceX launch service provider capabilities . In 2018 , SpaceX announced a planned 2023 lunar circumnavigation mission , a private flight called dearMoon project . In 2020 , SpaceX launched its first manned flight , the Demo-2 , becoming the first private company to place a person into orbit and dock a crewed space-craft with the ISS . SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites in 2015 to provide satellite Internet access , with the first two prototype satellites launched in February 2018 . A second set of test satellites and the first large deployment of a piece of the constellation occurred in May 2019 , when the first 60 operational satellites were launched . The total cost of the decade-long project to design , build , and deploy the constellation is estimated by SpaceX to be about $10 billion . Tesla . Tesla , Inc.—originally Tesla Motors—was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning , who financed the company until the Series A round of funding . Both men played active roles in the companys early development prior to Musks involvement . Musk led the Series A round of investment in 2004 , joining Teslas board of directors as chairman . Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations . Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis , Eberhard was ousted from the firm . Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008 . A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder , along with Tarpenning and two others . Tesla first built an electric sports car , the Roadster , in 2008 . With sales of about 2,500 vehicles , it was the first serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells . Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan in 2012 ; a cross-over , the Model X was launched in 2015 . A mass market sedan , the Model 3 was released in 2017 . , it is the worlds best-selling electric car , with more than 500,000 units delivered . A fifth vehicle , the Model Y crossover , was launched in 2020 . The Cybertruck , an all-electric pickup truck , was unveiled in 2019 . Under Musk , Tesla has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle subassembly factories , such as Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and Gigafactory 3 in China . Since its initial public offering in 2010 , Tesla stock has risen significantly ; it became the most valuable carmaker in summer 2020 . It entered the S&P 500 later that year . SEC lawsuit . In September 2018 , Musk was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) for a tweet claiming funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private . The lawsuit claimed that discussions Musk held with foreign investors in July 2018 did not confirm key deal terms and thus characterized the tweet as false , misleading , and damaging to investors , and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies . Musk called the allegations unjustified and claimed he had never compromised his integrity . Two days later , Musk settled with the SEC , without admitting or denying the SECs allegations . As a result , Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each , and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO . Musk has stated in interviews he does not regret the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation . On February 19 , 2019 , Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019 . The SEC reacted to Musks tweet by filing in court , initially asking the court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of a settlement agreement with such a tweet , which was disputed by Musk . This was eventually settled by a joint agreement between Musk and the SEC clarifying the previous agreement details . The agreement included a list of topics that Musk would need preclearance before tweeting about . In May 2020 , a judge prevented a lawsuit from proceeding that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price ( too high ) violated the agreement . SolarCity and Tesla Energy . Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity , which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive co-founded in 2006 . By 2013 , SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States . In 2014 , Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo , New York , triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States . Construction on the factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017 . It operated as a joint venture with Panasonic until early 2020 when Panasonic departed . Tesla acquired SolarCity for over $2 billion in 2016 and merged it with its battery energy storage products division to create Tesla Energy . The announcement of the deal resulted in a more than 10% drop in Teslas stock price . At the time , SolarCity was facing liquidity issues ; however , Tesla shareholders were not informed . Consequently , multiple shareholder groups filed a lawsuit against Musk and Teslas directors , claiming that the purchase of SolarCity was done solely to benefit Musk and came at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders . During a June 2019 court deposition , Musk acknowledged that the company reallocated every possible employee from the solar division to work on the Model 3 , and , according to Musk , as a result , solar suffered . This had not previously been disclosed to shareholders . Court documents unsealed in 2019 have confirmed that Musk was also aware of the companys liquidity issues . Tesla directors settled the lawsuit in January 2020 , leaving Musk the sole remaining defendant . Neuralink . In 2016 , Musk co-founded Neuralink , a neurotechnology startup company to integrate the human brain with AI . Neuralinks purpose is to create devices that are embedded in the human brain to facilitate the merging of the brain with machines . The devices will also reconcile with the latest improvements in artificial intelligence to stay updated . Such improvements could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software more effectively . At a live demonstration in August 2020 , Musk described one of their early devices as a Fitbit in your skull that could soon cure paralysis , deafness , blindness , and other disabilities . Many neuroscientists and publications criticized these claims ; MIT Technology Review described them as highly speculative and neuroscience theater . The Boring Company . In 2016 , Musk founded The Boring Company to construct tunnels . In early 2017 , they began discussions with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a wide , long , and deep test trench on the premises of SpaceXs offices as it required no permits . A tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021 . Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system . As a merchandising and publicity stunt , The Boring Company sold 2,000 novelty flamethrowers in 2018 . The idea was allegedly inspired by the Mel Brooks-directed film Spaceballs ( 1987 ) . Managerial style and treatment of employees . Musks managerial style and treatment of his employees has been heavily criticized . One person who worked closely with Musk said he exhibits a high level of degenerate behavior such as paranoia and bullying . Another person described him as exhibiting total and complete pathological sociopathy . Business Insider reported that Tesla employees were told not to walk past Musks desk because of his wild firing rampages . The Wall Street Journal reported that , after Musk insisted on branding his vehicles as self-driving , he faced criticism from his engineers , some of whom resigned in response , with one stating that Musks reckless decision making.. . ha [ d ] potentially put customer lives at risk . Other efforts . Hyperloop . In 2013 , Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain , assigning a dozen engineers from Tesla and SpaceX to establish the conceptual foundations and create initial designs . On August 12 , 2013 , Musk unveiled the concept , which he dubbed the Hyperloop . The alpha design for the system was published in a whitepaper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs . The document scoped out the technology and outlined a notional route where such a transport system could be built between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area at an estimated total cost of $6 billion . The proposal , if technologically feasible at the costs he has cited , would make Hyperloop travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances . In June 2015 , Musk announced a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track in a 2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition . The track was used in January 2017 , and Musk also announced that the company started a tunnel project with Hawthorne airport as its destination . In July 2017 , Musk claimed that he had received verbal government approval to build a hyperloop from New York City to Washington , D.C. , stopping in both Philadelphia and Baltimore . OpenAI . In December 2015 , Musk announced the creation of OpenAI , a not-for-profit artificial intelligence ( AI ) research company aiming to develop artificial general intelligence intended to be safe and beneficial to humanity . A particular focus of the company is to counteract large corporations [ and governments ] who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence systems . In 2018 , Musk left the OpenAI board to avoid possible future conflicts with his role as CEO of Tesla as Tesla increasingly became involved in AI through Tesla Autopilot . Tham Luang cave rescue and defamation case . In July 2018 , Musk arranged for his employees to build a small rescue pod to assist the rescue of children stuck in a flooded cavern in Thailand . Named Wild Boar after the childrens soccer team , its design was a -long , -wide sealed tube weighing about propelled manually by divers in the front and back with segmented compartments to place diver weights to adjust buoyancy , intended to solve the problem of safely extracting the children . Engineers at SpaceX and The Boring Company built the mini-submarine out of a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen transfer tube in eight hours and personally delivered it to Thailand . However , by this time , eight of the 12 children had already been rescued using full face masks and oxygen under anesthesia and Thai authorities declined to use the submarine . Vernon Unsworth , a recreational caver who had been exploring the cave for the previous six years and played a key advisory role in the rescue , criticized the submarine on CNN as amounting to nothing more than a public relations effort with no chance of success , and that Musk had no conception of what the cave passage was like and can stick his submarine where it hurts . Musk asserted on Twitter that the device would have worked and referred to Unsworth as pedo guy . He subsequently deleted the tweets , along with an earlier tweet in which he told another critic of the device , Stay tuned jackass . On July 16 , Unsworth stated that he was considering legal action . Two days later , Musk issued an apology for his remarks . Then , on August 28 , 2018 , in response to criticism from a writer on Twitter , Musk tweeted , You dont think its strange he hasnt sued me ? The following day , a letter dated August 6 from L . Lin Wood , the rescuers attorney , emerged , showing that he had been making preparations for a libel lawsuit . Around this time , James Howard-Higgins emailed Musk claiming to be a private investigator and with an offer to dig deep into Unsworths past , which Musk accepted ; Higgins was later revealed to be a convicted felon with multiple counts of fraud . On August 30 , using details produced during the alleged investigation , Musk sent a BuzzFeed News reporter who had written about the controversy an email prefaced with off the record , telling the reporter to stop defending child rapists , you fucking asshole and claiming that Unsworth is a single white guy from England whos been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years.. . until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time . On September 5 , the reporter tweeted a screenshot of the email , saying that Off the record is a two-party agreement , which he did not agree to . In September , Unsworth filed a defamation suit in Los Angeles federal court . In his defense , Musk argued that in slang usage pedo guy was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up.. . synonymous with creepy old man and is used to insult a persons appearance and demeanor . The defamation case began in December 2019 , with Unsworth seeking $190 million in damages . During the trial Musk apologized to Unsworth again for the tweet . On December 6 , the jury found in favor of Musk and ruled he was not liable . 2018 Joe Rogan podcast appearance . On September 6 , 2018 , Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and discussed various topics for over two hours . One of the highest-profile and controversial aspects of the program was Musks sampling a single puff from a cigar consisting , Joe Rogan claimed , of tobacco laced with cannabis . The Washington Post observed that , In the medias hands , it became a story about Musks growing instability . Tesla stock dropped after the incident , which coincided with the confirmation of the departure of Teslas vice president of worldwide finance earlier that day . Fortune wondered if the cannabis use could have ramifications for SpaceX contracts with the United States Air Force , though an Air Force spokesperson told The Verge that there was no investigation and that the Air Force was still processing the situation . In a 60 Minutes interview , Musk said of the incident : I do not smoke pot . As anybody who watched that podcast could tell , I have no idea how to smoke pot . Music ventures . On March 30 , 2019 , Musk released a rap track , RIP Harambe , on SoundCloud as Emo G Records . The track , which is an allusion to the killing of Harambe and the subsequent tasteless Internet sensationalism surrounding the event , was performed by Yung Jake , written by Yung Jake and Caroline Polachek , and produced by BloodPop . On January 30 , 2020 , Musk released an EDM track , Dont Doubt Ur Vibe , featuring his own lyrics and vocals . While Guardian critic Alexi Petridis described it as indistinguishable.. . from umpteen competent but unthrilling bits of bedroom electronica posted elsewhere on Soundcloud , TechCrunch said it was not a bad representation of the genre . Donations and non-profits . Musk is chairman of the Musk Foundation , which states its purpose is to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas as well as other goals . Since 2002 , the foundation has made over 350 contributions . Around half were to scientific research or education nonprofits . Notable beneficiaries include the Wikimedia Foundation , his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania , and Kimballs Big Green . Vox described the foundation as entertaining in its simplicity and yet is strikingly opaque , noting that its website was only 33 words in plain-text . The foundation has been criticized for the relatively small amount of wealth donated . From 2002 to 2018 , it gave out $25 million directly to non-profits , nearly half of which went to Musks OpenAI , which was at the time a non-profit organization . Musk is also a trustee of the X Prize Foundation . In January 2021 , he promised to donate $100 million as a prize to whomever developed the best carbon capture technology . Wealth . Musk made $165 million when PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002 . He was first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012 , with a net worth of $2 billion . At the start of 2020 , Musk had a net worth of $27 billion . Throughout that year , his net worth increased by $150 billion , largely driven by his ownership of around 20% of Tesla stock . During this , Musks net worth was often volatile . For example , it dropped $16.3 billion in September , the largest single-day plunge in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index . In November of that year , Musk passed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to become the third-richest person in the world ; a week later he passed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the second-richest . In January 2021 , Musk , with a net worth of $185 billion , surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world . Bezos reclaimed the top spot the following month . Around three-quarters of Musks wealth derives from Tesla . Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla ; he agreed in 2018 to a compensation plan with the board that ties his personal earnings to Teslas valuation and revenue . The deal stipulated that Musk only receives the compensation if Tesla reaches certain market values . It was the largest such deal ever done between a CEO and board . In the first award , given in May 2020 , he was eligible to purchase 1.69 million TSLA shares ( about 1% of the company ) at below-market prices , which was worth about $800 million . Musk has repeatedly described himself as cash poor , and has professed to have little interest in the material trappings of wealth . In 2012 , Musk signed The Giving Pledge and , in May 2020 , Musk pledged to sell almost all physical possessions . In 2021 , Musk defended his wealth by saying he is accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary [ and ] extend the light of consciousness to the stars . He owns a private jet . The jets heavy use of fossil fuels—it flew over 150,000 miles in 2018—has received criticism . Views . Politics . In an interview with The Washington Post , Musk stated he was a significant ( though not top-tier ) donor to Democrats , but that he also gives heavily to Republicans . Musk further stated that political contributions are a requirement to have a voice in the United States government . Musk has criticized Donald Trump and after joining Trumps two business advisory councils , Musk resigned from both in June 2017 in protest against Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement . In the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries , Musk endorsed candidate Andrew Yang and expressed support for his proposed universal basic income ; he endorsed Kanye Wests independent campaign in the general election . Musk has stated that he thinks a theoretical government on Mars should be direct democracy . In July 2020 , Musk tweeted Pronouns suck to significant backlash on Twitter , including from his partner Grimes . The tweet has been perceived by some as transphobic and an attack on non-binary identities . In a series of December 2020 tweets , Musk again mocked the use of pronouns . The Human Rights Campaign , which had previously given Tesla the number one ranking on its Corporate Equality Index , criticized his tweets and called for him to apologize . Musk has stated that he does not believe the US government should provide subsidies to companies but should instead use a carbon tax to discourage poor behavior . Musk says that the free market would achieve the best solution , and that producing environmentally unfriendly vehicles should come with its own consequences . His stance has been called hypocritical as his businesses have received billions of dollars in subsidies . Musk , a longtime opponent of short-selling , has repeatedly criticized the practice and argued it should be illegal . Musks opposition to short-selling has been speculated to stem from how short-sellers often organize and publish opposition research about the companies that they believe to be currently overvalued . In early 2021 , he encouraged the GameStop short squeeze . Musk has also regularly promoted cryptocurrencies , stating that he supports them over traditional government-issued fiat currencies . Given the volatile effects that his tweets about them have , his statements around cryptocurrencies have been viewed as market manipulations by critics such as Nouriel Roubini . COVID-19 . Musk was criticized for his public comments and conduct related to the COVID-19 pandemic . He spread misinformation about the virus , including promoting chloroquine and claiming that death statistics were manipulated . He claimed that Kids are essentially immune to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus , and called the coronavirus panic...dumb . Musk repeatedly criticized lockdowns and violated local orders by re-opening the Tesla Fremont factory . In March 2020 , Musk predicted there would be close to zero new cases in US too by end of April . Politico later labeled this statement one of the most audacious , confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications [ in 2020 ] . In November 2020 , the phrase Space Karen trended on Twitter in connection with Musk after he tweeted misinformation about the effectiveness of COVID-19 testing . In April 2021 , he tweeted a modified version of a Ben Garrison cartoon with a caricature of Bill Gates and an anti-vaxxer message , before later deleting it . Also in March 2020 , Musk offered to donate ventilators which Tesla would build or buy from a third party . Multiple hospitals noted that the devices eventually donated were BiPAP and CPAP machines , not the sought-after ventilators , but the machines could still be used to free up ventilators for the sickest patients . In 2021 , findings of an antibody-testing program that Musk and a SpaceX medical executive worked with doctors and academic researchers to create were published in Nature Communications with Musk listed as a co-author . Artificial intelligence and public transit . Musk has frequently spoken about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence ( AI ) , repeatedly calling it the greatest threat to humanity . Musks opinions about AI have provoked controversy . Consequently , according to CNBC , Musk is not always looked upon favorably by the AI research community . Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have clashed on the issue , with Zuckerberg calling his warnings pretty irresponsible . Musks claims that humans live in a computer simulation have also been criticized . Despite his companies dealing in various areas of transportation , Musk has criticized public transportation , a stance that has been called elitist . His comments have sparked widespread criticism from both transportation and urban planning experts . Personal life . Musk met his first wife , Canadian author Justine Wilson , while attending Queens University . They married in 2000 and separated in 2008 . Their first child , son Nevada Alexander Musk , died of sudden infant death syndrome ( SIDS ) at the age of 10 weeks . They share custody of their five surviving children , all sons . In 2008 , Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley , and in 2010 , the couple married . In 2012 , Musk announced a divorce from Riley . In 2013 , Musk and Riley remarried . In December 2014 , Musk filed for a second divorce from Riley ; however , the action was withdrawn . A second divorce was finalized in 2016 . Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017 ; he had reportedly been pursuing her since 2012 . Musk was later accused of having an affair with Heard while she was still married to Johnny Depp . In May 2018 , Musk and Canadian musician Grimes revealed that they were dating . Grimes gave birth to their son in May 2020 . According to Musk and Grimes , his name was ; however , the name would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet , and was then changed to . This drew more confusion , as Æ is not a letter in the modern English alphabet . The child was eventually named , with X as a first name and as a middle name . From the early 2000s until late 2020 , Musk resided in California where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded and where their headquarters are still located . As of December 2020 , Musk resides in Texas . While hosting Saturday Night Live in May 2021 , Musk said that he has Asperger syndrome . In popular culture . Musk has had multiple cameos and appearances in films such as Iron Man 2 ( 2010 ) , Why Him ? ( 2016 ) , and ( 2019 ) . Television series on which he has appeared include The Simpsons ( 2015 ) , The Big Bang Theory ( 2015 ) , South Park ( 2016 ) , Rick and Morty ( 2019 ) , and Saturday Night Live ( 2021 ) . He has contributed interviews to the documentaries Racing Extinction ( 2015 ) and the Werner Herzog-directed Lo and Behold ( 2016 ) . Recognition . Musk has received recognition and praise for his contributions to business and technology . He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2018 and was listed among Time magazines 100 Most Influential People in 2010 , 2013 , and 2018 . He has received various other awards , such as the Order of the Direkgunabhorn given for his contributions to the Tham Luang cave rescue . External links . - Forbes Profile