After Losing his $180 Million PayPal Fortune… Elon was 3 Weeks from Bankruptcy. Here’s How a Family Meeting Saved Him

By Baptiste

After losing his $180 Million PayPal fortune…

Elon was 3 weeks from bankruptcy.

Tesla was losing $10 Million/month. Everyone thought he was finished.

Then, he bet his last $6 Million on his cousin’s dying startup.

Here’s how a family meeting saved him:

2008: Everything was falling apart.

SpaceX couldn’t get a rocket to orbit.
Three failed launches had drained millions.

Tesla was bleeding $10M every month trying to deliver the Roadster.

And Elon? He was living off personal loans just to pay rent…

2008: Everything was falling apart.

SpaceX couldn’t get a rocket to orbit.
Three failed launches had drained millions.

Tesla was bleeding $10M every month trying to deliver the Roadster.

And Elon? He was living off personal loans just to pay rent… pic.twitter.com/dTVyjeIJqz

— Baptiste (@BaptisteVicini) November 28, 2024

The PayPal fortune was gone.

From $180M to nearly zero in just a few years.

Most billionaires would’ve cut their losses. Declared bankruptcy. Started over.

But Elon was about to make a decision that seemed completely insane:

With just weeks of cash left…

He called a family meeting.

What happened next would either destroy his last chance at survival…

Or change the future of energy forever.

His cousins Lyndon and Peter had a radical idea:

Make solar power accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy.

When they started in 2006, this seemed impossible. Solar panels cost a fortune. Oil was king.

But they had cracked a revolutionary model:

His cousins Lyndon and Peter had a radical idea:

Make solar power accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy.

When they started in 2006, this seemed impossible. Solar panels cost a fortune. Oil was king.

But they had cracked a revolutionary model: pic.twitter.com/Zp3OqX9Rbo

— Baptiste (@BaptisteVicini) November 28, 2024

Instead of selling expensive panels, they’d lease them to homeowners.

No massive upfront costs. No maintenance nightmares.

Just clean energy at prices anyone could afford.

The catch? They needed $6M to launch…

Instead of selling expensive panels, they’d lease them to homeowners.

No massive upfront costs. No maintenance nightmares.

Just clean energy at prices anyone could afford.

The catch? They needed $6M to launch… pic.twitter.com/Fh1w3kUaLI

— Baptiste (@BaptisteVicini) November 28, 2024

Elon had a choice:

Save his last millions for Tesla and SpaceX…

Or bet everything on a third company in an industry investors called “dead on arrival.”

He wrote the check. And became chairman.

By 2012, that “doomed” bet became SolarCity – America’s largest solar provider.

They went public at $1.6 Billion

The same company investors mocked was now powering more homes than any competitor in the country.

2016: The master plan revealed itself.

Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6 Billion.

Critics screamed “bailout!” Shareholders sued.

But they missed what Elon saw in that family meeting years ago:

He wasn’t just saving a solar company…

He was building the world’s first complete sustainable energy ecosystem:

• Cars powered by electricity
• Homes powered by sun
• Batteries storing clean energy

All working as one.

He was building the world’s first complete sustainable energy ecosystem:

• Cars powered by electricity
• Homes powered by sun
• Batteries storing clean energy

All working as one. pic.twitter.com/TX30udISM5

— Baptiste (@BaptisteVicini) November 28, 2024

The courts eventually cleared him.

That desperate family meeting didn’t just save his fortune.

It laid the foundation for a world beyond fossil fuels.

Today, that “crazy” solar bet is powering millions of homes.

What started as a last-ditch family meeting became an energy revolution.

The future belongs to those bold enough to bet everything on it.

Even when they’re weeks away from losing it all…

Original Source: https://x.com/BaptisteVicini/status/1862186280270139547