Elon Musk’s flamethrower makes $5M in sales – CNET

The Boring Company decided to start selling a flamethrower over the weekend, as if Elon Musk needed to look more like a supervillain. His newest company has made $5 million in sales after the CEO announced the weapon on social media on Saturday.

The flamethrower has The Boring Company’s logo emblazoned on it and sells for $500 (roughly £355 or AU$620). Musk announced early Monday on Twitter that 7,000 of the 20,000 available flamethrowers were sold, and updated later in the day that sales have crossed 10,000 orders.

Now Playing: Watch this: Elon Musk’s flamethrower is a hot seller

Musk, who is also the founder of the relatively serious companies Tesla and SpaceX, promoted his fiery new toy with glee in an Instagram video featuring him turning on the flamethrower and then running at the cameraman (please don’t do this!).

Accompanying the flamethrower on the website is a branded fire extinguisher, which The Boring Company openly advises is overpriced at $30 (roughly £20 or AU$40). Those should decide to order one should expect to receive the weapon this spring, the site promises.

Musk also posted to Twitter some fantastical (and likely not at all true) elements of the flamethrower, garnering nearly 97,000 Likes to his post.

The Boring Company was first announced with the purpose of building tunnels underneath cities that have heavy traffic on roads above ground. Until that happens, it appears to be making dough first by selling hats and these flamethrowers.

Musk’s fans also have a penchant for strange merchandise ideas: The Elon’s Musk Company (not affiliated with its namesake) makes an air freshener called Elon’s Musk, which we’ve tried.

Now Playing: Watch this: ‘Elon’s Musk’ doesn’t smell like you think it should

First published Jan. 29, 2018 at 11:10 a.m. PT.
Update 1:34 p.m. PT: Updates sales from $3.5 million to $5 million.
Update 2:35 p.m. PT: Adds a tweet of Musk’s joke regarding features of the weapon.