After selling PayPal, Elon Musk walked away with $180 million. Instead of keeping the money, he put almost all of it into two companies: Tesla and SpaceX.
He believed in both companies. But six years later, that decision had brought him close to losing everything.
SpaceX had failed three rocket launches. Tesla was losing millions of dollars. The economy was facing its worst crisis since the Great Depression. And, on top of everything else, Musk was going through a divorce.
Years later, he would describe that period as the worst year of his life.
Things had become so bad that a documentary called Revenge of the Electric Car captured what was happening inside Tesla.
The factory was full of cars with problems that could not be delivered to customers. Musk walked through the building, explaining that every month was costing the company tens of millions of dollars.
Tesla needed more money to survive.
So Musk turned to investors, hoping they would help keep the company alive. But instead of offering support, some became angry that he had even asked. They refused to give him money.
At that point, his situation was even worse than being broke because he was in debt.
Then came the Sunday before Christmas in 2008.
Musk woke up feeling that he was close to a nervous breakdown. He had never imagined that he could reach such a point.
And Tesla was not his only problem.
SpaceX was also running out of money. The company had just one rocket launch left to prove that its technology could work. Another failure, would have meant the end of SpaceX.
Then, against all odds, the fourth launch worked perfectly.
But the good news did not stop there.
That same week, NASA called with a contract worth $1.6 billion.
He was so overwhelmed with happiness that he told the NASA team, “I love you guys.”
Two days later, on Christmas Eve, Tesla’s investors finally agreed to put more money into the company.
In just three days, two unexpected events had given Musk’s companies another chance to survive.
He got divorced that same year, and married again in 2010.
Last week, Tesla showed off a new Roadster, performing flips through the air.
It was a car from the same company that had once brought Musk to the edge of financial ruin.
Back then, he was struggling to keep Tesla alive. Its factory was filled with cars that could not be delivered, investors were turning him away, and the money was running out.
Now, the company was showing off a car that seemed to belong in a science fiction movie.
The same business that once threatened to destroy him had become part of the future he was trying to build.
-1official