You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

How Much It Would Cost Elon Musk to Become the World's Next Willy Wonka (Infographic) With the recent news of Musk's plans for a candy company, we've taken a look at what it would take for the billionaire to become the world's next Willy Wonka.

By Rose Leadem

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Bloomberg | Getty Images
Elon Musk

Move over self-driving cars and traffic avoidance tunnels -- Elon Musk's next big venture is focusing on something new: candy. That's right -- in recent news, Musk tweeted his plans for an "amazing" candy company.

And he's not joking either. When asked by Engadget his level of seriousness about this new endeavor, he replied, "super super serious." So, why is Musk creating a candy company? To send candy to Mars? We don't quite know that answer yet. However, we've taken a look at what it would cost for the eccentric billionaire to go full-on Willy Wonka in today's market.

Related: Someone Trademarked Elon Musk's Name, and 25 Other Weird Things We've Learned About Him

While Roald Dahl's famous kid's story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a milestone from many of our childhoods, what would it look like today? (And we're not talking about Tim Burton's 2005 recreation with Johnny Depp.) Bringing the imaginative candy land to life would actually result in $2 million in energy costs annually. However, that doesn't include solar energy, which we're sure Musk would install. Going solar would require 3,221 solar panels and cost a whopping $2.37 billion for such a system.

Related: The Unglamorous First Jobs of Successful People Such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (Infographic)

Of course, that's not even the most expensive part of the project. While a candy river would be around $32.7 million (and $47.1 million for organic chocolate), and salaries for Oompa loompas would be around $73.4 million a year, one of the more expensive installations and overhead costs would be the flying glass elevator. If Musk were to recreate the elevator from Wonka's factory, this would cost him around $109 million. Of course, knowing Musk, he'd likely take things a step further -- if Musk strapped SpaceX's BFR (a reusable spacecraft) to the elevator instead, he'd wind up with a $10 billion bill.

Related: Why Elon Musk Hates Meetings

While becoming the next Willy Wonka of the world might be next of Musk's to-do list, check out the Advanced Technology Services, Inc.'s infographic for a breakdown of how much it would actually cost the eccentric tech-preneur.

Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Leadership

What We Have to Gain By Talking About Grief and Loss At Work

I lost my husband to cancer during Covid — here's how it changed how I lead at work.

Money & Finance

5 Simple Wealth-Building Tips For This Generation's Forward-Thinkers

Explore practical finance tips for young professionals striving to overcome economic challenges.

Fundraising

Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money

Crafting an efficient pitch deck requires serious effort, but at least it's not wandering in the dark since certain rules are shaped by decades of relationships between startups and investors.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Real Estate

3 Emerging Trends Shaping the Future of Real Estate

These three innovations are reshaping the real estate industry — discover tips for effectively covering these trends.