'Elonomics', the Sun's book deciphering Musk's thinking and next challenges

He hugs Elon Musk as the new car is delivered from the truck in front of his house. To the CNN camera, however, he confesses a certain concern about their new rich life: "I'm afraid we will lose the ability to appreciate things. And perspective'.

Zip2 is a kind of forerunner of services such as Google Maps. The company develops software for online city guides, providing local companies - such as newspapers and advertisers - with tools to create interactive maps and business directories on the web. It was bought by Compaq.

The neo-millionaire Elon from that interview is an outsider in Silicon Valley. He was born in South Africa in 1971, then moved to Canada in 1989 to study at Queen's University. In 1992 he moved to the United States to study physics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995 he entered Stanford for a PhD, but dropped out after two days to devote himself to his entrepreneurial project: Zip2.

If Musk had been content with that car, a nice new 170-square-metre house, the $1 million given to his mother and the $300,000 to his father, he would have had enough left over to lead the life of a king.

The aim of his human and entrepreneurial project, however, was never money. Which is somewhat disconcerting, given that this somewhat awkward entrepreneur in front of the camera will, 26 years later, in December 2024, arrive at unprecedented wealth: $486 billion.

How did he do it? The story of Elon Musk can be read in many ways. That of his wealth allows his success to be depicted in a curve that only becomes exponential in the last five years. One bet won after another. Moving, each time, the limit of the possible a little further. According to a rather clear philosophical, political and entrepreneurial vision, which we have tried to systematise in this book.

A wealth that will bring him to Donald Trump's side in a position of power never before held by any of Silicon Valley's great entrepreneurs.

What happens immediately after that interview on CNN lays the foundation for his success. Elon decides to invest $12 million in X.com. His new creature is a financial start-up that wants to revolutionise the banking sector. There is another fast-growing company that has a person-to-person payment service:it is called Confinity and the service is PayPal.

It is the beginning of the 2000s. The bubble is about to deflate, but there is still euphoria. Between the two companies it is a race to the last customer. Until they decide it is better to join forces. There a relationship is born that will prove very important for Musk. The one with Peter Thiel, who is one of the co-founders of Confinity.

From two companies one will actually emerge, and it will be called PayPal. Musk becomes CEO, but will be ousted a few months later because no executives share his ways and strategies. He will remain the company's largest shareholder. Thus, when eBay buys it in 2002 for $1.5 billion, Elon will collect about 180 million.

He will remain on good terms with Peter Thiel, even though he is taking over as CEO.

Once again, he will not stop there. He will need that money for his biggest challenges: SpaceX and Tesla. Won challenges that have taken him to the top of sectors that are increasingly close to the public, in terms of funding received and strategic positioning. Among other things, Musk ended up buying Twitter too, renaming it X. A necessary megaphone for a mutation of its public presence, which is increasingly political, interventionist, disorientating and a harbinger of controversy.

By then, Elon is a divisive figure. Still following the money trail, the next step is the funding of Donald Trump's second election campaign in 2024 with over $260 million. Which leads to his appointment as head of the Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. And while the biggest conflict of interest ever seen in the United States takes shape, at the same time we see the collapse of Musk's image. And suffering most of all is Tesla.

The experience at the helm of the Doge for Musk proves to be a failure. What will he do now? Where does he want to go from here?