How Elon Musk Became the Richest Person in the World: From Ideas to Billions

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Where was Elon Musk born? — in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Physics, and Science, he has become one of the most influential entrepreneurs of the 21st century. According to Forbes as of October 2024, his net worth was approximately $244 billion USD.

Early Commercial Successes: from Zip2 to PayPal

In the mid-1990s, together with his brother Kimbal Musk, he founded Zip2 — one of the first internet mapping services. The company was revolutionary for its time, helping consumers find nearby businesses using GPS data. In 1999, Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million, and Musk received $22 million from the deal.

Not stopping there, he immediately founded X.com — an online payment platform. After merging with Confinity and rebranding as PayPal, eBay bought the service in 2003 for $1.5 billion. Musk earned $180 million in profit — a sum that served as a springboard for his subsequent ambitions.

SpaceX: Ambition to Go Beyond Earth

In June 2002, with an investment of $100 million, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), aiming to make space travel accessible. The first attempts to launch the Falcon 1 rocket ended in failure, but on September 28, 2008, the first successful launch took place. This was a turning point — a private company launched an orbital rocket into Earth orbit for the first time.

In the following years, SpaceX developed Falcon 9 (with nine engines instead of one) and Falcon Heavy (with 27 engines). In 2012, the company secured a $1.6 billion contract from NASA.

A revolutionary project was Starship — a system designed to become a fully reusable rocket. The third test flight in March 2024 first reached orbital velocity, although it ended with a loss of signal during reentry. The fourth flight in June 2024 marked epochal progress — the launch vehicle successfully performed a soft landing.

The Starlink project became another of Musk’s ambitions. The plan is to launch about 12,000 satellites to provide global internet coverage. As of January 2022, 1,993 Starlink satellites were already in orbit. By 2023, the network had over 6,000 satellites and nearly 3 million customers.

Tesla: Electric Vehicle Revolution

Musk joined Tesla in 2004 as an investor and later became CEO. The company, founded in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, gained momentum before the debut of Model S in 2012 and subsequent success.

In June 2010, Tesla was officially listed on Nasdaq with the ticker “TSLA” at $17 per share — the price fell 45% on the first trading day, demonstrating investment optimism. By 2013, the stock rose to a record high of $158.

A turning point was June 10, 2020, when Tesla’s stock price first exceeded $1,000, making it the most valuable car company in the world. In 2020, Tesla’s revenue in China amounted to $6.662 billion, more than doubling to $13.844 billion in 2021.

As of October 2024, Tesla’s shares increased by 21.92% to $260.48 USD for a single day of trading, setting the best result since 2013 and increasing market capitalization by $150 billion.

Besides the automotive business, Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016 for $2.6 billion, creating a vertically integrated energy company. In November 2010, the Cybercab project was announced, an autonomous robotaxi with an expected price below $30,000 and a launch planned for 2026.

Artificial Intelligence and Neuralink: Humanity’s Future

Musk was the first investor in DeepMind (founded in 2010), a company that developed AlphaGo. Later, he invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2015, and in 2016, he founded Neuralink to develop implanted brain-computer interfaces.

In 2023, he founded his own AI company xAI Corp.. In July 2024, Musk announced Grok 2 for August and Grok 3 for December, with Grok 3 training on 100,000 NVIDIA H100 chips.

On January 30, 2024, the first person received an implant from Neuralink with positive results. The company plans to implant over 22,000 people by 2030, including the Blindsight project to restore vision to the blind.

Twitter (X): $44 Billion for Rebranding

In April 2022, Musk announced his intention to acquire all Twitter shares at $54.2 USD. After a prolonged conflict with the company’s board and legal disputes, on October 27, 2022, he completed the acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion.

Under his leadership, the platform transformed: in June 2022, PayPal launched a feature for free cryptocurrency transfers via the platform. Musk renamed the company X and announced integration with the Grok AI model.

Political Activity and Controversies

In 2024, Musk became an active supporter of Donald Trump, investing tens of millions of dollars through the super PAC America PAC. He even proposed a role in reducing federal spending during Trump’s second term.

His stance on Elon Musk USA also evolved — from supporting the Democratic Party to calling for a “red wave,” predicting the need for change to save the country.

Scandals and Controversies

Musk remains at the center of controversies. In September 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against him over tweets about possibly taking Tesla private at $420 per share. In January 2024, media reports accused him of drug use, which Musk strongly denied, claiming to have passed random tests at SpaceX.

Serious conflicts arose with the Supreme Court of Brazil over content moderation on the X platform. Judge Alexander de Moraes repeatedly imposed restrictions, to which Musk responded by threatening to close the office in the country and attacking the judges on social media.

In July 2022, it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with Nicole Shanahan, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, leading to their divorce.

Personal Life and Family

Musk has at least 12 children from three different women. His first wife was Justine Wilson, and his second was Talulah Riley, whom he married twice. His oldest child, with his wife, changed gender and cut ties with the father, accusing him of misunderstandings regarding transgender identity.

Musk’s diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome he considered as an explanation for some of his behavioral traits, including an incident of smoking marijuana live on Joe Rogan in 2018.

Philanthropy and Donations

Unlike other billionaires, Musk is not listed among Forbes’ top philanthropists. However, he has invested in various projects: in 2002, he founded the Musk Foundation, which donated about $25 million to nonprofit organizations by 2018. In November 2021, he donated Tesla shares worth $5.74 billion without disclosing the purpose.

Musk announced plans to build a free school in Austin, Texas, with an initial capital of $100 million for an institution focused on STEM education.

Conclusion: From Engineer to Global Influencer

Elon Musk has transformed several industries — from electric vehicles to space travel, from the internet to artificial intelligence. His wealth of $244 billion as of October 2024 is the result of consistent investments, relentless innovation, and willingness to take risks. Despite controversies and scandals, his impact on technological progress remains undeniable, and his goal to build cities on Mars and spread AI will shape humanity’s future for decades to come.