Category Archives: Elon Musk

Elon Musk said that Tesla is working to make Steams library of video games work on its onboard vehicle computer.

Tesla has been working to expand its presence in the video game space.

As we previously reported, Tesla has a team of software engineers working on video games in Seattle, and they recentlystarted building a similar team in Austin.

The automaker has been building a video game platform calledTesla Arcadeinside its vehicles, and it has been working with video game studios to port games to it.

Right now, it is mainly to create some added value to its ownership experience, but Tesla might have bigger plans for gaming inside its vehicles.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been indicating recently that he believes entertainment will be critical when cars drive themselves, which he thinks Tesla can achieve later this year.

In preparation for that, the automaker has beenreleasing more video gamesin its Tesla Arcade, and it has indicated that it might turn it into a business.

We have seen indications thatTesla plans to offer paid packages of different video gamesinside its vehicles, which would start to get into the same business as Valves Steam, the Playstation Store, or the Xbox Live store.

Now Musk announced on Twitter today that Tesla is working to make Steams library of games work directly on Teslas software instead of porting specific games:

Were working through the general case of making Steam games work on a Tesla vs specific titles. Former is obviously where we should be long-term.

In the Twitter thread, Musk reiterated his goal to make Cyberpunk, a demanding game graphic-wise, work on the upcoming Cybertruck.

Tesla has recently deployed a new entertainment computer in the Model S and Model X that is geared toward video games.

With the unveiling of new Model S and Model X, Tesla has announced a new gaming computer inside the vehicles:

Up to 10 teraflops of processing power enables in-car gaming on-par with todays newest consoles via Tesla Arcade. Wireless controller compatibility allows gaming from any seat.

A known chip leaker, Patrick Schur posted adiagramof Teslas new gaming computer powered by the AMD Navi 23 GPU:

The system is integrated and connects directly to two touchscreens inside the Model S and Model X to play games, watch entertainment, and perform some other functions:

CEO Elon Musk also revealed that the new computer has more storage space to be able to handle more games on the platform at the same time.

The websitevideocardzcompared the specs with existing consoles from the latest generation showing that it does indeed match up well based on the specs available:

Tesla is expected to leverage this new hardware to expand its in-car video gaming experience.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Go here to read the rest:

Elon Musk: Tesla is working to make Steam video games work in its vehicles - Electrek

Elon Musk is reportedly in a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett.

Musk most recently dated musician Grimes they share a nearly 2-year-old son.

Musk has also dated actress Amber Heard and was previously married to actress Talulah Riley twice.

Elon Musk may be moving on after his breakup with Grimes.

The 50-year-old Tesla and SpaceX CEO was spotted Thursday disembarking from his private jet in Los Angeles accompanied by a female guest. Celebrity news site Hollywood Life has since identified her as Australian actress Natasha Bassett.

Natasha Bassett, left, and Elon Musk.Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

A source identified as being "close" to Musk told the publication that Musk and Bassett have been dating for a couple of months and are in a monogamous relationship.

"They are very much into each other and have been spending a tremendous amount of time together," the source told Hollywood Life.

Bassett will appear in the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic, playing the role of his girlfriend, Dixie Locke. Bassett also played Britney Spears in the Lifetime movie "Britney Ever After" and had a role in the 2016 film "Hail, Caesar!"

Musk revealed in September that he and the singer and producer Grimes had broken up after three years of dating. They share a nearly 2-year-old son, X A-Xii, and at the time, Grimes and X were still staying with Musk at his home in Texas.

Prior to dating Grimes, Musk had a high-profile relationship with actress Amber Heard following their break-up, he opened up about his romantic life to Rolling Stone, telling the publication that he prefers to be in long-term relationships.

"If I'm not in love, if I'm not with a long-term companion, I cannot be happy ... Going to sleep alone kills me," he said at the time.

Musk has been married three times, twice to actress Talulah Riley. He shares five sons with his first wife, Justine Musk.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Read the original here:

Elon Musk reportedly has a new girlfriend following his ...

Elon Musk appears to be moving on after his September 2021 split from Grimes.

The richest man in the world who took the money crown from Jeff Bezos last year was recently spotted with 27-year-old actress Natasha Bassett.

A source claimed to Daily Mail over the weekend that Bassett who was photographed recently exiting Musks private jet in LA had been seeing the 50-year-old Tesla CEO for some time and that they were friends first and only became romantic after he split with Grimes.

Heres everything you need to know about Bassett as rumors of her romance heats up.

Back in 2017, Bassett starred in the unauthorized Lifetime Britney Spears biopic Britney Ever After.

Although many fans slammed the movie at the time, Bassett who admittedly stayed away from the media at the time insisted the film was a feminist story at its core and hoped Spears would tune in.

It shines a positive light on how strong Britney is and what a great human being she is, she told Vogue at the time. Shes not only one of the worlds most powerful performers, shes also a mother to two gorgeous sons and she has a residency in Vegas, so it shines a light to all these positive attributes of her personality.

However, after Spears spoke out against the conservatorship in 2021, Bassett wrote on social media, Now that Britney has revealed her truth, I am utterly devastated for her. My heart goes out to her today and for everyday shes suffered this twisted, unnecessary conservatorship. Its wrong, its unlawful and its manipulative. Nobody should have the right to make decisions over another womans body. Sending my love to @britneyspears and supporting #freebritney

Bassett was born in Sydney, Australia and attended her first audition at age 14 where she landed the lead role in the Australian Theater for Young Peoples production of Romeo and Juliet.

While in high school, she appeared in Australian TV shows including Rake (2010), Cops LAC (2010) and Wild Boy (2011).

Bassett is set to play Elvis Presleys first girlfriend, Dixie Locke, in the upcoming biopic about the King of Rock & Roll. The film also features Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.

She also starred alongside George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in Hail, Caesar! in 2016.

When Bassett was 19 she moved to New York on a screenwriting scholarship from the ArtStart Screenwriters Program, which allowed her to both write and direct her own short film called Kite.

According to the actress IMDb page, the film was featured in the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Bali International Film Festival and Big Bear Lake International Film Festival.

She has since moved to Los Angeles.

I love to bake. When I was waiting to hear about whether I got the Hail, Caesar! role, I baked everyday waiting to find out, just to get my mind off it, she told Vogue Australia.

Everyone had newfound hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bassett is no different. The actress learned to play the piano.

Caught by Bryan messing around with last years newfound pastime, she captioned a video of herself playing Moon River.

View original post here:

Who is Natasha Bassett, Elon Musk's new girlfriend?

Elon Musk is ramping up his fight with the SEC saying that he has been building a case against the agency and that he didnt start the fight, but he will finish it.

Tesla is stuck in the crossfire.

The situation between the SEC, Elon Musk, and Tesla appears to be escalating after a lawyer for Musk reached out to the court with some serious allegations about some kind of vendetta that they claim the Security and Exchange Commission has against them.

Musk and the SEC have had a few run-ins with each other, rarely with a good outcome. Most famously,the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk over his infamous funding secured commentregarding his failed attempt to take Tesla private back in 2018.

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) judged that Musk exaggerated when saying that the funding was secured:

Musk went on a campaign against the SEC, calling them names and claiming that they were working for people shorting the electric automaker. But ultimately, Tesla and Musk ended up reaching a settlement with the SEC.

As part of the settlement, Musk agreed to step down from the role of chairman of the board, and both Tesla and Musk had to each pay $20 million in fines.

The CEO presumably didnt want Tesla to have to pay for his issue with the SEC. While he couldnt directly pay for Teslas part of the fine, he decided tobuy $20 million worth of shares from Tesla. That way, he sort of indirectly ended up paying for Teslas fine though he also ended up with ~71,000 additional Tesla shares in the process.

As we previously reported,Musk ended up actually making money from the settlementdue to Teslas stock price surging.

Another part of the settlement was that Musk and Tesla had to agree for the former to have his tweets reviewed by the latters legal department if they are material to the company. Despite the settlement, Musk didnt change his use of his popular Twitter account with over 74 million followers and has remained defiant when it comes to the SEC.

As for the SEC, it reportedly sent several inquiries to Tesla about Musks use of Twitter when it relates to potentially material information.

Last week, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, sent a letter to the court to request an audience to discuss what he described as the SECs harassment of Tesla and Musk. He also claims that the SEC has yet to distribute the $40 million settlement money to shareholders.

The SEC quickly denied the allegations of harassment and claimed that a plan for distributing the money was going to be submitted to the court next month and the delay is due to the complexity.

But then Spiro claimed this week that the SEC leaked information about an ongoing investigation in reprisal to him contacting the court.

Now Musk himself has commented on the back and forth and he is not mincing his words.

The CEO says that he has been building a case against the agency:

Then he ramped it up a notch and said that he didnt start the fight, but he plans on finishing it:

He didnt elaborate on how he plans on finishing the fight, but the back and forth between Musks lawyer and the SEC are expected to lead to a new audience with the court.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Read the rest here:

Elon Musk to the SEC: I didnt start the fight, but I will finish it - Electrek.co

It looks like Elon Musk has a new girlfriend, and hes keeping with his old patterns of dating someone who is much younger than he is. The 50-year-old entrepreneur is reportedly dating Australian actress 27-year-old Natasha Bassett, whose most prominent role has been playing Britney Spears in the Lifetime biopic, Britney Ever After.

When the movie was released in 2017, Spears supporters were none too pleased that the film was being made in the first place, but Bassett remained an ardent fan despite the criticism. It shines a positive light on how strong Britney is and what a great human being she is, she explained to Vogue. Shes not only one of the worlds most powerful performers, shes also a mother to two gorgeous sons and she has a residency in Vegas, so it shines a light to all these positive attributes of her personality.

During Spears conservatorship battle, Bassett remained firmly in the pop stars corner and dedicated a social media post to her. Now that Britney has revealed her truth, I am utterly devastated for her. My heart goes out to her today and for everyday shes suffered this twisted, unnecessary conservatorship, the actress wrote. Its wrong, its unlawful and its manipulative. Nobody should have the right to make decisions over another womans body. Sending my love to @britneyspears and supporting #freebritney.

As for Bassett and Musk, their love has been blossomingfor some time, according to a Daily Mail source. They were friends first and only became romantic after he split with Grimes, they added. And if youre wondering what attracted her to the 23-years-older Tesla CEO, the insider revealed that she finds himso smart and interesting to be around. With their romance going strong, its just a matter of time before the couple makes their red-carpet debut for all the world to see.

Before you go, click here to see famous men who routinely date women half their age.

See the article here:

Elon Musk Is Reportedly Dating This 27-Year-Old Actress With a Strange Connection to Britney Spears - SheKnows

ANN ARBOR, MI -- When Craig Sincock first encountered Avfuel, the company was one of his consulting clients.

Four decades later, his leadership of that same company, a global supplier of aviation fuels, systems and services, has earned him a spot among aviation leaders like Buzz Aldrin and Elon Musk.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Sincock spent 10 years working as a consultant, taking on Avfuel, a then-local aviation fuel company, as a client. In mid-January, Sincock, now the CEO of Avfuel, was conducted into the Living Legends of Aviation group, which is comprised of industry leaders, entrepreneurs, astronauts and pilots who have influenced the field. Other members include Harrison Ford, Buzz Aldrin, Jeff Bezos and Bonnie Dunbar.

Sincock acquired Avfuel in 1985, roughly a decade after the company was originally launched. At the time, the Michigan company had just three employees and was mostly supplying fuel stations at airports.

It was very exciting. A lot of late-night pizza, Sincock said. Sometimes people say, Craig, was it a great business plan? And Ill tell them, Well, no. We were young and didnt understand that we shouldnt compete with major oil companies.

Sincock grew Ann Arbor-based Avfuel to a global scale and now conducts business in 149 countries with 1,000 employees around the world. The company also supplies all sectors of the aviation industry, from government planes to agricultural crop sprayers.

Avfuel touches approximately a third of all U.S. business flights daily and supports nearly 30% of the markets fixed-base operators, which is a space at airports that provide hangar space, fuel and other aviation support. By surrounding the companys fuel arm with other supports in the rest of the aviation industry, Avfuel became the industrys first comprehensive independent fuel supplier, according to the Living Legends of Aviation website.

Sincock said he knew the company was successful when it began purchasing other aviation companies, teaching them Avfuels connection-first method.

Instead of product first, it was people first. And instead of thinking about a transaction or signing up a dealer or selling fuel, we thought about a relationship that would go on for years, Sincock said. When you think about (business) in those terms, it changes a thousand things that you do.

Sincock, who was raised in Plymouth, lives in Ann Arbor with his wife. His son, who is in his 30s, also works with Avfuel. The CEO has been interested in aviation since he was a child, he said.

Its just an exciting industry, and I could see that even when I was a kid. It was part of the moon landing back when I was in high school, Sincock said. My college roommates were flight instructors, so it didnt take me long to start getting in the airplane and flying.

For Sincock, aviation is about connection. He will sometimes fly to multiple cities a day to meet with clients, using the companys aircraft.

I mean, the (internet) connects us, but if you think after the web, whats the largest connectivity concept out there? Its travel, Sincock said.

Although being considered among the Living Legends of Aviation is humbling for him, Sincock said, he pointed to the rest of the corporation as the reason for its success.

Whats behind the award is whats important to me and thats the people who supported me and helped get there over the years, which is the staff and the team at Avfuel Corporation, Sincock said. Many of them.. have been there since the early days, and they have stayed with it. And the customers who supported us and our suppliers. Its everyone that made this happen.

Read more from The Ann Arbor News:

Leaving a very rich legacy. Saline police chief resigns to take new job

Chief diversity officer job created at EMU filled by media professor

2 teens arrested after shooting deaths of 5-year-old boy, 2 adults

See original here:

Ann Arbor CEO awarded aviation honor shared by Buzz Aldrin, Elon Musk - MLive.com

Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Reporthas relocated its headquarters from Fremont, California to Austin, Texas.

Elon Musk, its charismatic and whimsical CEO is also now domiciled there. In a few weeks, Texas and Austin, in particular, should undoubtedly adorn themselves with the colors of Tesla and above all display its logo, which is in the form of a capital T.

The billionaire has just lifted the veil on the date of Tesla giant party, the "GigaFest", in its new factory in Austin. It's like a sort of official inauguration day for this gigafactory and a full-scale seduction operation.

Musk is meeting Tesla fans on April 7, he posted on Twitter, responding to a question from a car enthusiast from the automaker.

However, he got confused because he first spoke of April 1, before correcting himself almost four hours later. To wonder if he didn't remember that April 1st was April Fool's Day. Therefore, his fans and Tesla customers might have thought it was a joke.

"Wow,@elonmusk, Model Y coming out of GigaTexas looks so amazing, do y'all have a date for the GigaFest yet?" the fan asked the billionaire.

"April 1st,"Musk responded.

Then, he corrected himself. "Actually, April 7th."

According to an exchange between the CEO and another fan, guests in this high mass will receive an invitation card. Musk, however, did not indicate how the guests would be selected or when the invitations would be sent out. In Germany, guests have to register online before receiving their invitation.

"Will invites be sent out," the user asked.

"Yes," responded Musk.

These cryptic announcements were enough to create excitement on the social network. Many users saying they hope to be among the lucky ones. This is one of Elon Musk's skills that he was able to deploy in Tesla: creating and arousing desire and desire.

Giving the impression that when you drive in a Tesla car you are living a unique experience. You only have to look at Tesla's market capitalization to measure its enormous success. The manufacturer of electric vehicles created in 2003 has a valuation of nearly $900 billion. No other automotive company comes close to these numbers.

In this case, Musk, whose Twitter account is followed by more than 74 million people at the time of writing, succeeded in three posts to make this upcoming GigaFest, an event not to be missed this year for all Tesla admirers. He succeeded in creating this fear of missing out.

"Ready to go!!Does this earn me an invite? I'll drive my Plaid X and give launch rides!" a claimed owner of a Tesla vehicle.

Another user was wondering if there is a seating limit: 'What is the cap on the number in attendance?" the user asked.

GigaFest is expected to draw a wave of Tesla fans to Austin in what promises to be a celebration of the T-logo brand. The manufacturer had given a foretaste by organizing a similar event on October 9, in its Berlin factory, still under construction, and Tesla is still waiting for the permit to start producing vehicles there.

We can imagine that the company sees things even bigger for Austin where production has just started. And there weren't similar tensions in Austin as Tesla encountered in Berlin.

The U.S is also, along with China, one of the most important markets for the brand. In addition, Tesla will undoubtedly not fail to take advantage of this event to send a message to its rivals (GM (GM) - Get General Motors Company Report, Ford (F) - Get Ford Motor Company ReportRivian (RIVN) - Get Rivian Automotive, Inc. Class A Report, who all promise to steal its throne.

Tesla is likely to show visitors at the open house its 4680 cell structural batteries, which will be used in the Model Y SUV in Germany. These batteries will inaugurate a new platform, basically a new technique.

The two ends of the Model Y will be connected by the battery pack, which will also serve as a connecting element. Tesla thus hopes with the 4680 cells to revolutionize the battery, the central element of the electric vehicle. It should be noted that the Austin plant will focus on the production of the Model Y.

The new architecture of the Model Y "Made in Germany" is inspired by the aviation and aerospace industry, where fuel tanks (found in aircraft wings, for example) often also fulfill a structural function.

The new structural batteries will be built in such a way that Model Y seats will attach directly to them, saving even more parts, space and money.

Want more from TheStreet? Sign up for one of our new newsletters to follow the electric vehicle world, the stock market, tech stocks or so much more,

Read the rest here:

Elon Musk Has News That Will Delight Tesla Fans - TheStreet

Is SpaceX a victim of its own success?

We have to believe that the new conquest of space is attracting a large number of investors.

The rocket and space tech company started by Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Reportco-founderElon Musk raised $337.35 millionin December, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This round of funding has undoubtedly caused the valuation of the company to fly, which had already reached $100 billion dollars in October. The stock price was at $560 per SpaceX share at the time.

Now, the company is not yet publicly-traded, but it is preparing to split its action. According to a report from CNBC, SpaceX is proposing to its privatel-held shareholders to split their shares in a 10-for-1 ratio. If the company carries out its plan, the value of each share will be reduced to $56 per share.

The split has no impact on the overall valuation of the company or on the overall value of your SpaceX holdings, SpaceX said to a company-wide email obtained by CNBC.

This would be the first time SpaceX has split its stock. This decision would have no impact on the fundamentals of the company or that of the action. Usually, listed companies split their stock when it becomes out of reach of retail investors.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, recently announced a stock split, which has thrilled the markets. It is rumored that the e-commerce giant Amazon could be the next to do it. The action of the company founded by Jeff Bezos is currently trading around for $3,052 for market value of $1.55 trillion.

One of the main reasons for a split is to make the share price more accessible and thus attract a greater number of investors. In doing so, the company also hopes to improve the liquidity of its shares.

Tesla, in August 2020,announced a 5-for-1 split, giving every Tesla shareholder five shares of the company for each share of Tesla they owned.

SpaceX didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.

The valuation of SpaceX has soared in recent years with each fund-raising of the company, which needs large financial means to finance two crucial projects: the next generation rocket Starship and its global satellite internet network Starlink.

Starlink, SpaceX's first consumer product, is high-speed internet powered by a network of thousands of small low-orbit satellites.

The company has already launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites, with an overall goal of launching about 12,000.

Musk's plan to turn SpaceX into a company capable of transporting people to the moon and Mars rests of the profitability of the Starlink.

SpaceX debuted Starlink Premium, an internet broadband service that costs five times its standard service, a few weeks ago. The standard service costs $499 for the hardware and $99 a month.

In December,Musk tweeted that the company has started construction on an orbital launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for missions to the Moon and Mars.

These projects gobble up a lot of money and it is not certain that they will succeed.

Rising interest rates, inflation, and market volatility are on the horizon. You dont want to miss out on this exclusive opportunity to unlock Action Alerts PLUS at our lowest price of the year.

See more here:

Elon Musk's SpaceX Wants to Split Its Shares - TheStreet

Elon Musk praised a video showing a traditional Japanese art technique (File Photo)

Japanese art has its own set of fans all across the world. Now, its charm has caught the attention of one of the most influential people in the world. We are talking about Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The billionaire was impressed with aform of Japanese art called Ippitsuryu. For those who haven't heard of this art form, Ippitsuryu is a traditional artistic technique to paint dragons. The dragon, which holds a lot of significance in Japanese culture, is painted using a single brush in one stroke. A video showing this technique of dragon art was posted on Twitter and Mr Musk complimented it as"Beautiful."

The text attached to the video read, "Ippitsuryu is an ancient Japanese tradition of creating the flowing, river-like body of the dragon, in just a single stroke. In this video, artist Keisuke Teshima shows the mesmerising balance required by this technique."

Here, the artist paints with two basic colours and their various gradients. As he pulls the brush in a long winding stroke, a snakeskin-like pattern is created. The clip ends by showing the completed dragon.

According to the National Geographic, this traditonal Japanese art technique of creating dragons with a single brush strokebegan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1867.

Elon Musk is known for his influential tweets.Apart from swinging the crypto market with his tweets, Mr Musk often drops unexpected comments on Twitter, which leavethe world baffled.

Recently, he commented on billionaire investor Charlie Munger's take on cryptocurrency. According to reports, Mr Munger, Vice President of Berkshire Hathaway, compared cryptocurrency to a "venereal disease". Mr Musk reacted to this by recalling an incident that took place in 2009. Mr Musk wrote, "I was at a lunch with Munger in 2009 where he told the whole table all the ways Tesla would fail. Made me quite sad, but I told him I agreed with all those reasons and that we would probably die, but it was worth trying anyway."

So what do you have to say about this?

Waiting for response to load...

Continued here:

Watch: The Japanese Dragon Art Technique That Impressed Elon Musk - NDTV

It is hardly a tech giant. PayPal, a digital-payments firm, has a market capitalisation of US$135b, compared with Amazons US$1.6t and Apples US$2.8t.

Yet it holds a unique position in Silicon Valley mythology.

A startling number of PayPals co-founders and honchos have gone on to corporate greatness, earning themselves the nickname the PayPal mafia.

The top job at the firm was held by both Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and one of the worlds richest men, and Peter Thiel, a veteran venture capitalist and co-founder of Palantir Technologies, a data-analytics firm.

READ MORE:* Paypal's mafia of misfits who became kingpins of tech* SpaceX satellites falling out of orbit after solar storm* US billionaire Peter Thiel sells Queenstown mansion for $6.85 million* Why EV pioneer Tesla is a cult, not just a car

Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, held various senior roles. Three PayPal alumni later created YouTube; others co-founded Yelp, a popular review website, and Yammer, a social network.

Former employees landed senior jobs at Google, Apple and Facebook, as well as at some of the valleys biggest venture-capital firms.

Together they form one of the most powerful and successful networks ever created, argues Jimmy Soni in The Founders.

His well-researched book chronicles PayPals birth and transformation from a scrappy startup to a profitable business which, in 2002, was bought by eBay for US$1.5b.

AP

Peter Thiel and Elon Musk in 2000, after their two companies had merged to form PayPal.

The origin story starts with two other companies: Confinity, co-founded by Thiel, which planned to build software to beam money between PalmPilots, then must-have devices for businessfolk; and X.com, co-founded by Musk, which was meant, as he put it, to be the Amazon of financial services, offering internet users everything from mortgages to credit cards to insurance. Both found success with features that let customers transfer money using email. Initially rivals, the firms merged. PayPal was the result.

The story of its rise is gripping. PayPal was born during the internet boom of the late 1990s, when money poured into Silicon Valley.

The fierce competition fomented by the investment in turn generated intense pressure; all-nighters were common. PayPal burned through dangerous amounts of cash to attract new customers. It was sued repeatedly and subject to fraud.

Splits among the top brass caused commotions: two chief executives were ousted in coups in a six-month spell.

Sonis text is peppered with colourful quotations from Thiel (I need people here I can scream at) and Musk (This is like gambling one hundred million smackeroos).

All this gives a taste of the chaos of startup life. Business models were improvised on the fly. Shortly before Confinitys launch, Thiel told journalists that his new product would be free. That was news to his engineers, who quickly removed fees from the website.

Experimentation led to grave mistakes. For almost a month a loophole in X.coms security allowed villains to steal from banks using only account and routing numbers, both of which were printed on cheques.

What the book lacks is a clinching answer as to why the PayPal gang have been so successful.

Lots of theories are offered, including the wildness of the PayPal rollercoaster and the outsider status of many of those involved (nine of the ten founders of the two original firms were foreign-born).

None of these explanations is convincing; most apply to other tech startups.

Even so, this is an engrossing glimpse of the PayPal mafias riotous early days. Many former employees object to that nickname now, on the grounds that it insinuates something sinister.

A quip by John Malloy, a former board member, better captures the books tone: Calling us a mafia is to insult mafias. A mafia is far better organised than we were.

2022 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist published under licence. The original article can be found on http://www.economist.com

See the original post:

Elon Musk and Peter Thiel's start: The rise and legend of PayPal - Stuff.co.nz