Elon Musk rose to fame: At what point did he go from billionaire businessman to celebrity?

Hear or read the name of Elon MuskIn this era, it is something normal and frequent on the Internet and social networks. For several years he has earned the title of the person with the most money in the world and almost the entire planet knows what he does or some of the companies he runs.

Owning the rights to a majority of Twitter’s shares gave him much more impressive recognition than he already had. But, even if it’s hard to believe, there was a time when he was a simple billionaire businessman that nobody knew anything about.

But in just a couple of years he went from being an expert in technology to appearing -with his own name- in the second Iron Man movie, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, being compared to Tony Stark. This is something that positioned him as one of the most recognized philanthropists on the planet.

But when was that specific point? Where is the before and after marked for Elon Musk? There were two episodes that were fundamental, combined with his personality, that led him to become a celebrity.

The name of Elon Musk: an international technological reference

The first time that Elon Musk was recognized or mentioned in the media was between 2001 and 2002, after his participation in the founding of PayPal, a payment platform that is still operating.

This company was bought by eBay in October 2002. So, this meant that, in addition to earning money in exorbitant amounts, Elon Musk was recognized in the business world.

Claim to fame

However, his real claim to fame occurred in 2008, when his electric car company launched the Tesla Roadster, the first sports car that did not have a combustion engine. This was the first car of this style to be sold (and built) on a massive scale.

This success laid the foundation for Tesla to become one of the most recognized and leading companies in the electric vehicle industry.

In these years, in addition to beginning his successful relationship with NASA, through SpaceX, Elon Musk began dating Hollywood actresses. The first was Talulah Riley, but then came Amber Heard and Grimes.