10 Surprising and Crazy Facts About Elon Musk

The world's richest man has had great success with Tesla, SpaceX and PayPal. But you might not know this about him.

1. He almost sold Tesla to Google

According to Ashley Vance's book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future," at a difficult time in Tesla's history, Musk reached out to Google CEO Larry Page about buying the failed car company.~

The two reportedly initially agreed to a sale price of $6 billion in 2013, but that never happened.

2. He’s made cameos in movies and TV

Yes, Musk has an IMDb page. His first cameo was in the 2010 movie "Iron Man 2" and he played himself in TV's "The Big Bang Theory."

And if liveaction isn't your thing, Musk can try "The Simpsons," "South Park" ," and a cartoon version of himself in "Rick and Morty".

3. He dropped out of Stanford

Musk stayed at Stanford for two days before leaving school. He initially went there to pursue his doctorate in physics.

Instead, he dropped out of school to start his first company, Zip2, which he sold four years later for more than $300 million.

4. He provided inspiration for Tony Stark

When Robert Downey Jr. was preparing for his role as Tony Stark in 'Iron Man,' he turned to Musk for some inspiration.

The two men met and Musk cast Downey as his version of Stark I helped add some ways that made films more exciting.

5. He owns a James Bond car

In 2013, Musk bought the Lotus Esprit for about $1 million. why so much? Because it was the 1976 version that was set to be an underwater car for James Bond in the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me".

6. He has lots of kids

Musk has seven children, five with his ex-wife Justin, and two with musician Grimes. They also had a son, Nevada, who died of SIDS in 2002.

In an interview with "The Wall Street Journal" in 2021, he said that civilization would crumble if people had no more children . “I am trying to set a good example. Yes. What I preach has to be practiced,” he said.

7. He’s from South Africa

Musk was born in South Africa and lived there until the age of 17. His family then moved to Canada, and he began his collegiate career at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

8. He’s the richest person in the world

Musk's ventures have made him very, very wealthy. He currently sits at the top of the list of the world's richest people with an estimated net worth of over $200 billion. Yes, billion.

Recent stock market changes have caused his estimated price to fluctuate, as some of his wealth is tied up in Tesla shares.

9. He used to work at PayPal

Musk co-founded X.com, an online bank that merged with another company to form PayPal. E-commerce company eBay bought PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Musk, who was one of PayPal's largest shareholders, made at least $175 million on the deal.