Elon Musk

Elon Musk is a South African–born American entrepreneur who cofounded PayPal and formed SpaceX. He was also a key investor in and CEO of Tesla. In 2022, Musk acquired Twitter (later X), and in 2023, he founded xAI. As the world’s richest person, Musk's wealth surged after SpaceX's 2026 IPO, which valued the company at $1.77 trillion.

Early life

Born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, to a South African father and Canadian mother, Musk showed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At 12, he created a video game that he sold to a computer magazine.

In 1988, Musk left South Africa for Canada, citing his unwillingness to support apartheid through military service and seeking greater economic opportunities in the US.

PayPal and SpaceX

Musk attended Queen’s University and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned degrees in physics and economics. He briefly attended Stanford University but left to pursue internet-related ventures. In 1995, Musk founded Zip2, which provided online content to newspapers. Compaq bought Zip2 for $307 million in 1999, and Musk then founded X.com, which became PayPal.

Convinced that humanity must become a multiplanet species, Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 to develop affordable rockets. The company's Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy rockets significantly reduced launch costs. By 2024, SpaceX dominated the launch vehicle market, conducting over half of the world's orbital launches.

SpaceX is developing the Super Heavy–Starship system, designed to lift 100,000 kg to low Earth orbit. The Starship will provide fast transportation between Earth's cities and build bases on the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft carries supplies to the International Space Station and can transport up to seven astronauts. Musk, as CEO and chief designer, oversaw the development of the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Starship.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite network provides global broadband internet services. Launched in 2015, Starlink had over 9,600 active satellites by January 2026, with more than five million subscribers. The company also operates Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink, and is building a secure satellite system for the US military.

Tesla

Musk became a major funder of Tesla in 2004, which introduced its first car, the Roadster, in 2006. The company's subsequent models, including the Model S, Model X, and Model 3, received critical acclaim and commercial success.

Tesla announced new models, including the Tesla Semi and Cybertruck. Although the Cybertruck's production was delayed, it entered limited production in 2023 and continued to roll out through 2025.

In November 2025, Musk secured a $1 trillion compensation package from Tesla, contingent on meeting ambitious targets, including increasing the company's market capitalization to $8.5 trillion and expanding its robotics and autonomous-driving divisions.

X (formerly Twitter)

Musk joined Twitter in 2009 and became one of the site's most popular accounts, with over 85 million followers as of 2022. He made headlines in August 2018 with a series of tweets about taking Tesla private at $420 a share, claiming he had “secured funding.” The SEC sued Musk for securities fraud the following month, alleging the tweets were “false and misleading.” Musk stepped down as Tesla chairman for three years and paid a $20 million fine, while Tesla also paid $20 million.

In April 2022, Twitter disclosed that Musk had bought over 9% of the company. He then bid $44 billion for the entire company at $54.20 a share. After a brief attempt to withdraw the bid, Twitter sued to force the deal, which was completed in October 2022. As owner, Musk laid off half the company, introduced paid verification, disbanded the content-moderation body, and reinstated banned accounts, including Donald Trump's. Many companies pulled their ads, and advertising revenue plummeted. In July 2023, Musk renamed the company X.

OpenAI and xAI

Musk has expressed concerns that unregulated AI advancement poses an “existential threat” to humanity. He co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, but exited three years later due to a conflict of interest with Tesla. In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, its executives, and investor Microsoft, accusing them of straying from the nonprofit mission. A jury ruled against Musk in 2026, finding he had waited too long to file the lawsuit.

Nine months after acquiring Twitter, Musk founded xAI, an AI company that develops machine-learning models using data from X and other sources. Its primary product, Grok, is an AI-powered assistant competing with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

The Boring Company and Neuralink

Frustrated with Los Angeles traffic, Musk proposed The Boring Company in 2016 to build a low-cost, underground public transport system. Initially a SpaceX division, it was spun off in 2018 and dug a 1.14-mile test tunnel near SpaceX's Hawthorne headquarters. The company later built the Loop transportation system beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, which opened in 2021.

Musk founded Neuralink in 2016 to develop a brain-computer interface for wireless interaction with devices. Neuralink began human clinical trials in 2023 and implanted a brain chip called Telepathy in a 29-year-old with quadriplegia, enabling them to control a mouse, browse the web, and play chess using thought.

Politics, DOGE, and the SpaceX IPO

Musk's political views shifted rightward in the early 2020s, and he supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election. After Trump's return to office in 2025, Musk became a special government employee and led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He stepped down in May 2025, expressing disappointment with Trump's proposed bill.

SpaceX completed its IPO in June 2026, selling 555.6 million shares at $135 each. The historic IPO raised $75 billion and valued the company at $1.77 trillion. After SpaceX shares began trading publicly, Musk became the world's first trillionaire.