# Elon Musk

Elon Musk is a South African-born businessman and former US official, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, known for electric vehicles, reusable rockets, and AI ventures. He became the first US-dollar trillionaire in 2026.

Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and former public official who serves as CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX. He has been a central figure in the development of electric vehicles, commercial spaceflight, and artificial intelligence, co-founding companies such as [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai) and xAI. Musk became the wealthiest person in the world in 2025 and briefly the first US-dollar trillionaire in June 2026, with a net worth estimated at US$908 billion as of September 2026.

Musk's business career spans multiple industries, from online payments to neurotechnology. He acquired Twitter in 2022, rebranding it as X in 2023, and has been a prominent and polarizing figure in politics and public discourse. His ventures have consistently pushed technological boundaries, but his statements and political activities have drawn significant criticism.

## Early life and education

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to Maye (née Haldeman), a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African engineer and property developer. He holds South African and Canadian citizenship from birth, the latter through his mother. His maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, was an American-born Canadian chiropractor and political activist whose far-right and conspiracist views have been suggested as an influence on Musk.

After his parents divorced in 1979, Musk chose to live with his father, partly because Errol had an Encyclopædia Britannica set and a computer. He later regretted this decision, describing his father as a difficult figure. Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and Pretoria Boys High School, where he was a decent but unexceptional student. He developed an early interest in computing, teaching himself programming from the VIC-20 user manual and selling his first game, Blastar, for about $500 in 1983.

Musk applied for a Canadian passport to avoid South Africa's mandatory military service, emigrating to Canada in 1989. He received bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997, then moved to California to pursue business ventures.

## Zip2 and PayPal

In 1995, Musk co-founded Zip2, a web software company that provided business directories and maps. The company was sold in 1999 for approximately $307 million, netting Musk $22 million. He then co-founded X.com, an e-commerce payment system, in 1999. X.com merged with Confinity in March 2000 to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Musk became an American citizen in 2002.

## SpaceX and Tesla

In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, a space technology company, and serves as CEO and chief engineer. SpaceX has led innovations in reusable rockets, including the Falcon 9 and Starship, and has become a major player in commercial spaceflight, launching satellites and crewed missions to the International Space Station. The company's initial public offering in June 2026 briefly made Musk a trillionaire, though a subsequent stock collapse brought him below that threshold.

Musk joined Tesla as an early investor in 2004 and became CEO and product architect in 2008. Under his leadership, Tesla has become a leader in electric vehicles, producing models such as the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y. In November 2025, Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk, contingent on milestones such as achieving an $8.5 trillion market capitalization.

## OpenAI and xAI

In 2015, Musk co-founded [OpenAI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai), a research organization dedicated to advancing [artificial intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-intelligence) in a safe and beneficial manner. He left the organization in 2018, citing disagreements over its direction. As the [generative AI](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/generative-ai) boom accelerated in the 2020s, Musk grew increasingly critical of OpenAI's leadership and its partnership with Microsoft. In 2023, he founded xAI, which became a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2026. xAI focuses on developing [large language models](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/large-language-model) and other AI systems, competing with companies like [Anthropic](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/anthropic) and [Google DeepMind](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-deepmind).

## Twitter and X

In 2022, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, making significant changes to the platform's policies and features. He rebranded it as X in 2023, aiming to transform it into an "everything app" that includes payments, messaging, and other services. His pledge to decrease censorship led to an increase in hate speech and misinformation on the service, drawing widespread criticism from researchers, advertisers, and users.

## Other ventures

Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company, in 2016, which aims to develop brain-computer interfaces. He founded the Boring Company in 2017, which focuses on tunneling and underground transportation. These ventures, along with Tesla's [Autopilot](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/tesla-autopilot) and [Waymo](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/waymo)'s competing autonomous driving efforts, reflect Musk's interest in solving complex engineering problems.

## Political involvement and public image

Musk was the largest donor in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, supporting Donald Trump. After Trump's inauguration in January 2025, Musk served as Senior Advisor to the President and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which made controversial cuts to federal agencies, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He left the administration in May 2025, followed by a public feud with Trump.

Musk has supported global far-right politics and figures, and his statements have been criticized as unscientific and misleading, including spreading COVID-19 misinformation and affirming antisemitic, white nationalist, racist, and transphobic comments. His political activities and views have made him a polarizing figure, with public backlash against his role in the Trump administration and his management of X.

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/elon-musk-2
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-10-07T16:38:02.932243+00:00