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How Musk made his money

In 1995 Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal started the software firm Zip2, which created internet city guides for the New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

Four years later, in February 1999, Compaq acquired the first for $307million in cash.

Musk pocketed $22million for his seven percent share from the sale.

Later in 1999, he co-founded X.com, one of the world’s first online banks, which merged with PayPal the following year.

Musk was ousted from his role as CEO in October 2000 due to disagreements with other company executives over his wish to move PayPal’s Unix-based infrastructure to Microsoft one.

In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5billion in stock.

Musk, who held 11.7 percent of PayPal shares, scored a huge payday from the move, receiving $165million.