Shaping culture and breaking barriers
On March 18, five Tesla vehicles were damaged in Las Vegas, Nevada, in what authorities described as a "targeted attack." Two of the cars were completely engulfed in flames, while others were struck by gunfire.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers responded around 2:45 am local time to reports of Tesla vehicles being set on fire at a Tesla Collision Center. Upon arrival, they discovered the damaged vehicles and the word "RESIST" spray-painted in red capital letters on the center's doors. Since January, the FBI has been investigating similar incidents in at least three other states: Oregon, Colorado, and Missouri.
The attack comes at a time when Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, continue to attract both intense admiration and sharp criticism. One of the most high-profile entrepreneurs of the modern era, Musk has become an increasingly polarizing figure. His 2022 takeover of X cast him in an unflattering new light as millions of users got a front-row seat to his every move, from laying off thousands of employees to unsuspending accounts that spread misinformation and hate speech. His latest involvement with the US government has garnered immense criticism, especially after the cost-cutting drives across various departments.
Click through the following gallery to learn more about Musk's controversial journey from business to politics.
This is where it really all started. Musk and younger brother Kimbal founded Zip2, a web software company, way back in the mid-90s.
An idea to land an experimental greenhouse on Mars containing food crops was the lift off behind Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX.
The Tesla Model S series achieved the highest safety rating of any car ever tested, according to Tesla.
Musk's concept for a high-speed transportation system was published in a whitepaper posted on the SpaceX and Tesla websites.
OpenAI, created to promote and develop friendly artificial intelligence, is launched. Speaking at Stanford in 2015, Musk predicted AI will be "incredibly sophisticated" in 20 years time.
According to Cars US News, the Tesla Model X "offers performance that few other SUVs can match" and places the vehicle in the top third of its luxury midsize SUV rankings.
According to Tesla, there are currently more than 2,000 Supercharger stations with over 25,000 Superchargers across North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East
During a 2015 lecture at Stanford, Musk predicted that by 2035 the cost of computing power and storage will have fallen "exponentially."
In the same lecture, Musk told his audience to expect more cyborg activity by 2035, particularly the advancement of brain-computer interface development.
His 2015 Stanford speech also provided Musk with an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the colonization of Mars. "The precursor to SpaceX was not to create a company but to try and figure out why we hadn’t sent people to Mars," he explained.
Musk also announced that he will be opening a Boring Company branch in China, and suggested the possibility of underwater tunnels.
Tesla released their Cybertruck, which is "designed to have the utility of a truck with sports car performance." However, opinions of the vehicle are divided.
Initially delayed due to poor weather conditions, the much anticipated NASA SpaceX launch eventually took place on May 30, 2020.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the Crew Dragon spacecraft from Florida to the International Space Station in mid-November 2020, marking the first fully operational crewed mission for SpaceX. Falcon 9 also launched in January and February 2021.
Musk gave himself a new title, which he filed on March 15, 2021 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, instead of Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Musk officially changed his title to "Technoking of Tesla." His Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn also received a title change, and is now to be referred to as "Master of Coin." A healthy imagination is definitely part of the job...
The entrepreneur will be branching out into the world of AI robots. Musk says they're planning to develop a humanoid robot using the AI system created for their self-driving car. The "Tesla Bot" model he revealed at an AI event was 5 ft. 8 in (172 cm) and weighed 125 pounds (47kg). Tesla released a prototype they called Optimus in 2022.
Musk was named Time's Person of the Year for 2021, though just as even the publication itself cited the Tesla and SpaceX founder's influence "for good or ill," the acknowledgment was been met with much pushback. Critics have pointed at the billionaire’s attitude to tax, his opposition to unions, and the way he played down COVID-19 as reasons the honor should go to someone else. Time described the provocative boss and Twitter enthusiast as a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman,” and perhaps they were right, but many took to Twitter themselves to share who they believe better deserved the acknowledgment and platform.
As his wealth and influence has increased, so too has attention on his taxes. After Musk was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, "Let's change the rigged tax code so 'The Person of the Year' will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else." The richest man in the world heard the people's complaints and tweeted on December 20, "For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year." It got over half a million likes. Of course, he still remained one of the richest on the planet as the Bloomberg Billionaires Index put his wealth at US$243 billion in 2021, the BBC reports.
Musk has a direct channel to millions of people through his Twitter account, and in March 2022 he used his influence in a head-scratching way: challenging Vladimir Putin to a duel for the fate of Ukraine. On March 14 Musk tweeted, "I hereby challenge [Vladimir Putin] to single combat. Stakes are [Ukraine]." In another tweet on March 15, Musk continued: "He can even bring his bear."
Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov responded to Musk the same day, calling him "effeminate" and referring to him as "Elona," claiming that Musk would get destroyed in the fight and proposing that he trains at various centers in the Chechen Republic. Musk replied, "If he is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand, and I am not even left-handed," signing off with the name "Elona."
In 2022, his most headline-grabbing pursuit was his purchase of Twitter, for the mind-boggling price of US$44 billion. Musk made an initial bid in April, but tried to back out a few weeks later. However, Twitter took him to court and he eventually decided to go through with the sale after months of legal back-and-forth.
Musk confirmed that he had officially closed the deal on October 28, 2022. He immediately fired the company's CEO, CFO, and legal affairs and policy chief, accusing them of misleading him about the number of bot accounts operating on Twitter. He celebrated with a tweet stating, "The bird is freed," and updated his Twitter bio to 'Chief Twit.' The Space X founder immediately declared his intention to become CEO of Twitter. Musk's vision for Twitter apparently included greater freedom of speech, which involved lifting the ban on Donald Trump's account. He stated that he didn't buy Twitter to make money, but rather to "try to help humanity, whom I love." His love for humanity did not prevent him from firing thousands and thousands of Twitter employees with no notice.
These weren't the only controversial changes Musk announced during his first months at the helm of Twitter. The multi-billionaire caused a stir by announcing that users would need to pay a subscription fee in order to receive the blue mark verification of their account, a service that is essential for public figures. Responses from famous Twitter users have been barbed. “Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," wrote famous lefty Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to which Musk replied, "Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8." Famed horror author Stephen King also had something to say when rumors circulated that a US$20 monthly fee would be applied: "$20 a month to keep my blue check? [Expletive] that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron."
On December 15, 2022, it was observed that Musk had suspended several accounts belonging to journalists from CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, all of whom had recently written critical articles about him. Reporter Ryan Mac of the New York Times revealed that he received a permanent ban with no warning or explanation from Twitter. What's more, the account of rival social media platform Mastodon which is gaining popularity amongst those choosing to leave Twitter appears to have been banned. Musk's apparent commitment to free speech is at odds with his decisions to ban accounts that bother him personally.
After a disastrous two months at the helm, Musk decided to put his future at the company to a vote. On December 18, 2022, the CEO shared a poll on the platform asking, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?" and adding, "I will abide by the results of this poll." After the 12-hour voting period, 57.5% had voted yes. The next day, he simply tweeted, "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" He added, "After that, I will just run the software & servers teams." As the owner of the company, he still has a heavy hand in its governing regardless of who takes over the undesirable role.
On May 12, 2023, Musk announced that he had hired Linda Yaccarino—the former head of advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal—as Twitter's new CEO. Musk stated that she would start the job in six weeks, writing on Twitter that he was "Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app," A journalist at The Verge reported thatYaccarino is tough as nails and sees eye to eye with Musk politically, so it might be a match made in heaven. On June 5, 2023, Yaccarino took over as CEO of X.
Musk is going down in history for losing the most money anyone has ever lost. Musk’s net worth in November 2021 was US$340 billion, and some outlets estimate that he lost approximately US$200 billion. While his US$44 billion purchase of Twitter didn't help, it was his money tied up in Tesla stock, which reportedly plunged 65% in 2022, that was largely to blame for this historic loss. However, as of 2024, he remains the richest man in the world.
Despite a steady rise in user engagement, X's value continues to plummet. Under Musk's leadership, ad pressure and brand safety issues have persisted, leading to a nearly 80% drop in the platform's worth, as revealed by Fidelity's latest evaluation.
Musk has expressed his concerns that the developments of AI will lead to "civilizational destruction," and even stepped down from OpenAI—the company he co-founded that created ChatGPT— in 2018. In July 2023, he announced that he was launching his own AI firm, with the goal of making it safer. He explained that he intends to build a "maximally curious" AI, rather than trying to program it with a sense of morality. "If it tried to understand the true nature of the universe, that's actually the best thing that I can come up with from an AI safety standpoint," Musk said. "I think it is going to be pro-humanity from the standpoint that humanity is just much more interesting than not-humanity." He also predicted that superintelligent AI, meaning AI that's smarter than humans, will arrive within the next five or six years.
Musk solidified his move toward right-wing politics after the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July 2024. Musk posted on X referring to Trump as a "martyr" and endorsing him for president to an audience of almost 200 million followers.
Elon Musk conducted a friendly two-hour interview with Donald Trump and was criticized for failing to challenge Trump's numerous false statements. The former president claimed that other countries were sending criminals from their prisons across the US border.
Elon Musk donated US$277 million to Donald Trump's campaign through his America PAC. After Trump emerged victorious, he appointed Musk and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The so-called "efficiency tsars" have promised a "drastic reduction" in regulations and "mass head-count reductions" in government agencies. Musk also became a senior advisor to the president. But by late January 2025, Ramaswamy had quit his DOGE post.
See also: What exactly is ChatGPT, and what are the concerns?
Five Teslas shot and set on fire in 'targeted attack' in Las Vegas
Similar attacks are being reported across the US, authorities say
CELEBRITY Business
On March 18, five Tesla vehicles were damaged in Las Vegas, Nevada, in what authorities described as a "targeted attack." Two of the cars were completely engulfed in flames, while others were struck by gunfire.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers responded around 2:45 am local time to reports of Tesla vehicles being set on fire at a Tesla Collision Center. Upon arrival, they discovered the damaged vehicles and the word "RESIST" spray-painted in red capital letters on the center's doors. Since January, the FBI has been investigating similar incidents in at least three other states: Oregon, Colorado, and Missouri.
The attack comes at a time when Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, continue to attract both intense admiration and sharp criticism. One of the most high-profile entrepreneurs of the modern era, Musk has become an increasingly polarizing figure. His 2022 takeover of X cast him in an unflattering new light as millions of users got a front-row seat to his every move, from laying off thousands of employees to unsuspending accounts that spread misinformation and hate speech. His latest involvement with the US government has garnered immense criticism, especially after the cost-cutting drives across various departments.
Click through the following gallery to learn more about Musk's controversial journey from business to politics.