Martin Eberhard Net Worth (2022)|What Is He Doing Now?

The name Elon Musk is so popular around the world that even a Kid knows about him and his electric car company Tesla but only a few know about the original founders of Tesla and their story.

In this article, we shall check out who Martin Eberhard is, what is Martin Eberhard’s net worth, why he was kicked out of Tesla, and many more things related to Martin.

Who is Martin Eberhard?

Martin was born in the year 1960 in California and at present, his age is 61 years.

Martin Eberhard is the man behind the great electric car company Tesla. Martin Eberhard who is an American entrepreneur cofounded Tesla company along with Marc Tarpenning in 2003. 

He was the CEO of the Tesla from 2003 to 2007.

He did his undergraduate in computer engineering and also his master’s degree from the University of Illinois at  Urbana-Champaign.

Martin always knew that better technology is the solution for a successful electric car. Martin’s interest in sports cars and how global warming is affecting the world led to the idea of beginning electric cars.

For Tesla to be where it is now, Martin has played a huge role in taking the tesla company to the next level.

At present, Tesla is the first car maker company in history to reach $1 Trillion in valuation.

Martin Eberhard Net Worth 2022

Martin Eberhard is one of the co-founders of Tesla Motors. He served as the company’s first CEO until he was ousted in 2007.

As of 2022, Martin Eberhard’s net worth is $500 Million. You might be wondering why Martin Eberhard’s net worth is just $500 Million while the current CEO of Tesla i.e Elon Musk is having an enormous net worth of $315 Billion (as of November 2022).

And the reason for the same is, Elon has owned a majority stake in the company. And also he is the founder and CEO of SpaceX and has made many other big investments.

It was Musk who found Martin’s vision of electric vehicles incredibly great and had given seed capital to Tesla and owned a majority of the stake in the Tesla company.

Musk invested $6.34 Million of his own money to take Tesla Motors off the ground and to begin the production of Roadsters.

Martin Eberhard and Marc tarpenning had also pitched their idea of electric cars to various venture capitals and other angel investors and the response they got from them is its crazy and insane of what you are trying to do.

But Musk really got their idea and understood what they are trying to do.

Musk’s investment in Martin’s Tesla company is also the main reason why Tesla became so successful now and to be where they are now!

Martin still owns a stake in the company but it is relatively very small. 

Why Martin Eberhard Was Forced Out Of Tesla Motors?

According to many reports, Martin Eberhard had lied about the true cost for the production of the Roadster (Which was Tesla’s first model). 

Elon Musk then did an investigation with his team to find out the actual cost of the product and it came to light that the actual cost was way higher than what Martin had mentioned. 

And musk being the largest shareholder of the company had to take some decision and he eventually forced Martin to leave the company.

Even though Martin was kicked out of the company for some undisclosed reasons, he has said that he doesn’t hold any grudge with Musk or with the Tesla company. 

It was unexpected for Martin to get fired by Tesla and he said he didn’t see it coming and was very disappointed with the decision.

Martin had said in an interview that he is very happy for the success of the company and his vision is becoming a reality and wants to see more of the electric car revolution by getting rid of fossil fuels.

He also said Tesla is his baby and it won’t bother him who is handling his baby as long as it is going in the right way to become successful.

Here is the full interview by CNBC with the Tesla founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning and watch what they have to say about Tesla

Companies Founded By Martin Eberhard

Martin Eberhard has founded 4 companies including Tesla. Let’s check out his other 3 startups.

Nuvomedia

Nuvomedia, which was founded in 1997, is an ebook distribution solution. It was the first e-reader that was ever produced and it was named as Rocketbook.

In just 3 years of starting Nuvomedia, Martin and Marc had sold 20K e-readers.

Novumedia was sold to a TV Guide firm Gemster (as they couldn’t raise more capital) in 2000 for worth $187 Million in stake value.

Network Computing Devices

Network Computing Devices was founded in the year 1987 in order to produce a new class of products known as a thin client. The company was producing high-end graphic terminals at that point in time.

Tiveni

Martin Eberhard has founded yet another startup in 2018 known as Tiveni. Tiveni is a battery technology company that provides power storage systems for automobile companies.

At present, Martin Eberhard is the chairman and CTO of the company. Eberhard says he is working on how we can make battery systems cheaper and more reliable.

Conclusion

At present when someone talks about Tesla, we only remember the name Elon Musk but Martin Eberhard’s name should never be forgotten as he worked hard and played a significant role in taking Tesla to the next level.

Martin Eberhard’s net worth might be tiny compared to that of Elon Musk but he is truly the driving force behind the company.

FYI, Martin Eberhard had also been featured in a documentary known as “Revenge of the Electric Car”. If you haven’t watched it already, go watch it as you would love it if you love electric vehicles.

No doubt, Tesla has truly taken the world by storm. What do you say?

Read: Starting a powerful brand

FAQ’s on Martin Eberhard

Why was Eberhard kicked out of Tesla?

It has been widely reported that Eberhard was forced out of the company by Musk, but the reason for this is not completely clear. Some believe that it was due to disagreements over the direction of the company.

Is Elon Musk actually the founder of Tesla?

Musk is often credited as the founder of Tesla Motors, the company that manufactures and sells electric vehicles. However, he was not actually the one who started the company. That honor goes to two other men, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

Musk did play an important role in Tesla’s early days, however he was an early investor in the company and served as its chairman for a time.

Who along with Martin Eberhard started Tesla Motors?

Martin Eberhard along with Marc Tarpenning started Tesla Motors

How did Martin Eberhard meet Marc Tarpenning?

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning met in the early 2000s while they were both working at a company called NuvoMedia. Tarpenning was the head of engineering at NuvoMedia, and Eberhard was the vice president of marketing.

The two men hit it off immediately, and they soon began working on a new business idea together. In 2003, they founded Tesla Motors, and the rest is history.

Who is the current CEO of Tesla?

The all know great Elon Musk is the current CEO of Tesla.

Does martin Eberhard own tesla stock?

It’s unclear whether or not Martin Eberhard owns Tesla stock, as he is no longer with the company. However, it’s possible that he still owns some shares as during a interview in 2021 Martin he owns only a small portion of Tesla stock!

How much is martin Eberhard worth?

Martin Eberhard is worth more than 500 Million dollars as of 2022.