He made $22 million when he sold that business in 1999 to Compaq Computer. While introducing him for a 2016 discussion, former Stanford University President John Hennessy explained that Musk dropped out of Stanford after two days to start a business called Zip2 (Disclosure: The Times used Zip2 technology). His acquisition of San Francisco-based Twitter is big news even if you aren’t active on the platform, it affects many areas of society: business, news, politics, criminal justice, entertainment and the collective sanity of its users.Ĭonsidering Twitter’s ubiquity, it is worth understanding how Musk became the businessman he is today. However, much of his money is tied up in Tesla stock - he owns about 17% of the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion. Musk is the world’s wealthiest person, according to Forbes, which puts his fortune at $279 billion. The company’s leadership initially tried to fend off the bid, adopting a “ poison pill” measure that would make a hostile takeover difficult.
News that the world’s wealthiest man was set to buy one of the biggest social media companies rocked the internet on Monday.Īfter days of uncertainty around the platform’s future, Twitter’s board approved Elon Musk’s approximately $44-billion offer. Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter.
