Big's Shot of the Week
CAN Elon Musk be human? He might sound like a dodgy brand of men’s aftershave, but there is growing consensus the engineering tycoon might in fact be an artificial cyborg, created by science to save mankind.
There seems no other way to explain the relentless work ethic behind this peculiar South African, 46, whose drive and ambition is simply beyond the reach of mere mortals.
Musk is the pioneering architect of three separate billion-dollar companies, all attuned to his singular mission of dragging us into a braver, safer future.
There is Tesla motors, which makes affordable, battery-operated cars that he says will help reduce global warming.
There is energy firm Solar City, which he hopes will break our reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
And there is Space X, an aerospace manufacturer which is redefining the space travel industry, making the rockets we blast into orbit cheaper and more efficient.
Appearance-wise, the Musk autobot has benefited from extensive physical upgrades since his arrival on American soil, some 20-odd years after his creation in Pretoria.
ONCE a roly-poly ball of cookie-dough, his exoskeleton boasts sharper, more defined lines. His hair, once a threadbare hotch-potch, is now bushier. His geeky uniform of plaid shirts and ill-fitting chinos has been replaced by snug T-shirts, designer jeans and pointy shoes.
His creators, Maye, a leggy model, and Errol, an engineer, noted little Elon’s ability to absorb information at an early age. When his father bought him his first computer, Elon mastered the coding within three days. He told a friend he wished he didn’t have to waste time refuelling on food so he could work more. Early programming glitches meant he was not like the other school children. He would zone out and be uncommunicative. Bullies beat him mercilessly. Musk still does not understand why.
Emotion remains an Achilles’ heel. When his parents separated he went to live with Errol, whom he says was not a nice man. Musk will not elaborate. Talking about his father makes Musk sad.
He has tried marriage on three occasions, without success. His met his first wife Justine, with whom he has triplets and twins, at Queen’s University in Canada, where he enrolled after leaving South Africa aged 17. She compared his wooing technique to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator – he simply would not stop.
Musk had lots of money by the time they divorced eight years later. Living in California he’d set up Zip2, an online Yellow Pages for the newspaper industry, which he sold his stake in for £15m.
Then he set up X.com, an email payment firm which ended up merging with Paypal. Musk didn’t mix well with the Paypal bunch who found him difficult and controlling (a common gripe) so removed him as chief executive. When it was sold to Ebay for £1bn, Musk made £120m but would rather have still had control of his company.
He used the money to invest in his electric cars and space rockets. He wishes Tesla could be a private company like Space X. Tesla is the most shorted stock in the US. Musk worries it will be taken away from him, like Paypal.
Armed with a £17bn fortune, he lives in a £12m home in Bel Air, California. Google founder Larry Page is his good buddy. But not Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos. Bezos lured vital Space X employees to work on his own intergalactic programme Blue Origin.
He remarried in 2010 to British actress Talulah Riley, 32, who he met in London bar Whisky Mist, where they talked about spaceships. They divorced, remarried, then divorced again. Musk’s eyes are really only on the stars. He wants to make rockets which take us from New York to London in 30 minutes and space pods in which we can all travel to Mars by 2024. Would you bet against him? Like The Terminator, Musk can’t be bargained with. He can’t be reasoned with. And he absolutely will not stop ever, until he succeeds.