Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate, industrial designer, and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. A centibillionaire, Musk is one of the richest people in the world.
Early Life and Education
Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father and raised in Pretoria, South Africa. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada aged 17 to attend Queen’s University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later, where he received dual bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics. He subsequently graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Entrepreneurial Ventures
Musk co-founded web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal. The start-up was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. Musk co-founded online bank X.com that same year, which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal and was eventually bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in October 2002.
SpaceX
In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, of which he is CEO, CTO, and lead designer. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company’s first two launch vehicles, the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, were developed with privately-generated funds. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon Heavy, which is currently the world’s most powerful operational rocket by thrust.
Tesla, Inc.
In 2004, Musk joined electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.) as chairman and product architect, becoming its CEO in 2008. In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy services company (now a subsidiary of Tesla). In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that promotes friendly artificial intelligence. In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–machine interfaces, and founded The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company.
Personal Life
Musk has been married three times. He has five children. In 2016, he was listed by Forbes as the 40th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion. As of 2021, his net worth was estimated to be over $100 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.