Then he'd be doing more dotcom startups. Its obvious to most of us, that he's chosen the weird collection of industries he has, because of a bigger vision.
That's not necessarily true. Remember that Musk started with $165 million from sale of shares of PayPal when it was bought by eBay, so he could afford to wait a while for his companies to take off. When you have a large amount of money to invest and you're young, it makes sense to invest in things with a high up-front cost and long wait before you get a payoff--most companies aren't willing to take a risk on that kind of investment, and once it pays off, you own something with little competition and a long head start on your competitors.
And, incidentally, it puts Musk in the position of Silicon Valley's golden boy--which has numerous business advantages.
That's not necessarily true. Remember that Musk started with $165 million from sale of shares of PayPal when it was bought by eBay, so he could afford to wait a while for his companies to take off. When you have a large amount of money to invest and you're young, it makes sense to invest in things with a high up-front cost and long wait before you get a payoff--most companies aren't willing to take a risk on that kind of investment, and once it pays off, you own something with little competition and a long head start on your competitors.
And, incidentally, it puts Musk in the position of Silicon Valley's golden boy--which has numerous business advantages.