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Zip2, 1995 - Musk and younger brother Kimbal founded Zip2, a web software company.

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X.com and PayPal, March 1999 - Zip2 was later sold with Musk receiving US$22 million for his 7% share from the sale. Musk then co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email payment company. X.com later merged with Confinity to eventually become PayPal.

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SpaceX, 2001 - An idea to land an experimental greenhouse on Mars containing food crops was the lift off behind Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX.

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SolarCity, 2006 - Musk provided the concept and financial capital for solar power systems provider SolarCity, founded by two of his cousins. In 2016, the company was acquired by Tesla.

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Tesla, 2008 - An early investor in the multinational company specializing in electric vehicles, energy storage, and solar panel manufacturing, Musk became CEO and product architect in 2008.

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Tesla Model S production, 2008 - Musk with then-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and the then-Tesla Motors President and CEO, Ze'ev Drori.

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Meeting President Obama, 2010 - President Barack Obama with Musk (in his capacity as SpaceX chief) during a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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California Institute of Technology commencement ceremony, 2012 - Musk speaking at the California Institute of Technology commencement ceremony in Pasadena, California.

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Tesla Model S, 2013 - The Tesla Model S series achieved the highest safety rating of any car ever tested, according to Tesla. (Photo: Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0)

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Hyperloop, 2013 - Musk's concept for a high-speed transportation system was published in a whitepaper posted on the SpaceX and Tesla websites. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Hyperloop, 2016 - Hyperloop tubes are displayed during the first test of the propulsion system at the Hyperloop One Test and Safety site in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company plans to create a fully operational hyperloop system by 2020.

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Tesla Model D launch, 2014 - Musk unveiled the dual engine chassis of the new Tesla Model D in Hawthorne, California. The D is the faster and all-wheel-drive version of the Model S electric sedan.

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Dragon V2 launch, 2014 - Also in 2014, SpaceX revealed a new manned spacecraft, the Dragon V2, designed to carry astronauts into space.

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OpenAI, 2015 - 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.

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Vanity Fair Oscar Party, 2015 - The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX attends the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in California. An A-list tech celeb, Musk has a net worth of around US$19.2 billion, according to Business Insider.

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Tesla Model X Crossover SUV launch, 2015 - After several production delays, Musk officially launched the much anticipated Tesla Model X Crossover SUV.

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Tesla Model X Crossover SUV launch, 2015 - 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.

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Tesla Model X Crossover SUV launch, 2015 - A standout design feature is the falcon-wing doors for access to the second and third row seats.

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Tesla Energy Powerwall Home Battery launch, 2015 - The Tesla Energy Powerwall Home Battery, a suite of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities, was introduced during an event in Hawthorne, California.

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Tesla's electric car, Powerwall, and solar roof, 2015 - Tesla's electric car, Powerwall, and solar roof package are unveiled to demonstrate the benefits of combining the electric car and battery maker with products manufactured by solar installer SolarCity.

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The Boring Company, 2016 - Musk's Boring Company is launched. The company specializes in the manufacture of high-performance tunnel boring equipment.

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SpaceX Falcon and Dragon launch, 2016 - SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for their eighth official Commercial Resupply (CRS) mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

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SpaceX Falcon and Dragon launch, 2016 - In 2012, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS to become the first commercial company to do so.

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Tesla charging station, 2017 - According to Tesla, there are more than 1,250 Supercharger stations with over 10,000 Superchargers across North America, Asia, and Europe and the Middle East. (Photo: Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0)

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The 89th Academy Awards, 2017 - Elon Musk and his mother Maye, a successful model and dietitian, stepping out on the red carpet for the Oscars Vanity Fair Party.

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Computer power, 2015 - During a 2015 lecture at Standford, Musk predicted that by 2035 the cost of computing power and storage will have fallen "exponentially."

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Genetics, 2015 - In the same lecture, Musk told his audience to expect more cyborg activity by 2035, particularly the advancement of brain-computer interface development.

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The colonization of Mars, 2015 - His 2015 Standford 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.

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The colonization of Mars, 2017 - At the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, Musk detailed the long-term technical challenges that need to be solved in order to support the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars.

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A new romance, 2018 -

Here, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes are seen at the Met Gala in New York City. Previously he had also dated actress Amber Heard.

See also: The world's most admired companies in 2019.

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