# Elon Musk

> Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in recorded history and the founder or co-founder of nine major companies including SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, and Neuralink. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, he taught himself to code at 10, sold his first game at 12, and dropped out of a Stanford PhD after two days to chase the internet gold rush. His companies collectively own 65% of all operational Earth satellites, produce the world's best-selling electric vehicles, and are actively building brain-computer interfaces and rockets to colonize Mars. As of May 2026, his net worth stands at approximately $809 billion.

- **Role:** CEO at Tesla / SpaceX
- **Organizations:** Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, X Corp., Neuralink, The Boring Company, Musk Foundation
- **From:** Pretoria, South Africa
- **Nationality:** South African, Canadian, American
- **Education:** Secondary Education, Pretoria Boys High School, Undergraduate (partial), Queen's University, BA Physics, BSc Economics (Wharton), University of Pennsylvania, PhD Materials Science (dropped out after 2 days), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Founded or co-founded 9 major companies: Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Neuralink, The Boring Company, OpenAI, xAI, First private company to dock spacecraft with ISS (SpaceX Dragon, 2012), Pioneered commercially successful reusable orbital rockets (Falcon 9)

## Career timeline

- **1983** — Taught himself BASIC from a Commodore VIC-20 manual at age 10
- **1984** — Sold 'Blastar', a BASIC-coded space game, to a magazine for ~$500 at age 12
- **1988** — Moved to Canada at 17 to avoid South African military service
- **1995** — Dropped out of Stanford PhD after 2 days to pursue internet entrepreneurship
- **1995** — Co-founded Zip2 with brother Kimbal Musk
- **1999** — Zip2 sold to Compaq for $307M; Musk netted $22M
- **1999** — Founded X.com, online financial services company
- **2000** — X.com merged with Confinity to form PayPal
- **2002** — eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5B; Musk received $175.8M
- **2002** — Founded SpaceX with $100M of personal funds
- **2004** — Invested in Tesla Motors Series A; became chairman of the board
- **2006** — Seed-funded SolarCity (cousins' solar company)
- **2008** — Became CEO of Tesla during its near-collapse; near-bankrupt personally
- **2008** — Falcon 1 reached orbit; SpaceX won $1.6B NASA contract on Christmas Eve
- **2012** — SpaceX Dragon docked with ISS - first private spacecraft to do so
- **2015** — Co-founded OpenAI (later departed over direction disagreements)
- **2016** — Co-founded Neuralink; invested $100M
- **2016** — Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2B
- **2017** — Founded The Boring Company
- **2018** — Falcon Heavy launched carrying his personal Tesla Roadster to solar orbit
- **2018** — SEC settlement: $20M fine for 'funding secured' tweet; stepped down as Tesla Chairman
- **2020** — SpaceX Crew Dragon launched NASA astronauts to ISS - first commercial crewed spaceflight
- **2021** — Named Time Person of the Year
- **2021** — Publicly disclosed Asperger's syndrome on Saturday Night Live
- **2022** — Acquired Twitter for ~$44B; laid off ~50% of staff immediately
- **2023** — Twitter rebranded as X; founded xAI in March; Grok AI launched November
- **2024** — First Neuralink human brain implant performed in January
- **2024** — Became first person to reach $400B net worth in December
- **2024** — Donated $250M+ to Trump 2024 presidential campaign
- **2025** — Led DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) as Senior Advisor to the President
- **2025** — xAI acquired X (Twitter) for $33B; departed DOGE in May
- **2026** — SpaceX acquired xAI for $250B; xAI acquired Anysphere (Cursor) for ~$60B
- **2026** — Net worth reached approximately $809B, world's wealthiest person

## Achievements

- Founded or co-founded 9 major companies: Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity, Neuralink, The Boring Company, OpenAI, xAI
- First private company to dock spacecraft with ISS (SpaceX Dragon, 2012)
- Pioneered commercially successful reusable orbital rockets (Falcon 9)
- Deployed world's largest satellite constellation (Starlink: 7,600+ satellites = 65% of all operational Earth satellites)
- Tesla Model 3 became best-selling EV globally
- Enabled first commercial spacewalk in history (Polaris Dawn, September 2024)
- First Neuralink brain implant in a human patient (January 2024)
- Became wealthiest person in recorded history (~$809B as of 2026)
- Time Person of the Year (2021)
- Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
- John Fritz Medal recipient
- Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal winner
- Falcon 9 boosters collectively reused 450+ times

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — xAI acquired Anysphere (Cursor AI coding tool) for approximately $60 billion
- **2026-03** — Project Terafab announced: joint semiconductor fab by SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI
- **2026-02** — SpaceX acquired xAI for $250 billion in all-stock deal; xAI became SpaceX subsidiary
- **2025-11** — Tesla shareholders approved $1 trillion compensation package for Musk
- **2025-10** — Grokipedia launched as AI-powered Wikipedia alternative
- **2025-07** — xAI won $200M Department of Defense military AI contract; Grok-4 released
- **2025-05** — Departed Washington and left Trump administration/DOGE, stating the mission was 'institutionalized'
- **2025-03** — xAI acquired X (Twitter) for $33 billion in all-stock deal
- **2025-01** — Led DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) as Senior Advisor to the President; SEC sued Musk over delayed Twitter stake disclosure

## Links

- Website: https://www.tesla.com
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/elonmusk
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elonmusk

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/elon-musk
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-05