Topline
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, announced a fresh foray into the perfume industry on Tuesday, hawking a “Burnt Hair” fragrance that he claimed sold 10,000 bottles within hours of launching, continuing the billionaire’s record of capitalizing on humor and his enthusiastic fan base to transform seemingly joke products into coveted merchandise.
Elon Musk launched a $100 “Burnt Hair” perfume.
Key Facts
Musk on Tuesday used social media to promote his new perfume, “Burnt Hair,” calling it the “finest fragrance on Earth” and changing his Twitter biography to “Perfume Salesman.”
The fragrance is on sale for $100 a bottle on The Boring Company’s website, Musk’s tunneling enterprise, which described the perfume as “the essence of repugnant desire.”
In addition to dollars, the Tesla chief said the popular meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin could be used to purchase “Burnt Hair,” which he described as an “omnigender product.”
Musk said over 5,000 bottles of “Burnt Hair” had sold less than two hours after he posted the launch.
Perfume sales had already crossed the 10,000 bottle milestone early Wednesday morning, Musk tweeted, meaning he had racked up $1 million in sales within six hours of the product going live.
Crucial Quote
“With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable – why did I even fight it for so long,” Musk joked on Twitter, acknowledging the pun of his last name in the scent industry.
Forbes Valuation
$215.4 billion. That’s Musk’s estimated net worth, according to Forbes’ real-time tracker. The figure makes him the richest person on the planet, comfortably ahead of French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault ($146.3 billion) and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($135.6 billion), who come in second and third, respectively.
Key Background
Musk, who has a dedicated and enthusiastic following, has a track record of bringing ostensibly joke products to market to roaring success. Most notably, this includes a limited edition line of flamethrowers, also sold by The Boring Company, which rapidly sold out and sparked concern among lawmakers and police officials. Other merchandise Musk has launched—through his electric vehicle firm Tesla, aerospace firm SpaceX and The Boring Company—includes launched surfboards, tequila and red satin short shorts. Musk’s jokes and online influence have landed him in hot water in the past, however, and the way his tweets move markets have triggered scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as numerous lawsuits and regulatory investigations.
Further Reading
Elon Musk’s Bizarre Week: Twitter Deal Moves Ahead, Tesla Stock Tanks, Zooming’ With Putin (Forbes)