Elon Musk

Elon Musk CNBC Next 25
Benjamin Wachenje

Title: CEO and CTO, SpaceX; CEO, Tesla Motors; chairman, Solar City

Born: June 28, 1971, Pretoria, South Africa

Education: Queens University, Kingston, Ontario; BS in physics and BS in economics, University of Pennsylvania; Stanford University (dropped out)

Early Marker: Founded zip2, a Web-development company that provided online maps and directories to newspaper companies; sold to Compaq in 1999 for $341 million.

Big Idea: Commercializing space-launch vehicles, developing fossil-free cars, developing solar-power generation.

Wave of the Future: Sustainable economy, space

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