Who Is Elon Musk?
Elon Reeve Musk is a South African-born American entrepreneur and businessman who founded X.com in 1999 (which later became PayPal), SpaceX in 2002 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers.
Musk made headlines in May 2012, when SpaceX launched a rocket that would send the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station. He bolstered his portfolio with the purchase of SolarCity in 2016, and cemented his standing as a leader of industry by taking on an advisory role in the early days of President Donald Trump's administration.Born
Elon Reeve Musk
June 28, 1971 (age 48)
Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa
Citizenship
South Africa (1971–present)
Canada (1989–present)
United States (2002–present)
Education
University of Pretoria
Queen's University
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (BS-Economics)
University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences  (BA-Physics)
Occupation
Entrepreneurengineerphilanthropist
Years active
1995–present
Net worth
US$31.8 billion (March 2020)[1]
Title
Founder, CEO, Lead Designer of SpaceX
Co-founder, CEO, Product Architect of Tesla, Inc.
Co-founder of Neuralink
Founder of The Boring Company
Co-founder of Zip2
Founder of X.com  (now PayPal)
Co-founder of OpenAI
Chairman of SolarCity
Political party
Independent
Spouse(s)
Justine Wilson
(m. 2000; div. 2008)
Talulah Riley
(m. 2010; div. 2012)
(m. 2013; div. 2016)
Partner(s)
Claire Boucher (2018–present)
Children
5
Parent(s)
Errol Musk (father)
Maye Musk (mother)
Relatives
Kimbal Musk  (brother)
Tosca Musk (sister)
Lyndon Rive (cousin)
Awards
See below
Signature

Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada when he was 17 to attend Queen's University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania  two years later, where he received a Bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor's degree in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences. He began a Ph.D. in applied physics and material sciences at Stanford University  in 1995 but dropped out after two days to pursue a business career. He subsequently co-founded (with his brother Kimbal) Zip2, a web software company, which was acquired by Compaq for $340 million in 1999. Musk then founded X.com, an online bank. It merged with Confinity in 2000, which had launched PayPal the previous year and was subsequently bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in October 2002.[7][16][17][18]

In May 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, of which he is CEO and lead designer. He joined Tesla, Inc., an electric vehicle manufacturer, in 2004, the year after it was founded,[7] and became its CEO and product architect. In 2006, he inspired the creation of SolarCity, a solar energy services company (now a subsidiary of Tesla). In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that aims to promote friendly artificial intelligence. In July 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology  company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces. In December 2016, Musk founded The Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel construction company focused on tunnels optimized for electric vehicles.

Apart from Tesla, Musk is not an investor in the stock market.[19] In addition to his primary business pursuits, Musk has envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a vertical take-off and landing supersonic jet electric aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet.[20] Musk has said the goals of SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity revolve around his vision to change the world and help humanity.[21] His goals include reducing global warming through sustainable energy  production and consumption, and reducing the risk of human extinction by establishing a human colony on Mars.[22][23]