Elon Musk
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Who is Elon Musk?
Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and U.S. Special Government Employee, renowned for his leadership in Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX, as well as his ownership of Twitter (now rebranded as X). As of February 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth at $397 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest individual.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk hails from a wealthy family. He later immigrated to Canada and acquired citizenship before moving to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University. That same year, he and his brother Kimbal co-founded the software company Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq in 1999. Musk then co-founded X.com, an online banking platform that later became PayPal, which eBay acquired in 2002. With the proceeds from the sale, Musk launched SpaceX in 2002, aiming to revolutionize space travel. In 2004, he became an early investor in Tesla, later assuming the roles of chairman and CEO.
In 2018, Musk faced legal action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over claims he made regarding Tesla’s privatization, leading to his resignation as chairman and a financial settlement. In 2022, he acquired Twitter, rebranding it as X in 2023. By January 2025, Musk was appointed as the director of the Department of Government Efficiency as a Special Government Employee.
Musk remains a polarizing figure due to his political activities and public statements. He has faced criticism for spreading misinformation, including unverified COVID-19 claims, and for endorsing controversial remarks and conspiracy theories. His acquisition of Twitter sparked debate over the platform’s handling of hate speech and misinformation. Politically active, he has been a vocal and financial backer of U.S. president Donald Trump and played a major role in the 2024 U.S. presidential election as its largest donor. Additionally, he has supported far-right activists, causes, and political movements across various countries.
Quick Details
| Full Name | Elon Reeve Musk |
| Date of Birth | June 28, 1971 |
| Birth Place | Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa |
| Current Residence | Austin, Texas, United States |
| Citizenship | South Africa Canada (from 1989) United States (from 2002) |
| Gender | Male |
| Birthday | June 28 |
| Age | 53 |
| Height | 6′ 1″ |
| Weight | 78kg (approx) |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Queen’s University, Ontario |
| Zodiac Sign | Cancer |
| Parents | Errol Musk (father) Maye Musk (mother) |
| Relatives | Kimbal Musk (brother) Tosca Musk (sister) Lyndon Rive (cousin) |
| Family | Musk family |
| Spouses | Justine Wilson (Married in 2000 and separated in 2008) Talulah Riley (Married in 2010 and separated in 2012) (Married in 2013 and separated in 2016) |
| Partners | Amber Heard (2015–2017) Grimes (2018–2021) |
| Children | 12 |
| Profession | Founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc. Owner, CTO and executive chairman of X (formerly Twitter) Founder of the Boring Company, X Corp., and xAI Co-founder of Neuralink, OpenAI, Zip2, and X.com (part of PayPal) President of the Musk Foundation Special Government employee of Department of Government Efficiency |
| Social media | X |
Early Life & Education
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He has British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His mother, Maye Musk, is a Canadian-born model and dietitian, while his father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, entrepreneur, and former property developer. Elon has a younger brother, Kimbal, and a younger sister, Tosca, along with four paternal half-siblings. Raised in the Anglican Church, he was baptized during childhood.
The Musk family was wealthy during Elon’s early years. While both Elon and his father previously claimed ownership in a Zambian emerald mine, Errol later clarified that he received a share of emeralds from three small mines. Errol, an elected member of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party, opposed apartheid, a sentiment he claimed his children shared.
Following his parents’ divorce in 1980, Elon initially chose to live with his father but later regretted it, becoming estranged from him. He recounted difficult experiences at a wilderness school, likening it to a “paramilitary Lord of the Flies” environment. In one violent incident, he was severely beaten by classmates, leading to hospitalization. He also recalled his father berating him afterward, though Errol denied this, attributing the situation to a misunderstanding.
A passionate reader, Elon credited books like The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as influences on his success. By age ten, he developed an interest in computing, teaching himself programming from a VIC-20 manual. At twelve, he sold his first game, Blastar, to PC and Office Technology magazine for about $500.
Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and later graduated from Pretoria Boys High School. He was a capable but not exceptional student, earning a 61 in Afrikaans and a B in senior math. Seeking to avoid South Africa’s mandatory military service under the apartheid regime, he applied for a Canadian passport through his mother. While waiting for approval, he briefly attended the University of Pretoria.
In June 1989, Musk moved to Canada, where he worked various jobs, including on a farm and at a lumber mill. He enrolled at Queen’s University in Ontario in 1990 before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. Although he claimed to have earned his degrees in 1995, the university officially awarded them in 1997—a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School. To help fund his education, he hosted ticketed house parties and developed a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service, similar to what later became Google Books.
In 1994, Musk interned at two Silicon Valley startups: Pinnacle Research Institute, which focused on supercapacitors, and Rocket Science Games. In 1995, he was accepted into a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University but chose not to enroll, opting instead to pursue opportunities in the emerging internet sector. He unsuccessfully applied for a job at Netscape and later faced questions about his legal work status in the U.S. While Musk claimed his student visa transitioned to an H-1B, some former associates stated he remained on a student visa at the time.
Career
Business career
Zip2
In 1995, Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri co-founded Zip2, a web software company, using funds borrowed from their father. Operating out of a small rented office in Palo Alto, they developed an online city guide for newspapers, integrating maps, directions, and business listings.
Musk worked tirelessly, coding at night while the site remained live during the day. The company secured contracts with major publications like The New York Times and Chicago Tribune and successfully convinced the board to reject a merger with CitySearch. However, Musk’s bid to become CEO was blocked by the board. In February 1999, Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash, with Musk receiving $22 million for his 7% stake.
X.com and PayPal
In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email payment company. As one of the first federally insured online banks, it attracted over 200,000 customers within its first few months. However, investors viewed Musk as inexperienced and replaced him as CEO with Intuit’s Bill Harris by the end of the year.
To avoid competition, X.com merged with Confinity in 2000, a company founded by Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, which had developed the more popular PayPal money-transfer service. Musk returned as CEO but faced internal conflicts over his preference for Microsoft software over Unix, prompting Thiel to resign. Due to technical challenges and strategic disagreements, the board ousted Musk later that year, appointing Thiel as CEO.
Under Thiel, the company rebranded as PayPal in 2001 and shifted focus entirely to online payments. In 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock, with Musk—its largest shareholder at 11.72%—receiving $175.8 million. In 2017, he repurchased the X.com domain from PayPal, citing its sentimental value.
SpaceX
In 2001, Musk joined the nonprofit Mars Society and explored funding a project to grow plants on Mars. Seeking a cost-effective way to launch payloads, he attempted to buy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from Russian companies but was unsuccessful. Instead, he decided to build affordable rockets himself.
Using $100 million of his early fortune, Musk founded SpaceX in May 2002, serving as CEO and Chief Engineer. The company’s first rocket, Falcon 1, failed to reach orbit in 2006 but secured a NASA contract under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. After two more failed attempts that nearly bankrupted him, SpaceX successfully launched Falcon 1 into orbit in 2008. That same year, NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract for Falcon 9-launched Dragon spacecraft missions to the International Space Station (ISS) following the Space Shuttle’s retirement. In 2012, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the ISS.
SpaceX advanced its goal of reusable rockets by successfully landing a Falcon 9 first stage in 2015, followed by landings on autonomous drone ships. In 2018, the company launched Falcon Heavy, with Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload. Since 2019, SpaceX has been developing Starship, a reusable super heavy-lift vehicle intended to replace Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. In 2020, SpaceX made history with Demo-2, becoming the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and dock with the ISS. In 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to deorbit the ISS at the end of its operational lifespan.
Starlink
In 2015, SpaceX launched Starlink, a satellite constellation designed to provide global internet access. Following prototype launches in 2018, the first major deployment took place in 2019. By 2020, the project’s total cost was estimated at $10 billion.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk provided free Starlink access, ensuring communication at an annual cost of $400 million to SpaceX. However, he refused to block Russian state media and, in 2023, denied Ukraine’s request to activate Starlink over Crimea, citing concerns over potential nuclear escalation.
Tesla
Tesla, Inc., originally founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, saw Musk join as an investor in 2004, contributing $6.35 million and becoming chairman. He played a key role in the Roadster’s product design but was not deeply involved in daily operations. After internal conflicts and the 2008 financial crisis, Musk took over as CEO. A 2009 lawsuit settlement officially recognized him as a co-founder.
Under Musk, Tesla launched several successful electric vehicles, including the Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. The company also expanded with Gigafactories to produce batteries and EVs. Tesla’s stock surged after its 2010 IPO, becoming the most valuable carmaker in 2020 and reaching a $1 trillion market cap in 2021.
SolarCity and Tesla Energy
Musk provided the initial concept and funding for SolarCity, founded by his cousins in 2006. By 2013, it became the second-largest solar power provider in the U.S. In 2014, Musk pushed for a large-scale solar production facility in Buffalo, completed in 2017 and operated with Panasonic until 2020.
Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2 billion in 2016, merging it with its battery division to form Tesla Energy. The deal led to a drop in Tesla’s stock, as SolarCity faced liquidity issues. Shareholders sued, alleging the acquisition primarily benefited Musk. While Tesla directors settled in 2020, Musk remained a defendant but won the case in 2022.
Neuralink
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, investing $100 million to develop brain-computer interfaces integrating AI with the human brain. The company aims to enhance memory, enable brain-to-software communication, and treat neurological conditions like spinal injuries. In 2023, the FDA approved six-year human trials.
Neuralink has tested its technology on macaques, showcasing a monkey playing Pong via an implant. However, allegations of animal cruelty and botched experiments due to Musk’s push for rapid progress led to a 2022 federal probe into possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
The Boring Company
In 2017, Musk founded the Boring Company to build tunnels for high-speed, underground transportation. The company constructed a test trench at SpaceX’s premises and later developed a two-mile tunnel in Los Angeles, though early tests reported rough rides and lower-than-expected speeds. Planned projects in Chicago and West Los Angeles were canceled, but in 2021, the company completed a tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center, with further expansions approved by local officials.
X corp.
In early 2017, Musk showed interest in buying Twitter, questioning its stance on free speech. By 2022, he became its largest shareholder with a 9.2% stake and later made a $44 billion bid to acquire the company. After completing the purchase in October 2022, Musk immediately dismissed top executives and assumed the CEO role. He introduced a paid subscription for verification, reduced content moderation, and implemented mass layoffs. Hate speech and misinformation reportedly increased under his leadership. In 2023, he stepped down as CEO, transitioning to executive chairman and CTO, but the platform continued facing controversies, including allegations of shadow banning and inconsistent moderation policies.
Other activities
Hyperloop
In August 2013, Musk proposed the Hyperloop, a high-speed vactrain concept designed for travel between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area at an estimated cost of $6 billion. Engineers from SpaceX and Tesla were assigned to develop the system, which aimed to provide a faster and more cost-effective transportation alternative.
OpenAI and xAI
In December 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, an AI research company focused on developing safe artificial general intelligence. He pledged $1 billion but contributed $50 million before leaving the board in 2018. OpenAI later made significant advancements in machine learning. In July 2023, Musk launched xAI to develop a generative AI program competing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, securing funding from SpaceX and Tesla investors while recruiting engineers from Google and OpenAI.
Private jet
Musk uses private jets owned by Falcon Landing LLC, a SpaceX-linked company, and acquired a second jet in August 2020. His frequent jet usage and its environmental impact have drawn criticism. His flights are tracked on social media via ElonJet. In December 2022, Musk banned the ElonJet account on Twitter, along with temporarily suspending several journalists who reported on the incident.
Politics
Musk, historically an independent voter, has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, often in states where he has business interests. Since 2022, he has become more politically vocal, aligning with right-wing positions and supporting Republican candidates. He backed Obama (2008, 2012), Clinton (2016), Biden (2020), and later Trump (2024). Musk also endorsed Andrew Yang’s universal basic income and supported Kanye West’s 2020 campaign.
In 2023, he contributed $10 million to Ron DeSantis and hosted campaign events on Twitter Spaces. By 2024, Musk was a major financial supporter of Trump, endorsing him after an assassination attempt and promoting election fraud and immigration conspiracy theories. He became the largest individual donor in the 2024 election.
Musk’s international political involvement, including support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, has drawn scrutiny. European leaders in the UK, France, and Germany have criticized his growing political influence and alleged interference in domestic affairs.
Personal Life
Elon Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and lived in California until 2020 before moving to Texas, citing economic complacency in California. While hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021, he claimed to have Asperger’s syndrome, though he has not been formally diagnosed. He has undergone multiple spine surgeries for back pain and previously suffered a severe case of malaria in 2000. Musk has admitted to using doctor-prescribed ketamine for depression, though reports suggest he may use it recreationally.
Outside of business, Musk dabbles in music, releasing tracks like “RIP Harambe” (2019) and “Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe” (2020). A video game enthusiast, he has played Quake, Diablo IV, and Elden Ring, stating gaming helps his mental focus. However, he has also admitted to “account boosting” by hiring services to enhance his rankings.
Relationships and children
Musk has fathered twelve children, one of whom passed away from sudden infant death syndrome in 2002. He married Canadian author Justine Wilson in 2000, and after their first child’s death, they had twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006 via IVF. The couple divorced in 2008 and share custody of their children.
He later married English actress Talulah Riley in 2010, divorced in 2012, remarried in 2013, and finalized their second divorce in 2016. Musk briefly dated actress Amber Heard in 2017 before beginning a relationship with Canadian musician Grimes in 2018. They had a son in 2020, initially named X Æ A-12 before changing it to X Æ A-Xii due to California naming regulations. They welcomed a daughter via surrogacy in 2021. That same year, Musk secretly fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive. In 2023, it was reported that Musk and Zilis had a third child together.
Musk’s eldest daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, publicly distanced herself from him in 2022, legally changing her name and taking her mother’s surname. In 2023, Grimes filed a lawsuit over parental rights and custody of their children.
Net Worth
Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $402 billion as of February 8, 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $397 billion according to Forbes. His fortune primarily comes from his ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.
First listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, Musk’s wealth was largely derived from Tesla stock, accounting for about 75% of his net worth in November 2020. Despite describing himself as “cash poor,” he became the first person to surpass a $300 billion net worth in 2021. By December 2024, he reached the historic milestone of $400 billion.
Musk Foundation
Musk is president of the Musk Foundation he founded in 2001, whose stated purpose is to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas, with an interest in human space exploration, pediatrics, renewable energy, and “safe artificial intelligence”. From 2002 to 2018, the foundation donated nearly half of its $25 million directly to Musk’s OpenAI. The foundation’s assets reached $9.4 billion by the end of 2021.
