Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk, born June 28, 1971, is a businessman and public official known for leading Tesla and SpaceX. He has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025. As of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be very large.

Musk was born into the Musk family in Pretoria, South Africa. He moved to Canada in 1989 and later to California to start new businesses. He helped create companies like Zip2, PayPal, and SpaceX. He also became the CEO of Tesla, helping it become a leader in electric vehicles.

Musk co-founded OpenAI to support artificial intelligence research. He later started xAI under SpaceX. In 2022, he acquired the social network Twitter and changed its name to X in 2023. His other projects include Neuralink and the Boring Company.

Musk has taken part in politics and his actions have led to discussions and criticism from many people.

Early life

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. His mother, Maye, was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, and his father, Errol, had many jobs. Because his mother was Canadian, Musk also became a Canadian citizen.

Musk grew up in a rich family. After his parents divorced when he was about nine, he chose to live with his father. He loved reading books and was interested in computers when he was young. At twelve, he made and sold a video game called Blastar for about $500.

Education

Musk went to several schools in South Africa. He wanted to avoid South Africa's military service, so he asked for a Canadian passport through his mother. He studied at Queen's University in Canada and later at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, where he earned degrees in physics and economics in 1997. He planned to study at Stanford University but decided to start a business instead.

Business career

Main article: Business career of Elon Musk

Zip2

Main article: Zip2

In 1995, Elon Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri started a company called Zip2. They made a website that helped people find city information, like maps and phone books, for newspapers.

Zip2 became successful. In 1999, a big company named Compaq bought it for a lot of money. Musk made a good profit from this sale.

X.com and PayPal

Main articles: X.com (bank), PayPal, and PayPal Mafia

In 1999, Musk started another company called X.com. This was one of the first online banks where people could send money over the internet.

Later, X.com joined with another company called Confinity, which had a popular service named PayPal. The company became just PayPal.

In 2002, PayPal was sold to a big company called eBay for a lot of money. Musk made a good profit from this sale too.

SpaceX

Main article: SpaceX

In 2002, Musk started SpaceX, a company that builds rockets to send things into space.

SpaceX has done many important things, like sending people into space for the first time for a private company and working on making rockets that can be used again.

Starlink

Main article: Starlink

See also: Starlink in the Russo-Ukrainian War

In 2015, SpaceX started working on Starlink, a network of satellites that provides internet to places all over the world.

Tesla

Main article: Tesla, Inc.

Musk joined Tesla, a company that makes electric cars, in 2004. He helped make many popular electric cars, like the Model S and Model 3.

Tesla has grown to become one of the biggest car companies in the world.

SolarCity and Tesla Energy

Main articles: SolarCity and Tesla Energy

Musk helped start SolarCity, a company that makes solar power systems, in 2006. In 2016, Tesla bought SolarCity to make solar power part of its business.

Neuralink

Main article: Neuralink

In 2016, Musk started Neuralink, a company that wants to connect human brains with computers. This could help people with medical problems or even improve how our brains work.

The Boring Company

Main article: The Boring Company

In 2017, Musk started The Boring Company, which builds tunnels under cities to help with traffic.

X Corp.

Main articles: Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk and Twitter under Elon Musk

In 2022, Musk bought a big social media company called Twitter and renamed it X. He made many changes to how the company works.

Other activities

Hyperloop

Main articles: Hyperloop and Hyperloop pod competition

In 2013, Elon Musk shared ideas for a fast way to travel called the Hyperloop. He wanted to connect Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area with this system.

OpenAI and xAI

Main articles: OpenAI and xAI (company)

In 2015, Musk helped start OpenAI, a group that studies smart computers. In 2023, he started another company called xAI to make new smart computer programs.

Private jet

Main articles: ElonJet and 2022 Twitter suspensions

Musk uses private airplanes to travel. In 2022, he stopped a social media account that tracked his airplane and blocked some journalists who wrote about it.

Grokipedia

Main article: Grokipedia

In 2025, Musk's company introduced Grokipedia, an online encyclopedia made by a computer program. Some people said it sometimes makes mistakes or shows things in a way that matches Musk’s opinions.

Politics

Main article: Political activities of Elon Musk

See also: Protests against Elon Musk

Elon Musk talks about politics more than many business leaders. He used to be a voter who did not belong to any party when he lived in California. Over time, he has given money to both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Musk has supported several political leaders. He backed Democrat Barack Obama and later Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in their elections. In 2020, he supported a candidate named Andrew Yang.

In 2021, a leader named Joe Biden made a rule about electric cars. Musk felt he was not included in this decision. Later, Musk began giving more support to Republican leaders. He helped a Republican candidate named Mayra Flores win an election in Texas in 2022 and gave money to support another Republican, Ron DeSantis, in the 2024 election.

By 2024, Musk started supporting leaders with strong right-wing views. In July 2024, after a leader named Donald Trump survived a dangerous situation, Musk said he hoped Trump would become president again.

Musk also talked about not liking a group called the World Economic Forum and decided to speak there in 2026 for the first time.

Department of Government Efficiency

Main article: Department of Government Efficiency

In 2024, Elon Musk talked with Donald Trump about creating a new group to help manage the government's money. In January 2025, this group was started, and Musk was given an important role to help guide it. However, some people said Musk did not really have official power to make decisions.

Musk's work with this group led to many people being let go from government jobs.

Feud with Donald Trump

Main article: Trump–Musk feud

After leaving office, Musk and Donald Trump had disagreements. Musk made strong comments online about Trump, and Trump responded. Musk later apologized for his comments and removed them.

Views

Main article: Views of Elon Musk

Elon Musk has shared many ideas about politics and society. He says he is a political moderate, but his views have changed over time. He supports freedom of speech, gun rights, and a tax on carbon emissions. He has also talked about artificial intelligence and climate change.

Musk has talked about topics around the world, like issues in Israel, China, Taiwan, and Europe. He has supported some political groups and leaders, and other times, he has criticized them. His comments have sometimes caused discussions and disagreements.

Legal affairs

Main article: Legal affairs of Elon Musk

Further information: List of lawsuits involving Tesla, Inc. and Criticism of Tesla, Inc.

In 2018, Elon Musk had a legal problem because of a tweet. He said he had money to make Tesla a private company. This led to a lawsuit. Musk settled by paying fines and taking a break from leading Tesla. Later, a court said he and Tesla were not to blame for the tweet.

Musk has had other legal issues, too. These included disagreements over his tweets about Tesla and questions about his actions when he bought Twitter. In 2026, a jury decided he had misled investors with some tweets, but they did not find him responsible for other serious claims. Another lawsuit against a technology company was decided in favor of that company’s leaders.

Personal life

Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002. He lived in California from the early 2000s until 2020, where Tesla and SpaceX were started. He then moved to Cameron County, Texas.

Musk shared that he has Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism spectrum disorder. He was not diagnosed as a child. Musk has had health issues, including back pain and spine surgeries, like a disc replacement. In 2000, he got very sick with malaria while on vacation in South Africa.

Musk likes to play video games to relax. Some games he plays are Quake, Diablo IV, Elden Ring, and Polytopia_.

Relationships and children

Musk has had many relationships. He had six children with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson. After the sad passing of their first child, they used in vitro fertilization to have more children. They divorced in 2008 and share custody of their children.

Musk dated and married English actress Talulah Riley twice, with their final divorce in 2016. He also dated American actress Amber Heard for several months in 2017.

In 2018, Musk began dating Canadian musician Grimes, and they have three children together. Musk also has children with other partners, including Shivon Zilis. Some details about his children are still unclear.

Wealth

Musk Foundation

Main article: Musk Foundation

The Musk Foundation is a group in the United States led by Elon Musk. It helps with clean energy, space travel, children's health, and teaching science. By the end of 2024, the foundation had more than $14 billion. Since 2020, it has helped groups linked to Musk and his companies.

Public image

Main article: Public image of Elon Musk

Elon Musk became well known in the early 2010s. People see him as someone who makes big decisions and sometimes says things that cause debate. Unlike many wealthy business leaders, Musk often shares his thoughts openly. This makes him a topic of discussion for many people.

Some have called him very powerful because of his impact on conversations, social media, businesses, politics, and government decisions.

Accolades

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Elon Musk

Musk has received many awards for his work, especially with rockets. These include important prizes in science and engineering. In 2021, he was chosen as Time magazine's "Person of the Year" because of how much he has influenced life on Earth and beyond.