The teen tracking Elon Musk's jet has started a business to help fund the work, selling merch of Musk smoking weed that says 'I know how high Elon is'
- The 19-year-old tracking Elon Musk's private jet has started selling merch to fund the endeavor.
- Jack Sweeney's business sells shirts showing Musk smoking weed with the text "I know how high Elon is."
The teen who went viral for tracking Elon Musk's private jet has started selling merch of the billionaire smoking weed to fund his project.
Jack Sweeney told The Guardian on Wednesday that he has started a business called Ground Control to "monetize" his @ElonJet Twitter account.
Ground Control sells T-shirts, hoodies, and stickers showing Musk smoking weed during a 2018 appearance on podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience." Besides the photo, the various products also bear the text, "I know how high Elon is," along with an image of Musk's jet and the @ElonJet Twitter handle.
Sweeney told Insider he created the LLC "a while back" and notes there are "not many sales, but I do have somewhat decent donations and AdSense," referring to Google's website monetization program.
His website will serve as a back-up to keep running his jet-tracking operation if Twitter takes down his account over security concerns, the 19-year-old told the Guardian. Musk said last month that social media accounts reporting his travel movements were "becoming a security issue."
Sweeney's jet-tracking account went viral last month after Protocol reported that Musk offered him $5,000 in the fall to shut it down. The teen countered with an ask of $50,000 from the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, and Musk said he'd consider it but ultimately decided it didn't "feel right."
Sweeney recently got a job offer out of his viral fame. CEO Joel Thomas of private charter flight company Stratos Jet Charters invited to teen to join the company's development team after seeing his "creativity" in starting the accounts, as The New York Post reported.
Sweeney told Bloomberg on Monday that Musk has since blocked all social-media accounts tied to him. Besides Musk, Sweeney also tracks the private jet movements of a handful of other billionaires, including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.