Just recently in early January, Tesla revealed the new richest man in the world to be Elon Musk. Musk hit a net worth of $190 billion, passing the previous richest man, Jeff Bezos, who currently sits at around $182 billion. The fight between the two is only heightened by the pandemic, as both men are reaching new wealth within it.

Tesla isn’t his only creation. After leaving university to change the internet, Britannica states that Musk founded a company called Zip2, one of the first mapping services, which he later sold for $307 million. Although he sold it, he got to achieve setting a need for online maps, leading to the major map services of today. After his first dive into running an internet business, he decided to make another company called X.com, which would later become PayPal. After growing the company, it was later sold to Ebay for $1.5 billion dollars.

With his newfound richness, he decided to use his wealth for his own project of interest. According to  Biography, in the same year he sold PayPal, he then founded SpaceX, where he still acts as CEO and chief designer in some projects today. His main goal in the company would be to invest in creating more affordable rockets to explore outer space instead of solely making profit.

Elon’s latest investment would be with the car company Tesla. With Elon’s interest in the possibilities of electric cars, he invested and is now the CEO of Tesla. At Tesla, they strive to find a replacement for gas fueled vehicles without any downsides.

The difference between a lot of his investments, inventions, and creations is the goal. He makes something for a reason. Elon strives to produce products that almost anyone can use, and products that help lead us to a safer, more affordable society, a cause that anyone can support. The man isn’t “lucky,” he’s smart.