What Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Cornelius Vanderbilt And Other Big Execs Have In Common

The odds of running a $1 billion business are slim to none.

Unless you’re Elon Musk. Then you run a few.

The CEO of Tesla Inc TSLA, SpaceX and the Boring Co. is now known to head two firms that are both valued north of $25 billion.

With Tesla’s $46-billion market cap and SpaceX’s estimated worth of about $28 billion, Musk is working to cement his fortune and legacy as this century’s Cornelius Vanderbilt.

A Solid Investment

Interestingly, Vanderbilt also made his money in diverse transportation ventures. The shipping and railroad tycoon, together with railroad magnate Andrew Carnegie, proved the industry to be historically lucrative.

The market continues to testify to transportation’s profitability.

SPDR S Tr/S&P TRANSN ETF XTN trades up 150.5 percent from its 2011 debut price, and iShares Dow Jones Transport. Avg. (ETF) IYT is up 141 percent from its 2003 offering.

A Common Interest

Musk’s contemporaries have transportation assets of their own.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and owner of The Washington Post, founded Blue Origin for commercial space travel and is an Uber investor. 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class A (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett counts BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive and Precision Castparts, an aerospace parts producer, in his portfolio.

Richard Branson, who formerly owned Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile, founded space travel company Virgin Galactic and rail company Virgin Trains. He also invested in Hyperloop One.

Microsoft Corporation MSFT cofounder Paul Allen launched Stratolaunch and funds SpaceShipOne for commercial space travel.

Related Links:

Master Of All Trades: Every Industry Jeff Bezos Has A Hand In

6 Things Elon Musk Is Working On Other Than Tesla

Photo by Maurizio Pesce via Wikimedia. 

Original publication: May 26, 2018