On January 7, 2021, with Tesla stock trading at all-time highs, Elon Musk, at just 49 years old, learned that he was the richest person in the world after his net worth surpassed $190 billion. His reaction to the news was a brief acknowledgement on Twitter: “How strange. Well, back to work.”
What is it about this unassuming centibillionaire still just shy of fifty that attracts such gravitational fascination? For many, it’s Musk’s unrelenting drive to achieve great things and build products that he both believes the world needs and are logical expressions of his love for innovation and invention. It helps to be a true eccentric — in the most benign way. A real-life Iron Man. It’s not just the fact that the richest person in the world will take the time to appear for several hours on Joe Rogan’s podcast, twice, lend his voice to the character Elon Tusk in the quirky cartoon “Rick and Morty,” answer questions from strangers on Twitter, or — in his spare time — sell-out online flamethrowers (although technically, as his label informs us, it is “not a flamethrower.”)
.png)
.png)
