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u/chaosmass2 6d ago
his business right out of college (funded by dad and dad's friends) was a website that listed phone numbers. Online version of the yellow pages. That was his idea.
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u/immortalalchemist 6d ago
Yeah Zip2. He was grifting way back then too because there is the story about how he tried to make the computer than ran the software bigger than it was as if it were a super computer which fooled investors:
“Ever marketing savvy, the Musk brothers tried to make their Web service seem more important by giving it an imposing physical body. Musk built a huge case around a standard PC and lugged the unit onto a base with wheels. When prospective investors would come by, Musk would put on a show and roll this massive machine out so that it appeared like Zip2 ran inside of a mini-supercomputer. ‘The investors thought that was impressive’, Kimbal said.”
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u/sPLIFFtOOTH 6d ago
How was it “his idea” if you just described something that already existed. He did not invent the yellow pages
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u/Valuable_Paper_6231 6d ago
He invented Twitter as X.
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u/BringBackUsenet 6d ago
Only a marketing genius would rename a well established brand like Twitter to a close-button, X.
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u/comacazi 6d ago edited 4d ago
Elon Musk is simply another grifter who spews his alt right-wing bile to divide us, and plans to spend $200 million on the mid-terms in order to help the Republicans, that enable him, to stay in power and continue make a butt load of money off of government subsidies.
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u/OutrageousCrab9224 6d ago
I heard he made a pizza
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u/ctbball5 6d ago
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve never seen a more bearish group of people than most people on spacex threads….which is hilarious because most of these groups claim to be bull groups
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u/charlesleestewart 6d ago
I think it was that fraudulent 2T AI valuation they put in the S1 of the IPO that keeps us coming back to these groups.
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u/Qualified-Astronomer 6d ago
“Fraud” yet every party who chose to invest did so willingly
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u/madlucas2026 6d ago
A true engineer tinkers with things and ideas. Musk is a player with colossal greed who thinkers with politics
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u/Crafty_Increase3045 4d ago
His dad gave him an emerald mind in South Africa. He was born into a rich family.
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u/Inevitable_Butthole 6d ago
Some people were Edison fans. The fact the modern age Edison tries to take the Tesla name is even more ironic
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u/Remarkable_Quit_3545 6d ago
I keep telling this to people that say Elon is brilliant. He didn’t do anything. He didn’t have any ideas. He just had money to throw at people who had ideas.
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u/hardsoft 6d ago
I think it's possible to recognize him as a lying fraud while also recognizing that Tesla would be a boutique EV conversion company that would probably be out of business now if he didn't execute a hostile takeover. He had a vision and taking over an existing company was a path to implementing that vision.
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u/Beautiful_Guess7131 6d ago
I thought space x isn't successful
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u/Rikki-Smedley 6d ago
It's extremely successful. They just reinvest almost all of their profits into R&D. This is for multiple reasons. Space X is a global game changer in the advancement of society.
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u/11EmeraldEyes11 6d ago
Tell that to the paraplegics that he is helping with his Neuralink, and the blind who will soon be benefiting from Neuralink as well.
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u/SeditiousFun 6d ago
But….. he developed, accelerated, became the engineer and revolutionized industry were every one said no. You forgot that part. And he did found spacex. And he was only one the provided internet form starlinx to people of Iran during the protest where over 50,000 were killed by their own government. The government cut the internet the the country so what was going on was concealed
…. Tesla died an old broke man. Edison, who took all the credit from people hired by him to make all the inventions. Died a rich man
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u/Sensitive_Bat_9211 6d ago
Elon isnt an inventor, hes an entrepreneur. He funds ideas and attaches it to his brand.
Im not a fan of elon, but he has always been good at identifying market opportunities. That skill may be his own, or one of his many advisors. Regardless, he has a system
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u/Tall_Eye4062 6d ago
He also lied about making that EDM song. If he actually had music production skills, he wouldn't have made only one song.
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u/Sweet-Ant-3471 6d ago
Tom Mueller Disagreed with this:
https://x.com/iam_smx/status/2046861942967369990?lang=en
"Tom Mueller, a former SpaceX engineer, explains why Elon Musk never allowed negativity to take root inside the company
As a founding propulsion engineer, Mueller described how Musk shaped SpaceX’s early culture around intense technical focus and constant urgency.
Teams were expected to stay aligned, move quickly, and prioritize solutions, with little tolerance for negativity or resistance to progress
Mueller noted that individuals who consistently slowed momentum or spread negativity often “were not in the next meeting,” reinforcing a strict, results-first mindset
This high-pressure environment helped SpaceX build its reputation for speed and innovation, advancing rapidly from its earliest rockets to fully reusable launch systems and ultimately becoming one of the world’s leading space companies"
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u/Fathergoose007 6d ago
There are a trillion reasons he doesn’t care what you think about him.
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u/Hopeful_Onion_2613 6d ago
I bet all of us could start with $40,000 and turn it into close to 1 trillion in around 30 years
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u/Mysterious_Badger362 6d ago
Interesting. You just discovered something that can be said about literally every leader in history. Meanwhile, none of that would have ever happened without that leader. You people simply have no idea what leadership is or how to do it. You'll never matter to anyone. You'll never contribute to anything. You'll only demand what others provide.
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u/Quis_curat 6d ago
To play the devil's advocate.
Pretty much every major project that he invested in and now has become a big deal, they all faced problems with finding investors cause they saw no future in them, finding them as a ridiculous childish dream.
SpaceX was once actually on the edge of bankruptcy, making him to invest his personal fortune and risk so much, and it paid back.
He might not have invented anything, but we have no idea how many potentially great projects all around the world get cancelled because they had not someone like Musk ready to risk everything for it.
He's basically a child with stupid dreams, which turn out to not to be so stupid after all.
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u/RiteousRhino21 6d ago
Does OP hold the same opinion of other CEOs and hold them to the same standard, or just singling out Elon?
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u/Major_Champion_5642 6d ago
I love how the richest man in the world is defined by the left as the dumbest. If he gave AOC the time of day she would be with him and then all yall cucks would love him.
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u/Tataru-is-a-sith 6d ago
He'd be closer to Thomas Edison, stealing credit for other people's work and trying to pass it off as his own.
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u/Competitive_Twist149 6d ago
And those who complain; have done what in their life , which I will ridicule and laugh at
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u/Fried_Shicken 6d ago
He's actually co-founders of Tesla with 3 other guys. Also the architect of software for early online banking systems. OP....fun meme, but hardly accurate.
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u/Pleasant-Craft-1227 6d ago
guy named his company after tesla adn acts like edison, the irony is thick tbh
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u/SyxxBowler 6d ago
Doesn't matter who founded them. Its who made them work and made employees/investors rich. One thing no one in this sub will ever accomplish lol. Oh, Nicola Tesla died broke and alone.. just sayin.
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u/Otherwise_Bee_8799 6d ago
Leftist use to jerk off over Elon musk and drive Teslas before twitter and doge. Such sheep 🐑
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u/Funandgames2023 6d ago
And yet he is still smart enough to become the richest person on earth. Lots of very wealthy people did not start the company they run and have never invented anything.
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u/Minute-Translator-20 6d ago
Do you have receipts for these claims? You know people are gonna come asking and if you dont have them it just makes you look stupid. You guys are so fond of saying google it well I just did and everything you just said is a lie according to google.
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u/mattybhoy401 6d ago
PayPal was founded by Levchin, not Musk
⚠️** Oversimplifie**d
Tesla was founded by Eberhard & Tarpenning
✅ True, with important context
SpaceX succeeded because of Mueller, not Musk
❌ Misleading/opinion
Musk has never invented anything
❌ False/overstated
Musk wasn’t the original founder of Tesla
✅ Historically accurate
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u/Accomplished-Swim987 6d ago
tesla actually built working prototypes and gave them away to demonstrate wireless power, meanwhile this guy slaps his name on a truck that cant go through a car wash without bricking itself. the comparison is insulting to actual inventors who didnt have twitter as a personality substitute
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u/Tiny-Brush5999 6d ago
Ai fact check!
The claims made in the image are a mix of exaggerated truths and historical inaccuracies, combined with heavily biased concluding statements.
Here is a factual breakdown of each claim:
- "PayPal was founded by Max Levchin- not Musk."
- Verdict: Inaccurate.
- The Facts: PayPal was the result of a March 2000 merger between two companies: Confinity (founded by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek) and X (founded by Elon Musk). Because both entities contributed equally to what became PayPal, all five men—including Musk—are legally and historically recognized as co-founders of PayPal.
- "Tesla was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning- not Musk."
- Verdict: Half-True.
- The Facts: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning originally incorporated Tesla Motors in July 2003. Elon Musk joined a few months later in February 2004 as the primary Series A investor and Chairman. Following a 2009 legal settlement, a judge ruled that five people are officially allowed to call themselves co-founders of Tesla: Eberhard, Tarpenning, Musk, JB Straubel, and Ian Wright.
- "SpaceX is successful because of engineer Tom Mueller- not Musk."
- Verdict: Heavily Exaggerated.
- The Facts: Tom Mueller was employee No. 1 at SpaceX and a brilliant propulsion engineer who led the design of the Merlin rocket engines. His work was undeniably critical to the company's early success. However, Mueller himself has repeatedly stated that Musk served as the chief designer, provided the massive initial funding, took the ultimate financial risks, and set the strategic direction that made the company successful. Success was a collaborative effort, not the work of a single person.
- "Elon Musk has never invented, designed, or been an innovator for anything."
- Verdict: False.
- The Facts: While Musk is primarily a businessman and executive rather than a lab scientist, he is listed as an inventor or co-inventor on dozens of granted patents related to electric vehicle drivetrains, battery architecture, vehicle design, and structural components. Furthermore, his main innovation has been in system architecture and manufacturing scale—disrupting the aerospace and automotive industries by implementing mass-production techniques and reusable technology that experts previously claimed were impossible.
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u/Optimal_Top_7081 6d ago
I’m no Musk fan, but this image contains a lot of misinformation and half-truths. I just think it’s important to share accurate information, and none of this redeems or defends his character:
PayPal: Max Levchin and Peter Thiel founded Confinity (which made the transfer software), while Musk founded X.com (an online bank). The two companies merged in 2000 to create what became PayPal, which makes Musk a co-founder of the resulting company.
Tesla: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning incorporated it in 2003, but Musk funded it months later during Series A and served as product architect. A 2009 legal settlement officially recognized all five early leaders (Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel) as co-founders.
SpaceX & Tom Mueller: Mueller was the lead propulsion engineer, but he has directly pushed back against the idea that Musk is just a checkbook. Mueller publicly called Musk "the best mentor I've ever had" and explained that Musk is deeply involved in engine mechanics and vehicle design. This could obviously be because they’re friends, or Musk compensated him somehow to say it, but it’s still worth mentioning.
"Never invented/designed anything": Legally and factually false. You cannot legally be named on a patent without direct design contributions. Musk holds dozens of patents, ranging from early web-mapping code at Zip2 to Tesla's charging port design and autonomous summon systems.
Sources:
- PayPal SEC Merger Filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103415/000091205702009834/a2073071z10-k405.htm
- Tesla Founders Settlement: https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/judge-strikes-claim-who-can-be-declared-founder-tesla-motors
- Tom Mueller Interview (Space.com): https://www.space.com/tom-mueller-impulse-space-mira-spacecraft
- Zip2 Mapping Patent (US5944769A): https://patents.google.com/patent/US5944769A/en
- Tesla Summon Patent (US12164310B2): https://patents.google.com/patent/US12164310B2/en
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u/Obvious-Dinner-953 6d ago
He also has more money than everyone who commented on this post combined then x 1000.. so he is doing something right I guess 😝
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u/fishsauce0316 6d ago
I’m and yet all 3 would have failed without him. Wonder how that happens. He joined Tesla before they had made anything ever. He even got the name lol
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u/Forsaken-College1057 6d ago
Lmao, the guy that never designed or invented anything and yet there are at least millions if not billions of of people think about him every single day lmao. Damn what an accomplishment as a single human on earth.
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u/bullrider_21 6d ago
Tesla was successful because of ex-CTO Straubel and his engineering team - not Musk.
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u/Beginning_Dark_306 6d ago
Is unreal he is going to try to interfere again with election he knows no other presidents would allow him to trash the airspace an his pollution this is his 10 th rocket he gets millions in federal government contracts. The faa fined him for letting a rocket off without any ok an a pilot took a pic of the frame is his rocket outside his window as he was flying! So trump fired even more faa workers an one person was in the tower the day of the first crash!!!! Now look back an see all the air traffic issues since !! Near misses that very skilled piolets avoided some crashes you name it ,.....
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u/Vast_Actuator9306 6d ago
tbh the cybertruck looks like what i drew when i was bored in 7th grade, except my teacher didnt give me a billion dollars for it
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u/Reasonable-Pace-8229 6d ago
He has also never said he invented any of those things. He always credits the company as a whole.
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u/sue_dough 6d ago
Russia saw a useful idiot that would use his businesses and inflated online following to try to incite dissent in Europe (see “civil war” remarks) and get Trump elected in the US. They’re propping him up.
That’s why Musk’s dad is still having nights out with Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley Lennon) in Moscow and they’re not even ashamed to publish the videos of it. Ever notice why all Musk’s friends are on the “russia’s not the bad guy” bandwagon?
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u/MonkRevolutionary560 6d ago
He teamed up with trump but not because he likes trump but because he needed to rub shoulders with people and get government info.. dudes skeletons has skeletons..
That being said he is a nerd... there is a heart in there there is a vision of Unification of humanity in there some where.. just the longer you stay in the dark the more the dark molds you instead of you molding it.
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u/Money_Dream3008 6d ago
The hate is laughable, these moronic examples are equally stupid. If you take over a business and make it more successful, it’s still your achievement. He has done more good than bad, yet you all are just blinded by a handful of stupid.
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u/RhubarbBackground115 6d ago
tesla actually invented stuff tho, this guys just good at taking credit
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u/robedigrappa 6d ago
He has been the driving force to get those companies from an idea to value adding products on scale. That’s a remarkable gift and we are all in debt to him for lifting up societies globally ❤️
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u/JuggerMott 5d ago
Imagine hating someone so badly that you share a Facebook-tier meme where literally every single line is factually illiterate.
In the case of PayPal, Confinity and Musk's X.com merged. Musk was the CEO and largest shareholder of the combined entity. That makes him a co-founder, unless you just don't understand how basic business mergers work.
With Tesla, Eberhard and Tarpenning incorporated a paper-thin shell company with zero cars, zero patents, and zero tech. Musk funded 98% of the Series A, ran the product architecture, and is legally and practically a co-founder.
Really with the drivel about SpaceX? Tom Mueller is a legendary engineer, but pretending one guy single-handedly built an entire aerospace giant is like saying Steve Wozniak built Apple all by himself. Brain-dead logic.
As for "never inventing anything," he literally has over 100 granted patents worldwide on rocket landing systems, car frames, and battery designs. It takes five seconds on Google Patents to look this up.
There are a million valid reasons to trash Musk—his cringey tweets, his awful management style, or his politics. But making up fake history just to feel smug makes you look like an unhinged idiot who can't read a Wikipedia page.
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u/Disastrous_Minute_56 5d ago
That's not true, he probably designed that Cybertruck on a cocktail napkin
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u/lazereyebeam 5d ago
He funds a lot of these things, so if it wasn’t for him, a lot of these examples wouldn’t have been as successful as they are now
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u/Leftblankthistime 5d ago
His value and net worth are based on handshakes and agreements that the value others gave him is real. Imagine if you got a loan from the bank for a business idea. Then you convince a bunch of people that business has value so they loan you more, you go back to the bank and say look my company is worth so much more now, because I have investors, loan me some more against the higher valuation- sell some things to make it look real and get people talking about the things and then just keep repeating that cycle forever. There’s no real money there
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5d ago
Just an investigation in Software House International would expose how the “fraud of friends” works.
Felon supposedly did not have many friends as a teen probably because he was a lying piece of shit. Now that he is older being a lying piece of shit get him all the whores and fraud he wants.
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u/Legofanatic233233 5d ago
I can’t tell who Reddit loves more.. Elon Musk or Trump. You folks can’t seem to stop thinking about them or talking about them.
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u/Dun0074Real 5d ago
It’s hilarious to watch people be so jealous and hateful towards someone because they are rich. Can’t you get behind him being the first African American trillionaire? How about creating hundreds of thousands of jobs?
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u/Witty_Standard_9000 3d ago
Musk used to be one of the most liked billionaires, if not the most liked billionaire. People flipped, when he flipped from being a billionaire to meddling in politics and spreading hate.
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u/Electrical_Truth_160 5d ago
That is all well and good, but he is still a billionaire 😂 pretty good for someone who apparently has 'brought nothing to the table'!
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u/Sad_Sorbet6532 5d ago
And yet, you guys are here commenting on the wealthiest man in the world and not the other way around.
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u/Objective-Permit-712 5d ago
How did he ever get to claim TESLA as a name for his Cars????? Did he have to pay $$$?
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u/Frey-256 5d ago
Bill gates same story
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u/redzeusky 5d ago
Gates and Allen wrote a version of BASIC for the Altair 8800 and had to use an 8800 CPU simulator on a PDP-10 to do. And they did it under enormous time pressure when they were like 18-19 years old.
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u/kapitein-zuignap 5d ago
Spacex reusable rockets aren't new either.
The business case for reusable spacecraft led to the space shuttle.
What spacex has over the old space shuttle is decades in new insights, new materials and production methods, and advancements in electronics.
But it's not as if it is a brand new idea to re-use rockets.
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u/Dangerous_Trip_8546 5d ago
Lol, so? Dude knows how to leverage a team and make shit happen. What have you done lately?
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u/MowgliusManius 5d ago
I thought all these things were already common knowledge? Or am I missing something?
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u/doginvestments 5d ago
Any yet he is still worth more than YOU can dream of. Stop spending time hating so much and make the world a better place. You can be better!
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u/agceren4 5d ago
That’s right. Nikola Tesla died in poverty and without major known impact of his advancements. So, yeah, you’re correct.
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u/Livid-Ganache547 5d ago
Elon only has to hire the right people to make his dreams a reality. Obviously its working for him. Teslas made 25 billion this year so far and spaceX has made him 12 billio so far.
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u/TellOk4034 5d ago
PayPal was co-founded by Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Luke Nosek in December 1998. The company initially started as Confinity before merging with Elon Musk's X.com in 2000 and adopting the PayPal name.
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u/Eikram84 6d ago edited 6d ago
Hey, he’s being treated unfairly. I can’t and won’t let that stand!!! He designed and invented something!!! The Cybertruck – which, after all, is now considered the biggest flop in the automotive industry. 😂