SA-born entrepreneur and the world’s richest man Elon Musk has had a year to remember, dominating headlines and conversations globally.
From buying companies to joking about purchasing football teams and fathering love children, here is a look at five of the billionaire’s biggest moments.
Musk’s year was dominated by his on-off-on-again purchase of social media network Twitter.
After Musk got cold feet and tried to pull out of the deal, Twitter took him to court to hold him to the sale.
In the end, the takeover was finalised towards the end of the year for $44bn (more than R800bn).
It brought a number of changes, including the departure of several executives and an $8 (about R142) price tag for a blue tick subscription that added verified accounts, priority replies, mentions and searches, longer videos and audio messages — and less advertising.
AND PLANS TO ‘BUY MANCHESTER UNITED’
One major brand Musk did not buy was English football side Manchester United.
Social media users encouraged the businessman to buy anything from their second-hand socks to ailing utility Eskom. But Musk shocked them all when he “announced” in August that he was “buying Manchester United”.
He later said it was a “long-running joke on Twitter” and he was not buying any sports team.
“Though, if it were any team, it would be Manchester United. They were my favourite team as a kid,” he said.
SMELL LIKE MONEY?
The crazy announcements continued when, in October, Musk launched a fragrance called “Burnt Hair”, describing it as “the essence of repugnant desire”.
A product page posted by his company Boring Co priced the scent at $100 (about R1,800) a pop and Musk later said 10,000 bottles had been sold.
THE KIDS
Musk’s personal life also hogged headlines, with reports in July that he had secretly welcomed twins with a former employee.
At about the same time he announced a second child with former partner Grimes.
Musk’s oldest daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, legally changed her name and gender recognition because she wanted nothing to do with him.
SPACE X GETS SA BAGGAGE
With all the talk of his business dealings and private life, it was easy to forget Musk still ran a highly successful space-travel business, and in October it acquired a South African touch. It was announced that seven South African-made microsatellites would be launched by SpaceX.
The satellites will form a “constellation” to generate high-quality data relating to agriculture and forestry. They would become the world’s first agriculture-focused satellites.