United States citizen and is widely known for his investments in technology and space exploration. With an estimated fortune of around $21 billion in the late 2010s, he was recognized as one of the richest individuals in the world. In December 2016, he ranked 21st on Forbes’ “World’s Most Powerful People” list. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated at $342 billion, placing him at number one on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people.

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, is South African, and his mother, Maye Haldeman, is Canadian. He has a sister named Tosca Musk and a brother named Kimbal Musk. Musk taught himself computer programming at an early age and learned how to write software. At the age of 12, he sold his first software, a space-themed game called Blastar, for approximately $500 to a magazine called PC and Office Technology. After attending Bryanston High School in Johannesburg for eighth and ninth grades, he transferred to Pretoria Boys High School, from which he graduated in 1988. To avoid mandatory military service in South Africa, he left home and moved to Canada.

In 1992, after spending two years at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Elon Musk moved from Canada to the United States to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in economics from The Wharton School and a degree in physics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. He later moved to Silicon Valley, California, to pursue a PhD in Applied Physics and Materials Science, but he did not complete his doctoral studies.

Inspired by his undergraduate education and innovators such as Thomas Alva Edison, Nikola Tesla, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney, Elon Musk identified three areas he believed would most strongly impact the future of humanity: the internet, clean energy, and space.

In 1995, Elon Musk began a master’s degree in applied physics and materials science at Stanford University. However, after just two days, he dropped out with his brother Kimbal Musk to start Zip2, an online content publishing software project for new organizations. Funded in part by a $28,000 investment from his father, Zip2 provided internet-based city guides for newspapers. In 1999, Zip2 was sold to Compaq’s AltaVista division for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock.

In March 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and payment company. The following year, X.com merged with Confinity, an online auction payment system of similar size, forming what would become PayPal. Musk played a key role in organizing the merger due to his belief in peer-to-peer (P2P) online payment technology. Although the merged company initially retained the X.com name, it was renamed PayPal Inc. in February 2001. Musk played a crucial role in shaping PayPal’s global payment system and separating it from X.com’s core financial offerings.

PayPal’s rapid growth was largely driven by Musk’s viral online expansion strategy. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. At the time of the sale, Elon Musk was the company’s largest shareholder, holding 11.7% of PayPal. This transaction added approximately $165 million to his personal fortune.

After PayPal, Elon Musk shifted his focus toward engineering and founded the companies that would later define his career, including SpaceX and Tesla. A trained physics engineer, Musk is the founder of Tesla Motors, PayPal, and SpaceX, and also serves as chairman of SolarCity.

Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, commonly known as SpaceX, in June 2002 and currently serves as its CEO and CTO. SpaceX focuses on advancing rocket technology by developing and manufacturing launch vehicles. Its first two launch vehicles were the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets, and its first spacecraft was Dragon.

On December 23, 2008, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion NASA contract to conduct 12 cargo flights to the International Space Station using the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, replacing the Space Shuttle program discontinued in 2011. Although cargo transport was initially the primary mission, SpaceX also designed Falcon 9 and Dragon for astronaut transport, a concept supported by the Augustine Commission.

According to Elon Musk, space exploration is essential for expanding human consciousness and ensuring long-term survival. He believes that becoming a multi-planetary species is a safeguard against existential threats such as asteroids, engineered viruses, nuclear weapons, climate change, or unforeseen technologies that could end human civilization.

Musk’s goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of ten. He founded SpaceX using approximately $100 million of his own capital and continues to lead the California-based company as CEO and CTO. Within seven years, SpaceX designed the Falcon family of launch vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft from scratch. In September 2009, Falcon 1 became the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to place a satellite into Earth orbit.

On May 25, 2012, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first commercial company to send and berth a spacecraft at the ISS. Musk has stated that while near-term goals include transporting astronauts to the ISS, his ultimate ambition is to enable the exploration and colonization of Mars.

Elon Musk is also a co-founder and head of product design at Tesla Motors. His interest in electric vehicles predates Tesla’s founding. Tesla’s first product was the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car that sold approximately 2,500 units across 31 countries. Tesla delivered its first four-door sedan, the Model S, on June 22, 2012, and announced the Model X SUV/minivan on February 9, 2012. Tesla also supplies electric powertrain components to companies such as Daimler and Toyota.

Musk owns approximately 32% of Tesla, and as of May 29, 2013, his stake was valued at $12 billion. He also provided the initial concept for SolarCity, where he serves as the largest shareholder and chairman. SolarCity is the largest solar energy system provider in the United States, co-founded and led by his cousin Lyndon Rive.

Throughout a 20-year career that began in 1995, Elon Musk built SpaceX into a space transportation company, Tesla into a global electric vehicle and energy enterprise, and PayPal into one of the world’s largest payment networks.

Google co-founder Larry Page once said of Musk, “If I were to donate my fortune somewhere, I would rather give it to Elon Musk. He wants to go to Mars; he is changing the world.”

In 1977, Elon Musk purchased the Lotus submarine car from the film James Bond - The Spy Who Loved Me for $1 million. Director Jon Favreau stated that Musk inspired the character of Tony Stark, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., in the Iron Man film series, and SpaceX facilities were used as filming locations in Iron Man 2, in which Musk also appeared briefly.

Elon Musk operates the Musk Foundation, which supports initiatives in child health, science and technology education, and clean energy. He is also a trustee of the X Prize Foundation and serves on the boards of organizations such as the National Academies of Sciences, the Planetary Society, and the Space Foundation.

On November 8, 2017, Elon Musk visited Turkey and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Elon Musk has been married three times. His first marriage was to author Jennifer Justine Wilson in 2000; they divorced on September 13, 2008. They had six children, including Nevada Alexander Musk (2002–2002), twins Griffin and Xavier (born 2004), and triplets Damian, Saxon, and Kai (born 2006). He married actress Talulah Riley in 2010, divorced in 2012, remarried her in 2013, and divorced again in 2016.

From late 2016 to August 2017, Elon Musk was in a relationship with Amber Heard. In May 2018, he began a relationship with Canadian musician Grimes (Claire Boucher). They had a son named X Æ A-12 Musk, born on May 4, 2020, followed by a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, and a son, Techno Mechanicus, born via surrogacy in 2021. The couple separated in September 2021.

According to court documents published by Insider, in November 2021, shortly before the birth of Exa Dark Sideræl, Elon Musk secretly had twins named Strider and Azure with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink. In early 2024, Musk and Zilis welcomed another child whose name has not been publicly disclosed. As of 2025, Elon Musk has a total of 14 children.

On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion. In 2025, following Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States, Musk briefly served as a senior advisor after leading efforts to reduce federal bureaucracy under the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), before resigning from his government role on May 29, 2025.

Source: Biyografiler.com