Chapter Three - X.com, PayPal, and the Battle for Your Wallet

CHAPTER THREE

X.com, PayPal, and the Battle for Your Wallet

FRESH OFF HIS Zip2 exit and armed with millions, Elon Musk could’ve done anything.

He chose to pick a fight with banks.

In 1999, online banking was barely a concept. People still stood in line to deposit checks. Transferring money online felt sketchy, risky, even futuristic. Which is exactly why Elon wanted in.

He launched X.com, a name so vague and so edgy it sounded like either a porn site or a Bond villain’s web server. It was an online financial service that aimed to handle everything: checking, savings, investing, insurance, and payments. A fully digital bank. No branches. No paper. No gatekeepers.

The problem? Everyone thought it was insane.

But Elon didn’t care. He poured nearly all of his fortune into the company, betting that people would one day trust the internet with their money. It was a bold, risky play. And it was working. Customers liked it. Investors liked it. And then something happened that would change everything.

Confinity.

Founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, Confinity was working on a similar idea, except they focused on one thing: letting people send money via PalmPilots and email. They called it PayPal.

X.com and Confinity were headed toward a bloody showdown. But instead of burning each other to the ground, they merged in 2000. It was a shotgun wedding. Two rival visions forced into one marriage, and it wasn’t a peaceful union.

Elon was made CEO of the combined company, and immediately set about branding everything under the X.com umbrella. He believed it was bold, cool, and futuristic. Others thought it sounded like a porn site. (To be fair, it kinda did.)

Tensions flared.

Infighting spread.

And while Elon was away on a trip, the board ousted him as CEO.

It was a mutiny.

But PayPal thrived.

In 2002, eBay acquired the company for $1.5 billion. Elon walked away with around $180 million.

Twice now, he had bet early, built obsessively, gotten kicked out... and walked away richer than most people could dream.

But this wasn’t about money.

Not for him.

He had something much bigger in mind.

He was going to build rockets.