Elon Musk recently became the wealthiest person in the world, as runner-up Jeff Bezos knows only too well. With an unprecedented net worth of over $270 billion, Musk has broken through every economic barrier known to humanity.
But who is Elon Musk outside of his economic and technological breakthroughs?
Despite having more money than anyone in the world, Musk remains quite the mysterious figure. From his bizarre social media presence to his odd name choice for his son, Musk keeps us all on our toes.
Read our concise list of Elon Musk facts to learn more about the South African-American entrepreneur.
Elon Musk Fascinating Facts
- Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
- At the age of 12, he made a video game that he sold for $500.
- Musk moved to Canada at the age of 17.
- Elon Musk has six children.
- Musk nearly sold Tesla for $11 billion to Google in 2013.
- He earns a $1 annual salary from Tesla.
- With a net worth of $227 billion, Musk became the wealthiest person on Earth on September 27, 2021.
The Concise Elon Musk Biography
Elon Musk has quite the history behind him. Everything from his youth to his rise to fame and fortune involves a balance of challenge and triumph.
Let’s begin by learning a bit more about Musk’s origins—which are nothing short of amazing. Then, we can move on to questions like “How did Elon Musk make his money?”
1. Musk turned 50 on June 28, 2021.
(Source: CNN)
Despite his energetic personality, the entrepreneur is not a spring chicken anymore. Elon Musk’s age has been contested a few times, but he turned 50 on June 28, 2021.
When asked what he would like for his birthday on Twitter, he responded in true Musk fashion with “Starship Super Heavy.” We presume that he wanted a successful launch for his next Starship.
2. Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
(Source: CNN)
Many people simply assume that Musk was born in the United States. But is Elon Musk American?
Originally, Elon Musk is from Pretoria, South Africa. He has mixed heritage—his mother is Canadian and his father is South African.
Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, is a dietitian and model. Maye Musk’s net worth is currently $20 million. His father, Errol Musk, is an electromechanical engineer, property developer, and pilot.
3. During his young life, Elon Musk was often bullied.
(Source: The Guardian)
To understand better who Elon Musk is, we must take his formative years into account. Despite being born into privilege, Musk’s youth was not the happiest. His parents split up before his 9th birthday.
Musk was also severely bullied at school. At one point, he was even hospitalized for two weeks after he was thrown down a flight of stairs.
4. After his parents divorced, Musk lived with his father.
(Source: The Mercury News)
Following his parents’ divorce, the young Elon stayed with his father. He began developing his passion for video games and computing around the same time.
5. Elon Musk developed and sold his first video game at 12.
(Source: CNBC)
The young Elon Musk facts are no less fascinating than the ones from his adult life. When he was 12 years old, he developed a space fighting video game called Blastar. He then sold the code to “PC and Office Technology” magazine for around $500.
6. Musk moved to Canada when he was 17 years old.
(Source: Biography)
At the age of 17, Musk decided to move from South Africa to Canada. Considering Elon Musk’s nationality, his choice wasn’t that surprising.
In June 1989, Musk arrived in Canada, where he worked odd jobs for a year. In 1990, he enrolled into Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
7. Musk has a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.
(Source: CNBC)
In 1992, Musk was accepted into Queen’s University to study physics. He then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with two bachelor’s degrees—in physics and in economics.
Alongside his education, Elon Musk also did two summer internships in Silicon Valley. One was at the Pinnacle Research Institute, and the other—at Rocket Science Games.
8. Musk lasted two days at Stanford University.
(Source: CNBC)
Going on with Elon Musk’s educational timeline.
In 1995, he was accepted into Stanford University for a Ph.D. However, he dropped out in just two days.
Instead of studying, Musk decided to capitalize on the internet boom. In 1995, he and two of his associates established “Zip2”, a web software business, with backing from angel investors.
9. There are six children in the Musk family.
(Source: Made For Mums)
Elon Musk met Justine at the University of Ontario in Canada and married her in 2004. They had twins called Xavier and Griffin Musk. In 2006, the couple brought Damian Musk, Kai Musk, and Saxon Musk into the world. Eventually, Elon and Justine divorced.
Musk’s youngest child, called X Æ A-12 Musk, was born in May 2020. The unusual name was inspired by X Æ A-12’s mother and Musk partner at the time, pop singer Grimes.
Is Elon Musk married to Grimes? No, they were never married. They split up recently but remain on good terms.
10. Grimes claims Elon Musk is a good father.
(Source: The Things)
Elon Musk’s childhood might not have been the happiest, but he has made sure that his six children are lovingly looked after.
According to X Æ A-12’s mother, Grimes, Musk is “a pretty good dad.” However, she also admitted that she plays a “bigger role” in the unusually named baby’s life.
This is the story of Elon Musk’s fatherhood, at least for now. It’s now time to move on to his business affairs.
Elon Musk Businesses that Made Him Unbelievably Wealthy
Understanding Musk’s full business portfolio is no small task, given the number of industries he is involved in. Elon Musk’s Tesla contributions are perhaps his most notable ones, but we shouldn’t ignore his other pursuits.
Let’s go over the many business ventures that made Musk the richest person alive. Our guess is that being the CEO of SpaceX is the most exciting one.
11. Musk is the founder of PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.
(Source: Investopedia)
What is Elon Musk famous for?
The billionaire entrepreneur is mostly known for being the co-founder of Tesla and Paypal, and more recently—the founder of SpaceX. However, he also started the neurotech business Neuralink to develop implantable brain-machine interfaces.
Perhaps the least known of his pursuits is the infrastructure and tunnel construction business The Boring Company.
12. Musk sold Zip2 for $340 million.
(Source: Investopedia)
Musk’s first project was Zip2, a digital city guide software company. This business was nothing compared to Elon Musk’s recent achievements. Still, the sale of Zip2 to AltaVista for $340 million was certainly his initial big financial win.
Musk then used the money to establish X.com.
13. X.com was the foundation for PayPal.
(Source: Investopedia)
What has Elon Musk invented? For starters, the company that would one day transform the online payments market. Indeed, PayPal was formed by a merger between X.com and Confinity—a cash transfer firm.
However, Musk was removed from the company before eBay bought it for $1.5 billion. Still, he did manage to salvage stock worth $180 million.
For more interesting facts about the company, check out our list of PayPal statistics.
The bottom line is that Elon Musk was rich even before Tesla.
14. Elon Musk donated $30 million to Tesla Motors and joined the co-founding team.
(Source: Britannica)
Who owns Tesla? Another Elon Musk-related misconception is that he founded Tesla. In truth, Tesla Motors was established by entrepreneurs Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard in 2003.
When Musk became chairman of the company in 2004, it was already captained by the original Tesla owner and CEO Eberhard and CFO Tarpenning.
15. Tesla released the Tesla Roadster in 2008.
(Source: Clean Technica)
In the late 2000s, Tesla took the motoring world by storm with the 2008 release of the Tesla Roadster. This was a revolutionary all-electric luxury sports car that Musk and his Tesla colleagues designed and produced.
Between the beginning of 2008 and the end of 2012, the Roadster enjoyed a mixed sales performance. During that period, around 2,400 units entered the global market.
In 2018, however, the Roadster became the first car launched into space.
16. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002.
(Source: Air & Space)
Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, with the goal of colonizing Mars one day. He also aims to make space transportation more affordable.
Who owns SpaceX, you might be wondering? Who else but the fantastically-minded Musk? Lofty ambitions aside, SpaceX’s performance on Earth and in space has been incredible.
17. The first three SpaceX launches ended in disaster.
(Source: NASA Spaceflight)
Despite Musk’s stellar aspirations with SpaceX, his initial rocket launching missions all crashed and burned. Falcon 1, which was the initial SpaceX rocket model, suffered three failed launches between 2006 and 2008.
Following these explosive failures, Elon Musk’s companies SpaceX and Tesla were on the brink of bankruptcy, as was Musk himself. His stress levels were so high, he would reportedly wake up in the night screaming from nightmares.
Still, as we all know, he quickly bounced back. The Elon Musk statistics below show that he has been doing more than okay.
Elon Musk’s Net Worth
Now that we know more about Musk’s incredibly varied business portfolio, let’s find out how much he earned from all these ventures.
The following Elon Musk facts reveal where the wealthiest person in the world's fortune came from.
18. Musk’s Tesla stock makes up most of his wealth.
(Source: Insider)
The main source of money for Elon Musk comes from his Tesla stock. It sounds like an oversimplification, given the man’s enormous net worth, but his riches are quite easily explained.
Elon Musk statistics show that Musk’s net worth got past the $200 billion mark by far thanks to the soaring Tesla stock. And it’s no wonder—the company’s market cap is larger than that of Hyundai, Ford, Volkswagen, and Toyota combined.
19. As of November 2021, Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world.
(Source: Bloomberg)
His most fierce competitors for this title are Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. However, this year Elon Musk blew them out of the water.
How much is Elon Musk worth? That question is hard to answer, as the number is constantly changing. At the time of writing, his net worth is over $279 billion, according to Bloomberg.
To put this figure into perspective, it equals 1.1% of the United States’ GDP.
The lion’s share of Elon Musk’s net worth in 2021 comes from his Tesla public assets. His SpaceX private assets come to $40.3 billion.
20. Elon Musk earns around $383 million per day.
(Source: Insider)
How much money does Elon Musk make a day? The answer can make anyone question reality.
He’s earning $383 million a day! This might sound out of this world, but since April 2020, it has been part of the entrepreneur’s reality.
Let’s do the math. How much does Elon Musk make a second? Well, $383 million a day means he makes almost $16 million per hour, which makes around $4,433 per second.
Now you know why Elon Musk is so rich.
Interesting Facts About Elon Musk
Now that we know so much about his personal and professional life, it’s time to explore some lesser-known, interesting facts about Elon Musk.
21. Elon Musk appears in several popular movies and sitcoms.
(Source: IMDB)
The entrepreneur often plays himself in famous sitcoms. He appears in episodes of The Simpsons, South Park, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and Rick and Morty.
He also had a role in some popular film productions, including Men in Black: International and Iron Man 2.
22. Elon Musk doesn’t receive a salary from Tesla.
(Source: Insider)
Although Elon Musk statistics show that he makes most of his fortune from Tesla, that comes from stocks, not paychecks.
In fact, since 2020, Elon Musk’s annual salary has been $0. Even before that, he received minimal wages and never accepted them.
What’s Next for Elon Musk?
On Sunday, October 17, 2021, Musk made a surprise appearance at the Volkswagen AG conference. There, he spoke in front of 200 executives, which are also Tesla’s biggest competitors.
It is highly unusual for corporate competitors to break bread, but Musk had a good reason for doing so. Volkswagen is planning on shifting to the electric vehicle industry. Who better to rally the troops for such a move than Musk himself?
This is why Elon Musk is famous—because he continually shatters all expectations.
Wrap Up
Elon Musk constantly breaks the mold. He has proven time and again that there are no barriers that can restrain his entrepreneurial ingenuity.
He has already revolutionized several industries, but we feel like the best is yet to come. In our comprehensive list of Elon Musk facts, we covered the enormous strides he’s making in the space, automotive, and tech industries.
Make sure to keep up to date with the latest Elon Musk information. You never know what he might do next.
Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.
