Elon Musk is the world's wealthiest individual — a visionary entrepreneur who has simultaneously transformed the electric vehicle industry, private space exploration, artificial intelligence, and social media. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, he became a naturalised American citizen and built a portfolio of companies that have fundamentally reshaped modern civilisation.
Early Life
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, to Maye Musk, a Canadian model and dietitian, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer. He displayed an extraordinary aptitude for computing from childhood, teaching himself programming and selling his first video game at age 12. He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Pretoria Boys High School before moving to Canada at age 17 to attend Queen's University, Ontario. He later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned dual bachelor's degrees in Economics and Physics. He enrolled in a PhD programme at Stanford University in 1995 but left after just two days to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions in Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom.
Education
Musk earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. His pursuit of a Stanford PhD in energy physics lasted approximately 48 hours before he withdrew to found Zip2 — a decision that would change the course of both his life and technology history.
Career
Musk co-founded Zip2 in 1995, a city guide software company acquired by Compaq in 1999 for $307 million, netting Musk approximately $22 million. He then co-founded X.com in 1999, an online financial services company that merged with PayPal; when eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion, Musk received $165 million. He founded SpaceX in 2002 with the ambition of reducing space transportation costs and colonising Mars. SpaceX became the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station and has launched the Starlink satellite internet constellation. In 2004 he joined the board of Tesla Motors as chairman, becoming CEO in 2008 and transforming it into the world's most valuable automaker. He acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion and rebranded it as X. In 2023 he founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company building the Grok AI assistant. In December 2022 he was named TIME Person of the Year. His other ventures include The Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel construction firm, and Neuralink, a neurotechnology company developing brain–computer interfaces.
Net Worth
As of June 2026, Elon Musk became the world's first confirmed trillionaire, according to Forbes. His net worth is driven primarily by his ownership stakes in SpaceX and Tesla, in addition to xAI, which reached a valuation of $50 billion in 2024. Forbes placed his real-time net worth at approximately $300–400 billion as of mid-2026, making him by far the wealthiest human being in recorded history.
Personal Life
Musk has been married three times — twice to actress Talulah Riley (2010–2012, 2013–2016) and once to Canadian author Justine Wilson (2000–2008). He has twelve children total across multiple relationships: Nevada Alexander (deceased in infancy), twins Griffin and Xavier (born 2004), triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian (born 2006) with Justine Wilson; daughter X Æ A-12 (born May 2020), daughter Exa Dark Sideræl (born December 2021), and son Techno Mechanicus (born 2022) with singer Grimes; and children Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive. He is reported to have a child with employee Ashley St. Clair as well. As of 2026 he is not publicly in a confirmed relationship.
Quick Facts
- Full Name: Elon Reeve Musk
- Date of Birth: June 28, 1971
- Birthplace: Pretoria, South Africa
- Nationality: American (naturalised), South African
- Height: 6 ft 1 in
- Net Worth: $300+ Billion (world's first trillionaire, June 2026)
- Children: 12
- Companies: Tesla, SpaceX, X (Twitter), xAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company
- Education: University of Pennsylvania (BA Economics, BA Physics)
