Elon Reeve Musk, born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, is a prominent businessman, investor, and entrepreneur known for his groundbreaking projects and unique innovations. Musk has played a key role in shaping the landscape of various industries, from space exploration to electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. As of December 2023, he is the second richest person worldwide, with an estimated net worth of $232 billion, which comes primarily from his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk’s journey began in South Africa, where he was born into the wealthy Musk family. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 18 and obtained citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. Two years later, he matriculated at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Later, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and received a bachelor’s degree in economics and physics. He decided to move to California in 1995, but he dropped out after two days at Stanford University and, with his brother Kimbal, founded Zip2, an online city guide software company. The startup was purchased by Compaq in 1999 for $3.07 billion, and the same year, Musk founded X.Com, a direct banking company. X.com merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal.
In October 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $15 billion, and the same year, with $100 million of the money he had earned, Musk founded SpaceX, a spaceflight services company. In 2004, he joined the Electric and
The automaker became a pre-investor in Tesla Motors. He became its chairman and product architect, occupying the position of CEO in 2008. In 2006, Musk formed a solar-energy company with the help of SolarCity, which Tesla bought in 2016 and became Tesla Energy. In 2013, he presented the Hyperloop high-speed train transportation system. In 2015, he founded the non-profit artificial intelligence research company OpenAI. The following year, Musk founded Neuralink – a neurotechnology company developing brain-computer interfaces – and The Boring Company – a tunnel construction company. In 2022, they bought Twitter for $44 billion. He immediately renamed that company as X.Corp. Merged it into and named this service as X. In March 2023, he founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company.
Musk has expressed viewpoints that have made him into a multifaceted figure. He has received criticism for misogynistic and misogynistic speeches, including COVID-19 misinformation and antisemitic conspiracies. Controversy has also arisen over his ownership of Twitter, leading to the furlough of a large number of employees, hate speech on the website, and an increasing number of misinformation and disinformation. In 2018, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued him, accusing him of making fake declarations for financial transactions. To settle the lawsuit, Musk decided to resign as Tesla’s chairman and paid a fine of $20 million.
Early life and education
Childhood and family
Elon Musk’s childhood and family background provided the foundation for the passionate and innovative entrepreneurship he built. Born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, Elon Reeve Musk is full of British and Pennsylvania Dutch enthusiasms. His mother, Maye Musk (née Haldiman), was a model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada, and raised in South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, was a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who also partnered with a Zambian emerald mine and a rental lodge near the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve near Kinshasa, Angola. Musk also has a younger brother, Kimbal, and a younger sister, Tosca.
Musk’s family was wealthy at his young age. His father was elected to the Pretoria City Council as an established member of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party, and he said his children also disliked apartheid. His maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldiman, was an American-born Canadian who took his family on trips to Africa and Australia in a single-engine Bellanca aircraft. After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk decided to live primarily with his dad. Musk later regretted his decision and distanced himself from his dad. He also has a paternal full sister and a paternal brother.
After an incident in which he called a boy whose father had committed suicide a “moron”, Musk was severely beaten and thrown down cement stairs. His father despises Ilon for his behavior and shows no sympathy for him despite his injuries.
No ghost seen. He was also an avid book reader, which he later credited as playing a part in his success. At the age of 10, he developed an interest in computing and video games, and taught himself how to program from a VIC-20 user manual. At the age of 12, Musk sold his BASIC-based Game Blaster to PC and office technology magazines for approximately $500.
Education
Elon Musk’s journey, from his early education to his endeavors in North America, is marked by hard work, innovation, and consistent achievement of his goals. Born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk showed interest in technology and entrepreneurship.
Musk’s educational journey included Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and Pretoria Boys’ High School. He was a good student, but not exceptional, and got a 61 in Afrikaans and a B in his Senior Mathematics Certificate. In search of more opportunities, Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother, making it easier for him to come to the United States.
After arriving in Canada in June of 1989, Musk lived with a second cousin in Saskatchewan for a year, working various jobs on a farm. In 1990, he joined Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. However, his pursuit of knowledge and ambition led him to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Musk earned two degrees, a bachelor’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in economics, from the university’s prestigious Wharton School. According to the university, Musk said he received these degrees in 1995, although the University of Pennsylvania says they were awarded in 1997.
To support his education, Musk threw large, ticket-selling house parties, demonstrating his signature entrepreneurship. He prepared a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service, similar to Google Books.
In 1994, Musk did two internships in Silicon Valley. An energy harvesting startup one at the Nickel Research Institute, which studied electrolytic ultracapacitors for energy storage, and another at the Palo Alto–based startup Rocket Science Games. In 1995, he was admitted to a doctoral program in materials science at Stanford University. However, Musk decided that he would rather join the Internet boom, leading him to quit two days after receiving acceptance and apply for a job at Netscape, to which he never received a response.
Wealth
Net worth
Elon Musk’s journey from $2 billion in 2012 to $2 billion by 2023 is a testament to the temporary nature of his wealth, which is largely tied to his endeavors in the tech and automotive industries. Its target from 2013 to 2023 can be seen in the form of a graph showing a sharp upward path.
Musk’s first significant financial milestone came in 2002 when he earned $175.8 million from selling PayPal PayPal to eBay. However, it was in 2012 when he made his first appearance on the Forbes Billionaires List and his net worth stood at $2 billion. The real growth began in 2020 when Musk’s net worth started at $27 billion and then grew to $150 billion by the end of the year, driven in large part by his ownership of nearly 20% of Tesla stock.
During 2020, Musk’s net worth had a significant surge, including a single-day plunge of $16.3 billion in September, which was the largest in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at the time. Despite this, in November, Musk overtook Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and ten days later he overtook Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the world’s third-wealthiest person.
In January of 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world, surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $185 billion. The following month, Bezos regained the top spot. On September 27, 2021, as Tesla stock rose, Forbes announced that Musk’s net worth exceeds $200 billion, and he is the richest person in the world. In November of 2021, Musk attained a net worth of over $300 billion.
However, the situation drastically reversed in late 2022. On December 30, 2022, information came that Tesla’s
Musk lost $200 billion from his net worth due to falling stock values and became the first person in history to lose such a large amount. In January 2023, Guinness World Records recognized him for “the largest loss of individual wealth in history”, with Forbes estimating his financial losses at $182 billion.
Musk’s personal wealth operations are managed by his family office Excession LLC, formed in 2016, which is run by Jared Burchall.
Sources of wealth
Elon Musk’s main source of wealth is from his Tesla holdings, which form the major part of his wealth. In November 2020, about 75% of Elon’s wealth was from Tesla stock. However, by December 2022, the deal had left about 37% of the stake, having sold about $40 billion worth of company shares since the 2021 formalization.
It is significant that Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla. Rather, in 2018, he agreed to a structured compensation plan with the company’s board that tied his personal earnings to Tesla’s valuation and revenues. Under this unique agreement, Musk received compensation only when Tesla achieved certain specified market values. This agreement was the largest ever reached between the CEO and the company board. In the first award, which was granted in May 2020, he had the right to purchase approximately 1.69 million Tesla shares (about 1% of the company) at below market value, valued at approximately $800 million.
People are also paying attention to Musk’s tax contributions. Between 2014 and 2018, he paid $455 million in taxes on a reported income of $1.52 billion. However, according to ProPublica, Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018. In 2021, he reported a tax bill of approximately $12 billion based on his sale of $14 billion of Tesla stock.
Despite his vast wealth, Musk has described himself as “cash poor” and claims to have little interest in the material wealth of jewellery. In May 2020, he delisted almost all physical assets. Musk has defended his wealth by claiming that he is generally accumulating resources for the outward expansion of humanity.
Personal life
Elon Musk, a leading entrepreneur and visionary, played a key role in the growth of companies like Tesla and SpaceX. From the early 2000s to the late 2020s, Musk lived in California, where Tesla and SpaceX were founded. However, he made the important decision to relocate to Texas, supported by California’s indifference to economic success. During his hosting duties on Saturday Night Live in 2021, Musk revealed that he has Asperger syndrome, although he has never been medically diagnosed. This revelation made her public debut to reveal another side, showing a more personal aspect of her life.
In addition to his extensive and traditional manly pursuits, Musk has an interest in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He also trained in this martial art, showing himself with even more comprehensive aspects, when he was preparing for the proposed fight between himself and Mark Zuckerberg. Furthermore, Musk’s life is not just about balancing work and entertainment. In his leisure time, he is seen playing video games such as Quake, Diablo IV, Elden Ring, and Polytopia. It displays another aspect of the entrepreneur in showing various interests and the balance between work and pleasure in their life.
Relationships and children
Elon Musk’s romantic life consists of several relationships and marriages, with specific details and events. An important aspect is his family life, as he has ten living children.
Musk’s first marriage was to Canadian author Justine Wilson, whom he met at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The pair were married in 2000. In 2002, their first child died at the age of 10 weeks due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Next, the pair used IVF to expand their family; They had twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006. The pair divorced in 2008 and share a relationship.
In 2022, the eldest twin officially changed her gender identity to a trans woman and to be authorized to use the name Wilson, and her last name became a double as she now goes by Musk. Didn’t want to be associated with. Musk blamed his daughter’s turning away from what he described as “potential capture by Marxists with dreams of great schools and universities.”
In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley. Two years later, they married in Dornoch Cathedral. In 2012, the pair divorced, then married again the following year. After briefly divorcing in 2014, Musk filed for a second divorce from Riley in 2016. Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017. According to reports, he was stalking her since 2012.
In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes revealed that they were dating. Grimes gave birth to their son with him in 2020
, According to Musk and Grimes, its name was “X A A X-12” (/ɛks æʃ eɪ ˈtwɛlv/); However, this name contains characters that are not in the modern English alphabet, so it was changed to “X A A X-12”. This caused further confusion, because Æ is not a letter in the modern English alphabet. Ultimately, the baby was named X A A X-12 Musk, with “X” as the first name, “A A X-12” as the middle name, and “Musk” as the surname.
In December 2021, Grimes and Musk had a second child, named Axa Dark Siderell Musk (but pronounced “Y”), who was born via surrogacy. Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed news of the pair’s “partial separation” in September 2021; In an interview with Time in December 2021, he said that he is single. In March 2022, Grimes said of her relationship with Musk: “I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re polyamorous.” Later that month, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up again. It was reported in September 2023 that the pair had a third child, named Techno Mechanicus “Tou” Musk. In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk for parental rights and custody of their elder son.
In July 2022, Insider published court documents detailing Musk’s relationship with Neuralink’s director of operations and special projects, Shivan Zilis, of the twins’ birth in July 2021, who was close to the birth of his second child. These reports “raised questions about work ethics”, as Gillis reported directly to Musk.
She was. Additionally, in July 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, in 2021, leading to their divorce the following year. Musk denied this report.
Musk has also had a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, described as his “one-time girlfriend”.
Legal matters
Recent legal issues regarding Elon Musk have been varied and impactful, involving him facing allegations of sexual misconduct, a lawsuit over Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, an ongoing dispute with ex-girlfriend Grimes, and a slander suit by Ben Brody. , and a case against Musk for not testifying in the CEC investigation. Additionally, recently Judge Kathleen McCormick ruled in the case Tornetta v. Musk, et al have decided to cancel the $55 billion pay package they received from Tesla.
In May 2022, Musk was accused of sexual misconduct, with an anonymous source claiming he committed it in 2016. Musk denied the allegations, saying it was unlikely that such a thing would have happened throughout his 30-year career. He called the Business Insider article a “politically motivated hit piece.” Following the article’s publication, Tesla’s stock declined by more than 6%, reducing Musk’s net worth by $10 billion.
In April 2023, the government of the United States Virgin Islands attempted to issue a subpoena to obtain documents from Musk in connection with allegations that he profited from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. In May, a judge granted a request by the U.S. Virgin Islands to publicly notify Musk that he was in trouble, allowing Musk to pursue electronic services through Tesla. These efforts did not implicate Musk in any misconduct and did not require Musk to give sworn interviews.
Musk’s former girlfriend Grimes filed a foster care petition in September 2023, part of an internment dispute. The petition was filed a month after Grimes criticized Musk in a social media post accused of restricting access to the youngest of his three children.
Ben Brody, a 22-year-old Los Angeles-based college graduate, filed a lawsuit against Musk in October 2023 for more than $1 million. She said in the allegation that Musk had considered her a participant in a “violent street riot” in support of a neo-Nazi religious group around Portland, Oregon. According to Brody’s case, Musk’s posts promoted the conspiracy that “Ben Brody’s alleged involvement in the celebration led to suspicions that this incident was perhaps a ‘false flag’ operation to defraud the American public”. It was also alleged that Musk’s allegations had caused Broidy and his family to face harassment and threats.
In October 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Musk with violating antitrust laws in purchasing Twitter stock in 2022. The petition said Musk testified twice in 2022, but refused to testify a third time in 2023, claiming the SEC had tampered with him. In February 2024, Judge Laurel Beeler decided that Musk would have to testify again.
In January 2024, Judge Kathleen McCormick heard the case Tornetta v. Musk, et al decided to void the $55 billion pay package offered by Tesla. McCormick said the compensation awarded by the company’s board was an “incredible amount” that was unfair to shareholders. The suit was brought by Delaware Tesla owner Richard Tornetta in 2018. In response to the decision, Musk posted on Twitter: “Never incorporate your company in Delaware.”
Public perception
Elon Musk, an imaginative entrepreneur and industrialist, has received widespread public attention and praise for his revolutionary efforts in the 2000s. Despite his companies such as SpaceX and Tesla making a significant impact in their respective industries, Musk only made public appearances in the early 2010s. His unique characteristics have described him as a disorganized person who makes sudden and controversial statements, preferring immaturity like other billionaires to keep his businesses safe. Vance described Musk’s divided public opinion because of his “part philosopher, part troll” role on Twitter.
Musk was cited as a partial inspiration for the character Tony Stark in the Marvel film Iron Man (2008). Musk also starred in the film’s 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2, and has appeared in such films as Machete Kills (2013), Why Him? (2016) and Men in Black: International (2019). His television series appearances include The Simpsons (“The Musk Who Fell to Earth”, 2015), The Big Bang Theory (“The Platonic Permutation”, 2015), South Park (“Members Only”, 2016), Young Sheldon (“A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac®”, 2017), Rick and Morty (“One Crew over the Crewcoo’s Morty”, 2019) and Saturday Night Live (2021). He also contributed dialogue to documentaries such as Racing Extinction (2015) and Lo and Behold (2016), directed by Werner Herzog.
Musk was elected a Member of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018. In 2015, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering and Technology from Yale University and Honorary Membership of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his contributions to the development of Falcon rockets. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low Transportation Award in 2008, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal in 2010
Medal, and the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal in 2012 have been dedicated to Musk. Time has listed Musk as one of the world’s most influential people four times, in 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021. Musk was selected as Time’s “Person of the Year” for 2021. Edward Felsenthal, then editor-in-chief, wrote that “a person year is an indicator of influence, and few individuals can have as much influence on the planet as Musk and potentially beyond”. In February 2022, Musk was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.